◆By Yuan Xuan

　　Now Nanjing boasts 17115 hectors of parks and greenbelt, including 222 square kilometers in constructed area and 8675 hectors of green area, The proportion of the green belt is 39%, and the rate of green space in urban has reached 43%. Given that the per capita possessive of the public greenbelt is 9.51 square meters, Nanjing is now holding a leading position in this field among the big cities in China, including the provincial capitals and the cities directly under the jurisdiction of the central government. The green belt system consisting of various types serving versatile purposes has been built up and has become a proud of the city.

　　The Rapid Increase of Greenbelt

　　With over 20,000 acres of greenbelt increased in the suburb area and the extension of over 2 million square meters in the completed gardens and parks in recent years, Nanjing is expected to be characterized as a grand city of trees. According to the statistics in the latest five years, an increase of 10.21 million square meters has been achieved in the greenbelt extension in the completed gardens and parks, including the wood of over 12 million shrubbery and arbor plants, and over 4 million square meters of lawns. Among the newly built greenbelt areas, the public area constitutes 5.23 million square meters. Thus the recent years have witnessed the most rapid development of greenbelt building in Nanjing.

　　Nanjing has long been famous for its greenbelt along the streets, and the streets and roads decorated with trees are recognized as "the greed tunnel". From 1998, great efforts focusing on combining the ecological need with the aesthetic need have been made to improve the greenbelt along the old streets and extend it to the newly built streets. The species of trees for the greenbelt is well chosen form the plants which are able to grow well in the climate of Nanjing. Now an increase of 40 new species for the greenbelt along the reads has been accomplished on the basis of 20 species in 1997. Along the streets and the roads, people can see different kinds of trees decorated on both sides, and the design of the decoration is becoming versatile.

　　In order to better reflect the latest development in greenbelt building, the municipal government pays attention to not only the extension of the greenbelt area but also the scientific design of it. In the new design, the natural resources and scenes of the mountains, the water body and the suburb forests have been made of good use, and greenbelt planning has been made following scientific approaches. Directed by the scientific planning, the new greenbelt is built according to the various practical conditions of areas along the water bodies, near the mountains, inside the city, along the ancient circumvallation, along the major roads and streets and along the expressways, making good use of the humanistic resources, and fulfilling the ecological need of the people, and aiming at making the city more beautiful. Meanwhile, public squares and parks have been built in the old area of the city, so that residents there can have enough places for recreation. Now 49 public squares and 62 public parks covering over 1.6 square meters have been built in the city for this purpose, carrying various styles and cultural features, and are favorably recognized as a representative character of the modern city. Meanwhile, a large-scale park-styled greenbelt along the Xuanwu Lake has been opened to the public for free. Now in Nanjing, people can find a public area or a park every 500 meters.

　　Adhering to the principles of "to plant more trees of big species and to plant flowers as more as possible" recommended by the central government, Nanjing has begun launching its project of "Big Trees Planting", and from 2001 till now, 160,000 trees have been planted. Boasting one of the major trees cultivating basement in China, the municipal government of Nanjing has been encouraging the farmers to cultivate big trees for forestation, and has established over 10 sites of basement for big trees seedling nursery. Yield of the over 10,000acres of such basement has satisfied the demand of the whole city for big trees.

　　The Promotion on the Tertiary Industry Brought About by Forestation

　　In the building and development of parks and scenic areas, the pursuit to cultural characteristics and values is highly advocated, and great efforts has been made to reveal the artistic features and cultural values of Nanjing as the capital of 6 ancient dynasties. Buildings covering over 100,000 square meters which are unsuitable to the overall style of the whole park and the scenic style have been removed and the place left is for the extension of the green area, including areas for gardens and flowers decoration. The scene in the major parks, including Xuanwu Lake, Hongshan Mountain, and Bailuzhou Island, has been greatly improved through further forestation. With the development in the greenbelt and infrastructure of Dr Sun Yat-Sun's mausoleum and Rain-Flower Terrace, the scenic ares have put on a new look. Because of the improvement, the both major scenic areas have gotten national awards among the scenic zones all over the country, and Xuanwu Lake has managed to rank itself among the three-star parks. Moreover, the scenic areas in Nanjing have begun to develop their own specialties, for example, in the scenic area of Dr. Sun Yat-san's Mausoleum, a hill of plum blossom has been built, and in the Carefree Lake Park, a Garden of The Chinese flowering crabapple, and in the scenic area of Qixia Mountain, a garden of Red Scenes has been built. The specialties have enhanced the aesthetic value of the scenic areas.

　　In the urban forestation project, the emphasis is laid in improving the overall forestation in Nanjing, and to the exert the ecological function of the gardens and greenbelt. For instance, in building the scenic zone along the Ming circumvallation, the parks, the areas along Qinhuai River and other water bodies, and the constructed green lines have been linked through creative designs, and thus the grand scenic style has been formed. In greenlining the expressway around Nanjing city, a greenbelt with the length of over 60 kilometers, the exo-width of 100 meters and the endo-width of 20-50 meters has been built with over 630,000 trees, including poplar and metasequoia. The total area of the greenbelt is over 6500 acres. In the forestation recovering of Mufu Mountain, 9 diggings in the mountain area have been closed, and directed by the methods of forestation intensively with small scale, 5 sessions of forestation have been finished, in which over 1 million trees have been built in the area of 700,000square meters. In the forestation of areas along the Yangtze River, the sand and wind breaks in Dachang District has been built, and forestation for scenic improving has been carried out in the areas along the Yangtze River, in which over 1 million poplars and cerdars has been planted. This has laid solid foundation for further forestation along the Yangtze River.

　　Through the overall forestation in the city, the outlook and ecological conditions of Nanjing have been remarkably improved and thus attracted guests from all over the world to come to attend various international conventions, including the Sixth World Chinese Entrepreneur Convention, the Sixth China Art Festival, and other conventions in the world level or in the country level. This has greatly promoted the development of the tertiary industry for Nanjing. As a beautiful city boasting not only famous scenic area and historic sites, but also wonderful urban greenbelt and good ecological conditions, Nanjing has attracted tourists and investors both from home and abroad. Statistics shows that in 2002, the income of the travel industry has reached 22 billion RMB, occupying 17% of the CDP of the city. From January to September 2003, the city has attracted foreign investment of 3.07 billion USD, and the realized investment is over 1.609 billion USD.

　　The New Era of "Green Nanjing"

　　In 2002, following the overall planning and strategy of the development of Nanjing City, the municipal government began to launch the grand project of building a new Green Nanjing, the goal of which is to raise the green space rate of the constructed area to 41%, the green space cover rate to 45%, and per capita public green area 12 quare meters. In 2010, the green area rate of the constructed area is expected to reach 43%, the green space cover rate 48%, and per capita public green area 15 quare meters, and manage to rank the city among the cities first recognized as "cities with good conditions for residence" in China.

　　At present and in the near future, the emphasis of forestation in Nanjing will be laid in the ten major forestation projects along Qinhuai River, in the west bank of Qinhuai River and along Yangtze River, and in the forestation of the ecological wind and sand breaks, and in improving green areas in the center of the city. In the future three years, over 6 billion yuan (US$ 729 million ) will be invested for the projects. We hope that the great objective of building a new Green Nanjing will surely be realized in the near future!