In the People's Republic of China, (Chinese: 国家级风景名胜区; pinyin: Guójiājí Fēngjǐng Míngshèngqū; literally "National-level Scenic and Historic Interest Area") is the exact equivalent of the term 'national park' (Chinese: 国家公园; pinyin: Guójiā Gōngyuán) applied to the rest of the world, as specified in the National Standard of the People's Republic of China GB50298-1999: Code for Scenic Area Planning, and in the Green Paper: Situation and Prospects of China's Scenic Areas published by the Ministry of Construction in 1994. National parks in China were officially approved and declared by the State Council. The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development is in charge of the supervision and administration of national and provincial parks throughout the country.
To date, China has 208 national parks. The ranges and boundaries of these national parks are often extended beyond what the official names might suggest. For example, the Taihu National Park/太湖国家级风景名胜区 (overall size ：3,091 km²), stretching across Suzhou and Wuxi, is composed of 13 scenic zones (with a number of scenic spots in each SZ): Mudu/木渎, Shihu/石湖, Guangfu/光福, Dongshan/东山, Xishan/西山, Luzhi/甪直, Tongli/同里, Yushan Hill/虞山, Meiliang Lake/梅粱湖, Lake Lihu/蠡湖, Xihui/锡惠, Mashan/马山, Yangxian/阳羡, plus 2 isolated scenic spots (those falling outside of the scenic zone): Taibo's Shrine/泰伯庙 and Taibo's Tomb/泰伯墓.
Famous quotes containing the words national, parks and/or china:
“The word which gives the key to the national vice is waste. And people who are wasteful are not wise, neither can they remain young and vigorous. In order to transmute energy to higher and more subtle levels one must first conserve it.”
—Henry Miller (1891–1980)
“Perhaps our own woods and fields,—in the best wooded towns, where we need not quarrel about the huckleberries,—with the primitive swamps scattered here and there in their midst, but not prevailing over them, are the perfection of parks and groves, gardens, arbors, paths, vistas, and landscapes. They are the natural consequence of what art and refinement we as a people have.... Or, I would rather say, such were our groves twenty years ago.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“It all ended with the circuslike whump of a monstrous box on the ear with which I knocked down the traitress who rolled up in a ball where she had collapsed, her eyes glistening at me through her spread fingers—all in all quite flattered, I think. Automatically, I searched for something to throw at her, saw the china sugar bowl I had given her for Easter, took the thing under my arm and went out, slamming the door.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)