China participated for the first time in the World Earth Hour campaign Saturday night by switching off all unnecessary lighting in residential, business and public venues, including iconic Olympic landmarks such as the Bird's Nest Stadium and Water Cube.

The event, an initiative of the World Wildlife Fund is designed as a call to action on climate change. The WWF wants every non-essential light to go dark for one hour on the last Saturday of March each year.

 Yang Fuqiang is director of global climate change solutions at the WWF.

"Our goal is to call one billion people to take part in the event. This event aims to raise the public's awareness on climate change. We are calling people to take various measures to reduce carbon dioxide emission, save energy resources and protect the environment."

Yang adds that if one billion people participate in the event, carbon dioxide emissions could be reduced by one million tons.

Zong Simeng, an office worker in Beijing says companies should take steps beyond Earth Hour. For example, lights should be turned off in offices with enough sunlight.

"Maybe Earth Hour is just a symbolic act. We should take more action to save energy so as to protect the earth."

Besides Beijing, other cities and regions in China including Shanghai, Nanjing, Hong Kong and Macao also participated in Earth Hour.