China's Hu takes part in tree planting

BEIJING, April 5 (UPI) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao said Sunday at a voluntary tree-planting ceremony in Beijing that people should help improve the environment.

China's state-run news agency, Xinhua, reported Hu was joined in the tree-planting event by top Chinese leaders such as Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

The Beijing Municipal Forestry Bureau said nearly 1.8 million people planted trees during the weekend as part of a coordinated environmental effort.

Among those taking part were members of China's central government ministries and municipal departments, Xinhua said.

Hu credited the Beijing Olympic Games with improving the environment in Beijing and offered a message of hope that such positive changes would continue.

Xinhua said the National People's Congress ruled in 1981 that all Chinese citizens between the ages of 11 and 55 should help reforest China by planting at least three trees annually.