A friend once asked, 'I've been to Guangdong many times. Is there anything new to explore? Food? Museums?' I said, 'Go see the plants.' With a 3500-kilometer greenway in Guangzhou, it's enough for your city walking. There's also the South China Botanical Garden, the oldest, most diverse, and largest tropical botanical garden in China. Have you considered a countryside self-driving tour? There are many themes: visiting ancient tree groups in Tangjiawan, Zhuhai; the Huizhou Sea Turtle National Reserve; tracing roots at Nanshe Tea Mountain in Dongguan; there are climbing, ecotherapy, and folk culture experiences, lots fun in Guangdong.
Guangdong is vigorously promoting ecological construction to make Guangdong's sky bluer, mountains greener, waters clearer, and ecology more beautiful.
Guangzhou Haizhu Lake Wetland Park, the largest urban wetland park in the country, covers 1100 hectares. It's truly not easy to protect such a wetland park in a first-tier city. Initially, it was just a lake used for water storage. Gradually, based on the wetland foundation, ecological restoration began, conserving flora and fauna. Ever heard of an 'Insect Hotel'? Using wood, bamboo, straw, etc., houses are built for different insects to breed, rest, and survive the cold; bird species have increased from 72 to 194, and insect species have risen from 42 to 738. There's also the grass beach bird island for the ecological recovery of various bird species; numerous new species have been discovered here.
The data shows that the wetland area in China is over 1.9 million hectares, accounting for 10% of the world's wetlands, ranking first in Asia and fourth in the world. The International Wetland Convention states that China has 64 internationally important wetlands, with Guangdong having four, ranking second in the country, and 270 national wetland parks. This is Green and Beautiful Guangdong.
The 'Understanding China' International Conference 2023 will be held in Guangzhou from December 1st to 3rd. One of the topics includes a comprehensive display of the vibrant development panorama of the Greater Bay Area. This brings us to today's topic: 'Green and Beautiful Guangdong'.
