Currently, at least 1 million Beijing residents suffer from all sorts of noise pollution, according to sources with the municipal environmental protection bureau.

They mainly live in areas along urban highways trunks, railways and near construction sites, said Zhuang Shuchun, deputy chief engineer with the bureau.

Work staffs with the bureau used a special method to test noise pollution. They divided the city proper of Beijing into four functional zones in advance and then measured the decibels of each functional zone during daytime and at night respectively. The zones with decibels higher than the required standard are listed as noise pollution-contaminated areas.

Some areas recorded noise pollution as high as 70 decibels, while the minimum recorded noise pollution came to 45 decibels, Zhuang said.

During the period between the 1970s and the 1990s, industrial noise was blamed the major noise pollution in the city proper. Consequently, local government moved nearly 100 plants and workshops out of the city proper to reduce noise pollution.

Since the 1990s, noise at construction sites, restaurants and other commercial business sites became a new source of noise pollution in the city.

Rapid increase in the number of motor vehicles, as well as airplanes and trains is listed as a major source of noise pollution in recent years.

(Xinhua News Agency November 30, 2005)