Many Chinese people, especially the younger generation, are reconsidering their relationship with the natural environment.

The Communist Youth League of China (CYLC) launched a massive environmental protection project in 1999 urging the country's 420 million young people to plant trees along major watercourses in China, including the Yangtze River and the Yellow River, both dubbed "Mother River of the Chinese culture".

At the 15th CYLC National Congress, which is scheduled to open in Beijing on July 22, outstanding achievement by young people in the CYLC mission will be awarded.

According to Zhao Yong, a member of the Secretariat of the CYLC Central Committee, the project aimed to cultivate awareness of environmental protection among the country's young people and attract more Chinese citizens to participate in the cause, which will benefit generations to come.

"Protecting our mother rivers is critical for maintaining the sustainable development of Chinese society," said Zhao.

Chinese tradition has held that human beings are part of nature, and will therefore benefit from environmental protection.

However, excessive exploitation of natural resources and environmental pollution have greatly endangered social and economic development in China. Floodwater from the Yangtze River frequently hits southeastern China while the gushing Yellow River has dried out in some tributaries.

Thanks to the CYLC project, some 56 million Chinese young people aged from 14 to 28 have participated in protecting the great rivers.

A total of 250 million people from all walks of life have contributed to the project, which involves donations and government funds of over 250 million yuan (US$32 million) . The area of newly planted trees and forests amounts to some 187, 000 hectares and it rapport with nature has become a new trend young Chinese people.

As an environmental protection move, Wang Junjing, an eight- year old Beijing girl, has collected some 100,000 used batteries during the past four years. The environmental protection association of Harbin Institute of Technology in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province has managed to buy each student in the university a spoon, replacing throw-away wooden chopsticks, commonly used in university cafeterias.

As young Chinese people plant trees and adopt a more environmentally-friendly lifestyle, a new "green" future can be expected, said Zhao Yong.

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