Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao recently declared that China should become an "ecological civilization".

In recent years China has taken a series of measures to begin to reverse the sometimes terrible damage inflicted on the environment during the first phase of rapid economic development after its reform and opening-up began in 1978.

Hundreds of polluting factories have recently been closed, heavily polluting industries are now actively discouraged, and ecological criteria are being built into calculation of the national GDP and the evaluation of performance of public servants.