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. Various types of land resources are unevenly distributed. The cultivated land is mainly in plains and basins in the monsoon regions of east China, while forests are mostly found in the remote mountainous areas in the northeast and the southwest. Grasslands are chiefly distributed on inland plateaus and in mountains.

China now has 130.04 million hectares of cultivated land. Eastern and western regions account for 28.4 percent of the total respectively and the central area constitutes 43.2 percent. The cultivated land is mainly distributed in Northeast China Plain, North China Plain, and the plain in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and in the Pearl River Delta and Sichuan Basin.

The fertile land in Northeast China Plain is chiefly planted with wheat, corn, sorghum, soybean, jute and ambary hemp, and sugar beet. Farm crops planted in North China Plain include wheat, corn, millet, sorghum, cotton and peanut. The plain in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River produces rice, orange and rapeseed, while Sichuan Basin abounds in rice, rapeseed, sugarcane, orange, grapefruit, tea, etc.

China lacks forests. Totaling 158.94 million hectares, forests cover 16.55 percent of China's total land area, far less than the world's average level of 30.8 percent. Natural forests are concentrated in the northeast and the southwest, but scarce in the densely inhabited and economically developed eastern plains and the vast northwestern region.

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). In order to conserve environment and meet the needs of economic construction, China has launched large-scale afforestation campaigns. The area of planted forests has reached 33.79 million hectares, accounting for 31.86 percent of the nation's total forest area, making China a country with the largest area of planted forests in the world.

Northeast China Forest Zone Located in the Greater and Lesser Hinggan Mountains and the Changbaishan Mountain, the Northeast China Forest Zone is the largest natural forest area in China, with its forest coverage and timber reserves accounting for over one-third of the national totals. The area turns out half of the national total timber output. Chief tree species include larch and Korean pine.

Southwest China Forest Zone China's second largest natural forest area, the Southwest China Forest Zone consists of forests in the Hengduanshan Mountains, on the southern slopes of the Himalayas and in the area at the U-turn of the Yarlung Zangbo River. Its forest reserves make up one-third of the national total. Main tree species include fir, red sandal and nanmu.

Southeast China Forest Zone Comprising mainly planted forests, the Southeast China Forest Zone covers the vast hilly areas south of the Qinling-Huaihe line and east of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau. Economic tree species are mainly planted in the zone, such as tea shrubs, moso bamboo, masson pine and lacquer tree.

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) shelterbelt, shelter-forests along the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, coastal shelterbelt networks, afforestation project in the Taihangshan Mountains and the plain afforestation project. Of these, the three-north shelterbelt, extending more than 7,000 km, has been regarded as "the world's greatest ecological project." Covering 260 million hectares, it accounts for a quarter of China's total land area.

China has 266.06 million hectares of grassland. The diverse types of pasturelands feed many kinds of domestic animals in different seasons. Pasturelands constitute a quarter of the national total area, making China one of the countries with the largest area of pasturelands in the world. Natural pasturelands are mainly distributed in areas west and north of the Greater Hinggan Mountains, the Yinshan Mountain and the eastern foot of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, while artificial pasturelands are concentrated in southeast China.

Four major pastoral areas:

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

Xinjiang Pastoral Area Fine breeds in the Xinjiang Pastoral Area include Xinjiang fine-wool sheep, Altay big-tail sheep and Ili horse.

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

Tibet Pastoral Area The Tibet Pastoral Area is a main yak producing area.