China should try daylight saving time again, making effective use of sunlight to save electric power, a political advisor said.

Cai Jiming, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) said, at the 18th meeting of the Standing Committee of the CPPCC National Committee, the government should make people move clocks and watches forward one hour in summer to save energy.

Daylight-saving time, adopted by nearly 110 countries around the world, is a good way to save electric power by making people get up early in summer when day breaks earlier than usual, Cai said.

China tried out summer time from 1986 to 1991. It is estimated that the country saved 700 million kilowatt-hours in 1986 because of daylight saving. However, the inconvenience of the system led to it being cancelled in 1992.

Another political advisor Zhu Yongxin said at the meeting, held from July 4 to 7, that Chinese schools should recycle textbooks.

The production of textbooks for 200 million Chinese pupils consumes 11 million trees every year, not counting the energy required in the manufacturing process and the emission of pollutants, Zhu said.

More than 225 billion yuan (29.5 billion U.S. dollars) will be saved if textbooks can be used for five years, according to statistics.

Energy saving has become one of the top concerns of the Chinese government in recent years as the country's consumption of energy has soared.

Shortages of coal, electric power, petroleum and shipping capacity are proving to be thorny challenges for China.

(Xinhua News Agency July 7, 2007)