title: List of national parks of China
text: # List of national parks of China
  
  The proposal of establishing a national park system of China was released in 2013 at the 3rd Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. In 2016, the Three-River-Source National Park was established as the first experimental unit of this park system. Fujian Wuyi Mountains National Park was established in the same year, and 9 more parks have been designated since then. Currently, the National Park System of China has 11 units. They are administered by the National Forestry and Grassland Administration.
  
  ## List of National Parks
  
  | Name | Location | Establishment | Area $(km^2)$ | Description |
  | - | - | - | - | - |
  | Mountain Lu National Park | Jiangxi | December 6, 1996 | 302 | To protect exceptional geological upthrown fault scarps from the Quaternary age effects of Quaternary glaciation |
  | Three-River-Source National Park | Qinghai | March 9, 2016 | 123,100 | To protect source waters of three great rivers: Yangtze River, Lancang River and Yellow River. |
  | Wuyi Mountains National Park | Fujian | March 14, 2016 | 982.59 | To protect the biodiversity of the Wuyi Mountains. |
  | Northeastern China Tiger and Leopard National Park | Jilin and Heilongjiang | December 5, 2016 | 14,600 | To recover communities and populations of wild tigers and leopards in northeastern China. |
  | Giant Panda National Park | Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu | January 31, 2017 | 27,000 | To protect natural environmental corridors connecting different habitats of pandas. |
  | Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park | Hainan | April 1, 2019 | 4,400 | To protect the tropical rainforest in Hainan. |
  
  ## List of National Park pilot sites
  
  | Name | Location | Establishment | Area $(km^2)$ | Description |
  | - | - | - | - | - |
  | Shennongjia National Park | Hubei | May 14, 2016 | 1,170 | To protect local ecological systems of sub-tropical forests and sphagnum palustre swamplands. |
  | Qianjiangyuan National Park | Zhejiang | July 15, 2016 | 252 | To protect endangered species near the source of Qiantang River. |
  | Hunan South Mountain National Park | Hunan | August 8, 2016 | 635.94 | To protect birds and other ecological landscapes. |
  | Potatso National Park | Yunnan | October 26, 2016 | 602.1 | To protect local wetlands and grasslands. |
  | Beijing Great Wall National Park | Beijing | January 14, 2017 | 59.91 | To protect historical sites at Badaling Great Wall and Ming Tombs. |
  | Qilian Mountains National Park | Gansu and Qinghai | June 26, 2017 | 50,000 | To protect endangered species in the Qilian Mountains. |
  
  ## National Scenic and Historic Interest Areas
  
  Before the formal establishment of National Park System of China in 2016, the National Scenic and Historic Interest Area system [zh] (Chinese: 国家级风景名胜区; pinyin: Guójiājí Fēngjǐng Míngshèngqū) was 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 Scenic and Historic Interest Areas 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 244 National Scenic and Historic Interest Areas. The ranges and boundaries of these national parks are often extended beyond what the official names might suggest. The National Scenic and Historic Interest Areas system still exists after the establishment of national parks in 2016.
  
  