Establishing a national garden city has become a hot issue in Shandong Province. Three cities, Dezhou, Heze and Taian, all are working toward this recognition..

"We have solved the primary problem of soil salinization and improved our planting technology, in order to create a national garden city here in Dezhou," said Wang Yihai, a senior engineer at Dezhou Municipal Gardens Office.

Researchers tested soil at a 300 square meter salt elimination demonstration plot at a scientific-research base at the City Landscape Planning and Design Institute in Decheng District on April 11. The results highlighted a lowering trend in salt levels, with the figure decreasing by 21.8 percent since August 2012. Green technology has also been a primary focus, with 27 green technology instructors giving site-instructions at sub-district offices, relevant units and enterprises.

In the city of Hezen, green land area increased to 2,973 hectares by the end of 2012, The greenland rate and green coverage rate were 37.59 percent and 41.71 percent, respectively, while per capita park green area reached 11.68 square meters, which implies that the three major forestation indexes meet national garden city standards. Heze's streets are decorated by trees and flowers while new parks are being built all over the city.

Tai'an City is also attempting to become a national garden city. "Tai'an has been awarded the China Habitat Environment Prize and received Environmental Protection Model City status, meaning that our environmental protection and city construction management has reached a new level. Standing at a new historical height, we are going to build a national garden city in Taian," said Li Hongfeng, Party Secretary last Friday.????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

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