(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-04-10 17:14

Northern China experienced dusty conditions six times, including three sand storms, during the first quarter, the State Forestry Administration (SFA) said on Thursday.

The dusty conditions affected 200 million people in 15 provincial regions over an area of 2.2 million square kilometers, SFA spokesman Cao Qingyao said.

The affected area accounted for 23 percent of China's total area, or four times the area of France.

Dusty weather has hit northern China 6.3 times during the first quarter on average over the past seven years, he added, with the frequency usually peaking in April.

Beijing usually had dusty weather four times in March and six times in April, but such weather occurred only once this March, said Jiao Meiyan, a spokeswoman of the China Meteorological Administration.