BEIJING - A total of 124 Chinese cities joined urban centers around the world in turning off the lights of their landmark buildings on Saturday night, as part of an environmental initiative of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

Initiated by the WWF in 2007, the "Earth Hour" project calls on the people in the world to turn off their lights for a spell on the evening of the last Saturday of March every year, to promote energy-saving and sustainable development.

At 8:30 pm, the lights were turned out at major sites in Beijing, like the Great Wall at Badaling, the Water Cube and the National Stadium, placing the city among 5,000 urban centers in more than 140 countries to take part in Earth Hour.

The 124 Chinese cities that joined the project this year have also declared their commitment to environmental protection.

More than 1,400 enterprises around the country have also registered for the Earth Hour project.