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 The
air quality in urban areas picked up gradually in 2002. Among the 339 cities
under monitoring, 117 cities were rated at Grade II in terms of air quality,
accounting for 34.5 percent, up 1.1 percentage points over the pervious
year; 114 cities at Grade III, accounting for 33.6 percent, equal to the
previous year; and the remaining 108 cities under Grade III, accounting
for 31.9 percent, down 1.3 percentage points. Among the 322 cities monitored
for traffic noise pollution, 5 percent were rated "serious." Among
the 315 cities monitored for area noise, 52.1 percent had less noise pollution
than the standard for urban living areas. There were 3,369 smoke/dust control
zones established, covering an area of 23,000 square km, and another 3,128
noise control zones covering 15,000 square km.
 The
quality of the surface water made some improvement in 2002. In the mainstreams
of the seven major river systems, 52.9 percent of the surveyed sections
met National Grade III, up 1.2 percentage points over the previous year;
19 percent met Grade IV, down 7.1 percentage points; 7.8 percent met Grade
V, down 5 percentage points; and 20.3 percent failed to meet Grade V,
up 10.9 percentage points. The water quality of the offshore marine areas
tended to improve. Out of the 381 offshore monitoring points, 21.3 percent
reported water quality up to National Grade I, up 7.9 percentage points;
28.3 percent reached Grade II; 14.4 percent reached Grade III; 8.9 reached
Grade IV; and the remaining 27.1 percent were under Grade IV.
 The
protection of the ecosystem was further enhanced. There were 82 national
ecological demonstration zones involving 314 pilot areas or units. The
number of nature reserves reached 1,757, including 188 at the national
level. The reserves cover 132.95 million hectares or 13.2 percent of the
total land area of the country.
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