BEIJING, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Chinese children are outgrowing free bus rides.

    The Beijing municipal government has revised its criteria for children who are not required to pay for public transport-- any child 1.2 meters tall or under is now eligible.

    Shortly after the founding of new China in 1949, the central government granted this entitlement to children who were both under seven years old and 1.1 meters tall or under, along with free entry to leisure activities and school lunches.

    But many younger children are now excluded because the average height of a five-year-old Chinese child is now 1.2 meters, more than 10 centimeters taller than half a century ago, due to better nutrition and health care.

    Chinese children have grown by an extra 2.3 to 3 centimeters every 10 years in the past half-century, statistics with the Beijing Municipal Children's Studies Institute show.

    Because of the growth in height, China's 360 million children have run into problems of buying tickets.

    A number of cities and provinces in China have already raised the height limit.

    As early as October 2002, northeast China's Liaoning province raised the line to 1.3 meters. In December 2003, Zhengzhou, capital city of central Henan province, followed suit. In neighboring Hebei province, the line was raised to 1.2 meters in June 2003. Enditem