The Maling River Gorge in Guizhou Province is threatened by over-exploitation, said experts.

After three years' endeavors, 28,000 herdsmen from 6,156 households have relocated from mountains and valleys in the Sanjiangyuan region.

China is building what it hopes will become the world's largest botanical gardens at the Qinling Mountain.

Six of China's national geoparks joined the Global Geopark Network.

A new campaign is underway to improve protection for old and rare trees.

Seven ecological districts have been set up in Tibet to provide scientific grounds for reasonable utilization of the area's natural resources.

Pictured here is the duo of two-month-old red-crowned cranes naturally incubated in the Shenzhen.

The ecology in Sanjiang is so fragile that it would be extremely difficult to repair any damage.

Jilin Province is applying for a world natural heritage title for the Changbai Mountain.

China launched its biggest oceanic environment survey to probe the conditions of its maritime space.

Projects have been designed to curb salinization of Bosten Lake in Xijiang.

Tibetan antelopes seem to have been getting increasingly accustomed to the specially built passages.

A new home was built for rare and endangered species in the Three Gorges Reservoir.

Dafeng David's Deer Nature Reserve in Jiangsu Province is named "home for milu" in China.

Minjiang Park, is an area where residents of Fuzhou, capital of Fujiang Province can enjoy leisure pursuits.

Special passageways were built for wild animals to cross the Qinghai-Tibet railway.

Xinjiang is to recover the natural landscapes of the Sayram Lake, a state-level nature reserve, by 2008.

Some of China's grasslands have been improved while the situation as a whole is deteriorating.

There is a "wetland fever" prevailing in China's Yangtze River Delta.

The 10th Five-Year Guidelines period had seen green coverage of cities increase to 31.66 percent.

The number of Marco Polo Sheep is increasing in Xinjinag.

A camellia tree with more than 10,000 pink flowers in bloom in Yunnan Province.

Experts are optimistic that climate fluctuations could actually ensure the existence of Yulong Snow Mountain glacier.

Proposals to build a forest along the upper reaches of Xijiang River have been put forward by top political advisers.

After decades of pollution and excessive fishing, China is taking measures to protect aquatic organism resources.

China has made efficient efforts to protect its largest wilding paddy field in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Frozen soil has been thawing faster, possibly endangering the Qinghai-Tibet Railway construction.

Guangzhou is to build three freshwater wildlife protection centers.

This winter has been especially tough for the swans in Shandong, not only because of record snowfalls, but also bird flu.

China will continue to use a satellite to track black-necked cranes wintering in Yunnan Province.

Turpan Basin in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region takes measures to reduce groundwater tapping.

Ecological Protection Catching Up with Destruction

Beijing is enjoying its longest and warmest autumn in the past five years.

Scientists claimed that they have discovered the cause of seasonal water quality deterioration in lakes.

The water level in Hongjiannao, China's largest natural fresh water lake in a desert, is continuing to decline.

Ginkgo Likely to Be China's National Tree

Forest Defences Help Shelter Coast from Disaster

China's Desertification Defense Line Takes Shape.

A 5-year project, costing US$92.6 million, is designed to protect the eco-environment of Sanjiangyuan.

The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is moving northward and eastward at 7-30 millimeters a year.

The number of golden monkeys in Hubei's Shennongjia Nature Reserve increased significantly in the last 15 years.

The trend of a worsening ecology in the Sanjiang region has slowed down considerably over the past few years.

Qingdao, a coastal city in Shandong Province, plans to set up seven wetland reserves in the coming 10 years.

Hainan Province will build a mangrove belt in the next five to ten years.

Rare storks bear nestling in Yellow River Delta.

China currently has 30 large wildlife parks. A large wildlife park's maintenance and operation require significant funding.

China will intensify afforestation efforts in and around Beijing to create a better environment for the 2008 Olympic Games.

WWF granted its highest award for nature conservation to a number of reserves in northeast China.

Residents were stunned when walnut-sized hailstones pelted southern and eastern parts of Beijing.

Black swans tend their chics at Wuhan Zoo, central China's Hubei Province.

Beijing will spend more than US$28 million this year in its efforts to prevent sandstorms.

Beautiful and fragrant, the peony is a symbol of happiness and prosperity in China, as well as the national flower.

A 45-member Chinese scientific expedition will remeasure Mt. Qomolangma and conduct a survey of the region.

Spring comes to Changchun, northeast China's Jinlin Province.

The sub-tropical island Taiwan witnessed a nine-hour, rarely-seen snowfall on March 6.

