To become a "green city" has been an objective perennially pursued by Hengyang city administrators and the citizens. In recent years, great achievements have been made in urban afforestation under the leadership of the Municipal Committee of the CPC and the Municipal government. A large number of urban greening projects have been built or renovated and the pace of urban greening also has been significantly quickened. By the end of 2008, the ratio of green space and the percent of green coverage amounted to 35.42% and 38.63% with increases of 11.19% and 11.18% respectively compared with those in the year of 2001. Per capita public green space reached the level of 8.49 square meters, a huge advancement from 1.78 square meters in 2001. Currently Hengyang is attempting to achieve the titles of Provincial Landscaping City and National Landscaping City.