Owning a dog in Xi'an is now a lot cheaper.

The city has massively modified regulations affecting at least 80,000 dogs and their owners, in the capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

"It is good news for me, because I can get an ID card for my pet with less money," said Liu Xiaojun who has a dog, but has not bought an ID card in years.

The municipal registration fee has been reduced from 5,000 yuan (US$600) to 500 yuan (US$60) per dog, while the check fee has also gone down from 1,000 yuan (US$120) to 50 yuan (US$6).

For decades, as in many other Chinese cities, dog regulations tended to be strict in an effort to reduce the number of dogs.

However, there were complaints that authorities were not showing enough respect to diversifying lifestyles.

The new regulations set new restriction areas for dog raising and simplify the registration process, making administration and control easier, said Wang Xiwen, deputy director of dog raising control office of the Xi'an Municipal Public Security Bureau.

Dogs are still banned from public places, such as government departments, work units, enterprises and institutions, theatres, hospitals, markets and hotels, and also banned in public transportation.

Wang said the city's public security bureau has set up dog raising control offices in every of its branch and local police are in charge of dog control.

Dog raising is a new problem for urban administrations. With higher income and improved living conditions, more and more urban residents raise dogs and other pets.

However, while dog owners are pleased by their pets, other problems are on the rise such as diseases, damage to the environment, noise and bites. Without proper controls, they may become urban public hazards, Wang said.

Xi'an first issued urban dog regulations in 1995.

"Because some of the regulations were not very reasonable and not easy to put into operation, the regulation for dog raising control did not produce the anticipated result.

"Of the 80,000 dogs raised in Xi'an, only 10,000 were registered, with owners avoiding high ID card and check fees," Wang said.

(China Daily September 20, 2004)