The transparency of the West Lake in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, reached 60.07 cm on average in 2004 and continues to rise.

The Spring Festival is ushered in with full-blown plum blossoms in Huaibei Park of Anhui Province in early February.

The Garden of the World's Flowers and Plants opened recently in downtown Beijing.

Plum flowers blossom after a heavy snowfall in Wuhan, Hubei Province, on January 21, 2005.

Harbin's Ice and Snow Festival, an annual gala started in 1985, opened January 5.

The Oriental Geological Popular Science Museum opens to the public in mid December, enabling visitors to have an overall view of the Earth.

The Yellow River Delta Nature Reserve in Shandong welcomes the first batch of red-crowned cranes for this winter.

Siberian tigers, the largest of all tigers, live mainly in Siberia and northeast China. There are only 300 such animals left in the wild, less than 20 in China.

A four-month-old squirrel monkey continues to depend on his mother in a wildlife park in Hefei, Anhui Province on Nov. 7, 2004.

All automobiles in northeast China's Liaoning Province have switched to ethanol fuel since early November.

Many Beijing residents choose to go to the Badaling section of the Great Wall to enjoy the best of autumn -- red leaves over the weekend.

A search and rescue drill was held at the mouth of the Yangtze River Oct. 20 to deal with marine and inland waterway disasters.

Water from the Yellow River is once again being diverted to Tianjin to help alleviate the city's water shortage.

This year's mooncake tin recycling scheme was a success in Hong Kong.

As the National Day is approaching, the Tian'anmen Square of Beijing is covered by fresh flowers and plants.

Chongming, China's third largest island at the mouth of the Yangtze River, will be constructed into a "garden on the sea" by 2010.

Beijing's gardeners are busy with breeding new varieties of flowers to ensure that the city is in full bloom when it hosts the 2008 Olympic Games.

A baby peacock was hatched by a dove in Suzhou Park in Jiangsu Province in late July.

Two chimp cubs were born to the Beijing Zoo on July 10 and 20.

The Yunnan Safari Park opened in early July. A total of 18,000 wild animals will be raised there.

The 3rd-round sand-washing operation to clear up the course of the sediment-laden Yellow River started in the Xiaolangdi reservoir on June 19.

Three zero-emission hydrogen-powered buses, purchased from German auto-maker Daimler Chrysler, will be put into operation in Beijing in September next year.

Lyrurus tetrixes, so called gamecocks, recently settled in a forest park in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Two Chinese mergansers take a swim in the Yalu River, in northeast China's Jilin Province. Eleven of the endangered birds appeared on the river this spring.

Shanghai goes green. This 3-km "ecological road" leading from the Qingpu-Pingwang Expressway crosses 8 streams and is bordered by a 160-meter-wide greenbelt.

China's forest coverage rate today is less than 17 percent, or only 61 percent of the world average, owing to chronic land reclamation for farming.

The spring has sprung in Beijing. The municipal government is doing its bit to make the city green with a newly launched program to plant 1.8 million trees.

A new type of solar public restroom has opened in downtown Beijing. The solar panels, resembling the open top of a grand piano, provide all the electricity for the earth-friendly facility.

Dolphins give a performance for delighted visitors at the Marine Animal Exhibition Hall at Tiger Beach, Dalian in northeast China's Liaoning Province.

Two-month-old South China Tiger triplets, bred naturally, play on the grass at the South China Tiger Breeding Farm in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, Feb. 20, 2004.

Flowers are trimmed and arranged by workers in Changchun, Jinlin Province, before the Valentine's Day.

Black geese at a zoo in Wuhan, Hubei Province. Local authorities disinfected zoos after 11 Chinese provinces and regions reported confirmed bird flu cases.

Shanghai enjoys the first snowfall of the year. The city is decorated with statues of monkey to welcome the Year of Monkey.

About 2,100 pairs of wild mandarin ducks have flown to Wuyuan of east China's Jiangxi Province this winter.

South China Tiger triplets make their public debut four days after being born in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. There are now 70 such rare tigers in the world.

Swans lark on the Wulapo reservoir in Xinjiang. The environment improvement fascinates 10 swans to spend their winter days.

Residents of a Shanghai community receive free bamboo baskets as the local government encourages people to use fewer plastic shopping bags.

Pedestrians near People's Square in Shanghai wander under ginkgo trees whose leaves have turned a golden color.

A flock of black-necked cranes having returned from India fly over a remote county in Tibet Autonomous Region, home to this crane species.

