**Exhibit 31.1**

 

**Certification of Principal ExecutiveOfficer**

 

**Pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-OxleyAct of 2002**

**and Securities and Exchange CommissionRelease 34-46427**

 

I, Shuwen Kang, certify that:

 

1. I have reviewed this annual report onForm 10-K of China Natural Gas, Inc.;

 

2. Based on my knowledge, this annual reportdoes not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made,in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by thisannual report;

 

3. Based on my knowledge, the financialstatements, and other financial information included in this annual report, fairly present in all material respects the financialcondition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this annual report;

 

4. The registrant’s other certifyingofficer(s) and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange ActRules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and15d-15(f)) for the registrant and have:

 

a. Designed such disclosure controlsand procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that materialinformation relating to the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities,particularly during the period in which this report is being prepared;

 

b. Designed such internal controlover financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed under our supervision, to providereasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for externalpurposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;

 

c. Evaluated the effectiveness ofthe registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectivenessof the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and

 

d. Disclosed in this report any changein the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant’s most recent fiscalquarter (the registrant’s fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonablylikely to materially affect, the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting; and

 

 

 

5. The registrant's other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation ofinternal control over financial reporting, to the registrant's auditors and the audit committee of registrant's board of directors(or persons performing the equivalent functions):

 

a) all deficiencies and material weaknessesin the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant'sability to record, process, summarize and report financial information; and

 

b) any fraud, whether or not material,that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the registrant's internal control over financial reporting.

 

Date: April 2, 2012