As the new school semester approaches, 58 junior students in Changsha received a 'surprise letter' from Hu Henghua, the mayor, in response to a letter they wrote to him at the beginning of February.
On Feb 2, 58 junior high school students from Changjun Bilingual School sent a letter to the mayor, voicing their wish to see more and better bike lanes in the city.
The students had done a questionnaire survey during their winter holidays in scenic spots and metro stations in the city to determine the public need for "building bike lanes in scenic areas and along urban roads".
More than 1,000 residents responded to the survey and based on the statistical data collected, the students brought up three proposals to the mayor in a bid to encourage the use of bikes for transportation and leisure.
In his reply, the mayor said that he had urged municipal departments including the City Planning Bureau, Housing and Urban-rural Development Bureau and the Traffic Police Branch of Public Security Sureau to conduct a careful study of the student proposals.
Hu also thanked the authors of the letter and sent his best wishes to all students.
"All of us were anxious, wondering whether the mayor would read the letter. But we didn't expect that he would actually reply as we know that he must be very busy every day," said Diao Yufan, one of the students.
Diao said that their original intention was to help protect the environment in the city and healthy life-style, as their running exercises in the school are often called off in foggy and hazy weather.
Now she hoped the letter could draw more attention from both the government and local residents to local environmental issues.
