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.
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