Among the eight "Green Chinese" who received awards on December 9 for their contributions to environmental protection over the past year, Du Shaozhong was honored for his support of the "drive one less day a month" campaign in Beijing.

Du, Deputy Director of the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau, was nominated because of his commitment to the pledge that he would come to work on foot. At least twice a month, Du, who is in his 50s, makes the 70-minute walk to his office in a bid to encourage more people to join the program.

"Control of air pollution is an increasingly difficult job, especially amid the side effects of the rapid urbanization process. We need to work harder for this purpose," said Du, who attributed the award to a rising public awareness of environmental protection in China. "Apart from the air problem, the deteriorating water quality and noise pollution also burden the environment of Beijing."

Since the "drive less" program was launched in May, the participants have exceeded 100,000. During the China-Africa Forum Summit in November, more than 40,000 ordinary citizens contributed to the effort to ease the traffic congestion as well as to reduce auto emissions to improve the air quality in Beijing by leaving their cars home. Instead, they took other forms of transportation or even walked to work.

As a matter of fact, the "no-car day" campaign was initiated in an attempt to achieve the azure days set by the "Defending the Blue Sky" program begun in 1998, which hopes that the city might have clear days more than 60 percent of the time during the year.

Over the past few years, the capital city has seen a dramatic improvement in air quality by moving heavily polluting industries out the downtown area and tightening up emission standards. Challenges still lie ahead, however, with the number of private cars topping 2.7 million, according to the latest reports.