China to establish hundreds of national parks

As many as 200 national parks may be established in China according to a high level forestry official. Chinanews.com reports on comments from Tang Xiaoping, deputy director of the National Parks Management Office, who told a press conference that a team is assessing potential sites around the country. It is likely that between 60 and 200 parks will be established that will cover between 6% and 9% of China’s territory. Tang stressed that many of the parks will result from the reorganisation of China’s 12,000 protected areas. China currently has ten national parks.