The cornerstone was laid 30 May for the Qinlin Botanical Garden, which boasts the world's largest one in terms of space, in Zhouzhi County of Xi'an, capital of central China's Shaanxi Province. Present at the ceremony were high-ranking officials, including Shaanxi Province's Governor Yuan Chunqing, former CAS vice president WANG Fosong and Xi'an City's Mayor Chen Baogeng. Under the joint sponsorship of the Shaanxi Government, the State Forestry Administration, CAS and Xi'an Government, the 458-square-kilometer Garden will be a floral sanctuary for more than 2,900 seed plants and some 600 vertebrate animals, including some rare and endangered species such as the giant panda, golden-haired and snob-nosed monkey, crested ibis and takin. The Qinling Range is considered a gigantic natural screen of vital importance for ecological safety in central China, acting as the demarcation line in the geological, climatic, biological, hydrological and pedological aspects between north and south China. It plays a constructive and essential function in the nurture of water resources, protection of bio-diversity and water-and-soil preservation throughout the country. More importantly, the Qinling Range is noted for its exceptional fecundity in bio-diversity, widely known as a floral and faunal paradise and a flourishing gene pool for herbal medicines. Because of the native diversity is its ecosystems, biota, and genetic codes, the Qinling Range becomes a Mecca for environment experts, biologists and explorers both at home and abroad. In Feb. 2001, the Shaanxi Government officially ratified the establishment of the Botanic Garden. Its total investment is estimated at 1.5 billion yuan (or $195 million). The garden's functional division includes a floral district and a faunal district for ex-situ protection, an in-situ district for bio-diversity preservation and a special district for the sight-seeing agriculture and ecological vacation, becoming one of the largest floral sanctuary for protection of bio-diversity, scientific research. popular science and ecological tourism. On 10 Oct., 2006, the four relevant sides of the joint sponsorship held the first meeting for their teamwork in Beijing, deciding to introduce a thinking approach featuring high starting point, high standards, and high quality for the Garden's founding work under the guideline of "protection, exploration, popular science and utilization." The goal preset for the move is to build the largest botanic garden with the most complete variety of functions in the world today as a top-ranking green brand among all the similar national endeavors in this country. When completed, it is expected to be four times the size of Australia's Queensland Botanical Gardens, currently the world's largest. Experts say that the on-going convention of its inaugural ceremony in Zhouzhi County signifies the advent of the grandiose plan's all-around implementation.

Editor: Letian Pan Source: CAS.cn