The capital of northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Yinchuan, recently won the honor of being China's quietest city.

The latest environmental examination of 46 major Chinese cities shows that the noise in Yinchuan is measured at only 50.1 decibels, which means the whole city is as quiet as a convalescent hospital.

Locked in the hinterland of northwest China, the city has a relatively backward economy compared with southeastern regions of China. With the acceleration of urban construction over the past few years, noise pollution has drawn the attention from both the government and the public.

Factories causing loud noises were moved out of the urban areas. And during the construction of streets, the prevention of traffic noise was taken into consideration. Vehicles in the city are forbidden to honk their horns.

Other measures such as afforestation and opening telephone hotline for reporting noise pollution were also adopted. As a result, the city's noise went down nearly five decibels over the past three years.

Li Jiangong, vice mayor of Yinchuan, said that the city is also clean and green in addition to the feature of quietness.

(People's Daily 06/17/2001)