NATIONAL FLAG, NATIONAL EMBLEM, NATIONAL CAPITAL, NATIONAL ANTHEM|ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISION

GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES|NATURAL RESOURCES|CLIMATE|POPULATION, ETHNIC GROUPS

Land Resources  Fauna and Flora Resources  Mineral Resources

Land Resources

With a vast territory, China has diverse types of land resources. There are more mountains than plains, with cultivated land and forests constituting small proportions. The cultivated land is mainly in the eastern part, while forests are mostly found in the remote mountainous areas in northeast and northwest China. Grasslands are chiefly distributed on inland plateaus and in mountainous areas.

Cultivated Land

China now has 130 million hectares of cultivated land mainly planted with wheat, rice, corn, sorghum, soybean, millet, jute and ambary hemp, sugar beet, cotton, peanut, rapeseed, sugarcane, tea, orange, etc.

Forests

China lacks forests. Totaling 158.94 million hectares, forests cover 16.55 percent of China’s total land area. However, the forests in China are rich in tree species, with the number of arbor species alone exceeding 2,800. Rare and peculiar species include ginkgo and metasequoia (dawn redwood). The area of planted forests has reached 33.79 million hectares, accounting for 31.86 percent of the country’s total forest area.

The Northeast China Forest Zone in the Greater and Lesser Hinggan Mountains and the Changbaishan Mountain is the largest natural forest area in China, with its forest coverage and timber reserves accounting for over one-third of the national total.

The Southwest China Forest Zone, the second largest, consists of forests in Hengduanshan Mountains, on the southern slopes of the Himalayas and at the U-turn of the Yarlung Zangbo River. Its forest reserves make up one-third of the national total.

The Southeast China Forest Zone with main planted forests in China covers the vast hilly areas south of the Qinling Mountain and Huaihe River and east of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau.

Shelter-Forests: In a bid to resist sandstorms and prevent soil erosion, China has constructed many shelter-forests, such as the three-north (northeast, north and northwest China) shelter belt, shelter-forests along the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, coastal shelterbelt networks, afforestation project on the Taihang Mountain and the plain afforestation project. Of these, the three-north shelter belt has been regarded as “the world's largest ecological project”.

Grassland

China has more than 400 million hectares of grassland. The diverse forms of pasturelands feed many kinds of domestic animals in different seasons.

Four Major Pastoral Areas:

Inner Mongolia Pastoral Area: The largest in China, it produces such fine breeds as Sanhe horse and Sanhe cattle.

Xinjiang Pastoral Area: Its fine breeds include Xinjiang fine-wool sheep, Altay big-tail sheep and Ili horse.

Qinghai Pastoral Area: The main yak producing area, it also breeds the world-famous Hequ horse.

Tibet Pastoral Area: The main yak producing area.