Two lesser sloth monkeys (Nycticebus pygmaeus) Shasha and Tiantian play on a banyan tree in Beijing Zoo.

Squirrels just released from cages look curiously at their new home in the scenic park of Qianfo Mountain in Jinan, Shandong Province.

An artificially propagated giant salamander cub is recently put into the Wanlu Reservoir, the largest of its kind in Guangdong Province.

A reed grows on the banks of the River Tarim. A successful water-diverting project begun in 2000 from the Bosten River has saved it from being seasonally dry.

The Lalu Wetland covers 62,000 square km, 11.7 percent of the total area of Lhasa, Tibet. It is the world's highest and largest urban wetland.

A flock of wild ducks are playing in Shichahai Lake, Beijing. The nearby raft was especially made for them by a local resident.

A newborn giant panda cub,weighing 180 grams, leans close to his mother Niu Niu in Beijing Zoo.

Some of the glaciers in the Everest area began melting more quickly in recent years due to global warming.

The baby squirrel monkey, born in the Shanghai Zoo a month ago and artificially raised, is very healthy with its weight reaching 165 grams already.

Two white tiger cubs, born two months ago in the Wild Animal Zoo in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province.

A chef displays his culinary skill for wildlife protection in Chongqing Municipality on July 22.

Two-year-old panda Xiangxiang is the world's first captive-bred giant panda to be returned to nature.

A lotus exhibition at the Shanghai Botanic Garden attracts lots of tourists.

Herds of mountain deer living in the Datian National Reserve in south China's Hainan Province.

A 1,000-year-old China cypress, the oldest in China, was found in Jiyang County of Jiangxi Province.

It is a season of flowers now in the Aletai Mountain of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

A flock of egrets dwelling in a mangrove forest along the Sanya River, Hainan Province

China Faces Flood and Drought This Summer

China faces a severe situation in flood control and drought relief this summer, warned Zhang Zhitong, deputy chief of the Office of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, at a press conference Friday morning.

A botanical garden recently opened in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

A Manchurian baby tiger was born in the World Window Park in Hunan Province on May 24, 2003.

An imported white stork looks after her two babies incubated two months ago in a bird zoo of Fuzhou, southeastern China抯 Fujian Province.

More than 300,000 tulips of over 50 varieties were on display at Beijing's Zhongshan Park, attracting tourists to the show.

Residents planted 3.55 million trees on the Voluntary Tree-planting Day in Beijing April 5, 2003.

Electricity generated by wind power will reach the rural areas of southwest China抯 Qinghai Province by the end of this year.

Children listen to meteorological knowledge at the Guizhou Meteorological Observatory on World Meteorological Day, March 23, 2003.

The snowfall in north China in early March helped curb seasonal sandstorm and relieve sustained drought.

More seagulls appear in the bathing beach in Yantai, Shandong Province, in early March thanks to bright and warm weather.

A 200-year-old Chinese plum tree (Prunus mume) breaks out into 2,000 blossoms in Suzhou.

The red panda, reddish brown in color, grows to about two feet and weighs 6-12 pounds. It lives in south China's Yunnan, Sichuan and Tibet.

The Fragrant Hill is one of the most beautiful sights in Beijing, winning its name from the maple leaves turning brightly red in autumn.

Beijing has built its first eco-park supplied with recycled wastewater from neighboring communities.

Environmental protection has been highlighted in Shanghai抯 infrastructure construction since 1990, with per capita green area expected to exceed 10 square meters by 2020.

A baby Chinese alligator crawled out of its shell on September 15 in the Chongqing Alligator Center after two-month hatch in an incubation box. It is an endangered reptile peculiar to China.

The Bactrian camel, also called wild two-humped camel, is the highly endangered wild animal. Only 800 are estimated to remain in the deserts of Xinjiang and Mongolia.

The white-headed leaf monkey is one of the most endangered primates in the world. Fewer than 800 of these monkeys still inhabit the southwest China抯 hillsides.

The Chinese sturgeon, known as a living fossil as it is one of the oldest vertebrates in the world, has existed for more than 200 million years.

The golden monkey in Yunnan Province is regarded as a state treasure. The government invests 1 million yuan (US$120,000) annually to protect the rare species.

The South China tiger is the most endangered of all tiger subspecies in the world. Only 30 to 50 such tigers still exist in the wild.

Giant panda, national treasure of China and one of endangered species in the world.

The red-crowned crane is the rarest crane species in the world, widely inhabiting northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

A 10-year reforestation project in China was announced recently.