Public servants of the Beijing Municipal Government will no longer wear suits and ties to attend internal meetings this summer, plain clothes are okay, says a notice of the municipal government, which calls on government organs to take lead in saving energy resources such as power and water.

The notice stipulates that from July 1 to Aug. 31, all government departments at various levels should adjust air conditioners' temperature to 26 degrees Celsius and higher.

It is the first time that local public servants are called to be dressed in plain clothes instead of Western-style suits and neckties to attend internal meetings and other activities.

The notice also calls on Party and government departments to use power-saving lamps or turn off the lights when nobody is in an office.

The municipal government has changed all the 1,500 lights in its government office building courtyard into power-saving lamps. In past years, local government office buildings consumed 100,000 yuan (about 12,000 US dollars) of electricity monthly, and the figure has reduced to 80,000 yuan (about 9,600 US dollars)

With fast industrialization, urbanization and modernization, China now faces acute shortages of energy resources and burdens in environmental protection. To achieve a sustained economy, building an energy-efficient society and developing a recycling-based economy have come to the focus.

In a recent State Council meeting presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao, energy resources-saving, water saving, raw materials saving and land saving and concentrated land use were listed as the major tasks for this year and next year in building a saving society in China.

The Ministry of Science and Technology has built a pilot building for saving energy, which is equipped with digitally-controled power-saving lights, a computerized meeting room and intelligent energy-saving equipment.

Built with special materials and designs, the cross-shaped building can save 70 percent in energy compared with other types of buildings of the same size, according to Yang Guoxiong, deputy head of the research center of the Ministry of Science and Technology.

The temperature in the office of Zhou Shengxian, head of the State Forestry Administration, is often several degrees higher than in other offices and he often asks to turn off the light in the corridors of the office building during the daytime.

Not only government organs, China's leading state-owned enterprises also took a lead in resource saving.

Six central enterprises, including Anshan Iron and Steel Group Company and Shanghai Baogang Group, all make achievements in raising output while reducing energy consumption.

The Anshan Iron and Steel Group Company saved 91,200 tons of coal in the first quarter 2005, and the Shanghai Baogang Group set a record of consuming 3.76 tons of water per ton of steel produced.

To build a saving society, the Chinese government has listed water-saving as a revolutionary measure, especially developing water-saving agricultural operations. The central government issued a document early this year, strengthening construction of irrigation and water conservancy facilities.

Developing water-saving agriculture is the sole way out for China's agriculture, said Zhai Haohui, vice-minister of agriculture.

(Xinhua News Agency July 2, 2005)