White ants, little wood-eating insects, are threatening ancient buildings in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, an ancient city with a history more than 2,000 years old.

The threat to 18 ancient buildings, including the Beilin Museum, built during the Tang Dynasty (618-907), the Dayan Pagoda, which was built some 1,400 years ago, and the Chenghuangmiao Temple, built more than 600 years ago, is extremely serious, said Chen Zhongtang, director of Xi'an White Ants Prevention and Control Institute.

A large number of local residents' homes have already been damaged by the insects.

Before the 1990s, Xi'an saw few such insects but since then, as the climate gets warmer and damper, more white ants have been carried into the city with materials and commodities in growing trade from the south, Chen said.

Besides the ancient and local residential buildings, more than 20 per cent of Xi'an's forest and cash crops were also eaten by the insects. Due to that, Xi'an suffered losses of more than 300 million yuan (US$36 million) last year, the director said.

Xi'an, one of China's famous ancient cities, was the capital during 13 dynasties in Chinese history. It boasts a large number of ancient buildings and relics. The insects feed on all these ancient buildings.

Despite great efforts to control their spread, the number of harmful ants has grown quickly in recent years.

(China Daily June 7, 2004)