intent to yield resu

through returning farmland to forest since 2000(160 million tons)declare w

and the value of Chinas energy-saving and environmental industries sched

/4.5 trillion RMB yuan approximately USS072 trillion) by 2015). He beneft

stated: "We need to declare war on environmental pollution, on

unclean water and dirty air As an example of how China is moving ensure

forward aggressively on this front, Li claimed that 60 million rural aw

water users were supplied with clean drinking water in 2013, with thanks

another 60 million scheduled to benefit in 2014. Yet there is still

much to do. The day after I left Beijing. the capital experienced launch

dangerous smog, with concentrations of 2.5-micrometer particles career

that were 20 times the level considered safe by the World Health declin

Organizatio/°

At

4 Ensuring that China has the best and brightest scientists to solve enroll

these problems is not just good policy for the Premier, but some- ots

thing personal. Over 30 years ago, Li was a peasant from a poor

rural part of China. Thanks to his excellent performance on the previc

college entrance examination, he was admitted to the elite Peking a

University, which helped launch his own illustrious career. When

Li became Premier, he noted that the proportion of poor students solun

at the elite Chinese universities was declining. Therefore, last year

the Chinese government asked those universities to enroll more

rural students from underdeveloped central and western areas of

China and provided 5 billion RMB (approximately US50.8 billion)

in scholarships to offset the cost of their college attendance. Their s

representation increased by 10%o over the previous year, Li noted

s Our meeting made the 7 p.m. national news and was over the

morning papers. Even cab drivers know about the meeting and

were impressed. Scientific research had attained rock-star status c

in China. I suspect that this was the hoped-for intent when Dr Bai

of the CAS made the request for my meeting with the Premier. If

the long-term result is that Chinas most talented youth become re.

searchers to find environmental solutions, then we all win

635 words