The Chinese government in action can be quite awesome. A massive infrastructure programme is taking place which includes building 35 new airports, 85 new subway systems and thousands of new motorways in the next five years. The government, despite the debacle at Copenhagen, is obviously taking the pollution of its cities seriously and has set itself the goal of greening its cities and tourist towns. This is the most extraordinary thing to see.

All existing highways in cities are having trees and shrubs planted in any spare foot of land available, so that all the land around and even under raised motorways is full of trees and flowering shrubs. In Shanghai under the soaring new motorways there are green oases being planted with trees and shrubs.

However, the most amazing sight is along the sides and in the centres of the new highways being built. These roads mainly have space for 4 lanes in each direction, although no white lines as yet. We saw three or four major roads in the relatively small city of Guilin, being planted up. The workforce must have been numbered in the thousands. Along each side of the motorway and between the two carriageways are wide spans of land. These broad ribbons of land are being densely planted with full grown ornamental trees, exotic palms, mature cycads and beautiful shrubs to a detailed landscape plan. The plan being different for each road. Convoys of small vans are to be seen parked in the new outer or inner lanes bearing teams of workers, mainly female, and the vast quantities of plants needed to fill all these spaces.

After the large trees have been planted and supported with elaborate bamboo structures, the rest of the planting is done entirely without mechanical aid. Scores of women plant shrubs in the patterns drawn out in lumps of chalk while others lay turf around the edges. The turf is delivered in thousands of small packages which are tied up like presents with coloured string tied in bows. Thousands of miles a day of landscaped verges are being produced, and around each town there are acres of nurseries devoted to growing the shrubs and trees needed for this amazing venture.

The greening of the cities is an extraordinary venture, solar street lighting is appearing on tourist routes, but the real test will be if the Chinese government starts to deal with the factories and power stations that are asphyxiating the citizens of many of its major cities.