Beijing's summer has seemed pretty wet this year, with rain on average occurring just about every other day during June and July.

But it's a deceptive figure, as this year's quantity of rainfall is not significantly higher than that of last year.

A quick look at the figures for June show total precipitation at 75 millimeters, only 0.9 mm up on last year.

This leaves the capital's situation regarding lack of water just as serious as before.

(CRI.com August 1, 2004)