Chinese: embrace bottled water

　　About 15 or 20 years ago, many Chinese were puzzled when watching US movies as to why those foreigners did not use thermos flasks for boiled water. After all, it was still the most common daily drink of Chinese people .

　　In the past fifteen years, soda drinks, such as Coc a Cola, the most famous among them, have changed from s tylish symbols among the young generation to common dri nks shared by people of all ages.

　　However, water is back in fashion, but nowadays peo ple drink bottled water rather than boiled water. Bottl ed mineral water is much more popular than boiled water , because it is believed to be good for people's health .

　　Today's Chinese can buy highquality bottled water a t the grocery store produced in different parts of the country, from East China's Qiandao Lake to Northwest Ch ina's Tianshan Mountain, and even from places abroad li ke France.

　　Traditional Chinese tea remains popular not only am ong elderly people but also the new generation. But the youth drink canned tea rather than hot tea from the tea pot.

　　Experts here noted that consumers prefer bottled wa ter as it is more "natural " than soda drinks and clean er than tap water. More and more urban families are als o using water filters at home.

　　About one-third of Beijing's 2.03 million families are equipped with water filters and over 100,000 water fillers are used in offices. The country spends an aver age of 500 million yuan on drinking water annually.

　　However, these changes are not as perfect as they s eem. About two-third of China's 668 cities surveyed fac e water supply shortages and people in some remote vill ages still do not have access to tap water.

　　Pollution of water supplies is also a concern as ov er 60 percent of rivers running through urban areas are polluted.

　　Experts said that the common use of water filters s hows people's worry about the quality of drinking water .

　　People Daily