Serious erosion hitting rurals

Rain, rivers and roadworks taking toll on nation's land

BEIJING - More than one-third of China's vast territory is crumbling, according to statistics from the Ministry of Water Resources.

Up to 3.56 million square kilometers of the country's landmass is already affected by serious erosion, while about 4.5 billion tons of soil (19.2 percent of the world's total) is being lost every year.