The government of northwest China’s Shaanxi Province has decided to build the Qinling Botanic Garden, the largest in the world, in the Qinling area known as the “biologic genes bank”.
The Qinling Mountains serve as the natural demarcation line between southern and northern climates in China’s mainland. It also provides a natural soil for various types of biological resources. Many national nature reserves have been established in Qinling, the country’s largest group of nature reserves.
Located in Zhouzhi County at the northern foot of Qinling, the garden will cover 458 square km after completion. In addition to 3,200 species of plants in Qinling and the warm temperate zone, it will transplant over 900 species in the temperate zone. It will become a major center in China for research into and development of biologic resources.
The garden will also introduce more than 2,000 species of tropical and subtropical plants, while providing tourism service related to popular science.
(People’s Daily 04/17/2001)
