All chapters:

Introduction

Climate

Waters and water management

Ecosystems and ecoregions

Species diversity and use of biological resources

Nature conservation: econet and protected areas

Countries & cultures

Economy

Land use

International policy

Setting aside areas to preserve natural resources and cultural heritage has been practiced in China for centuries.  A large portion of northeast China was closed for immigration and extractive land-uses through the middle of the 19th Century as hereditary lands and hunting estates of the Qing Dynasty Emperors.
Modern China has been active in the establishment of PAs since the first nature reserve (NR) was established in Dinghushan in Guangdong Province in 1956.  Since then, new PAs were added slowly until 1979 and then rapidly after the Cultural Revolution.
There are several laws regulating PAs: the Nature Reserve Regulations, the Temporary Regulations for Scenic Landscape and Historical Site (SLHS), and a Management Measures for Forest Parks.  All NRs are established under the 1994 Regulations of the People's Republic of China on NRs which allow for only one management category.  Even so, Chinese NRs are established for a variety of purposes and at different levels of government (national, provincial, prefectural, county or district). (See glossary of PA types)
By 2005, China had established 2,349 nature reserves covering an area of 1.5 million square kilometers (15 percent of the China's land area). Of these, 243 are national NRs, accounting for 9.0 percent of the country’s land area.  In addition to NRs China had established over 2,000 PAs of other types by year-end 2002.  These include 1,476 forest parks and 690 scenic landscapes and historical sites that account for a further two percent of the national territory.  More than 50,000 additional small conservation areas were established to protect natural landscapes and preserve water and soil.
Forest parks are created and managed solely by the State Forest Administration (SFA) for tourism and recreation.  They often overlap with established and planned NRs.  Scenic Landscapes and Historic Sites (SLHS) are designated mostly by the Ministry of Construction, which is also responsible for national obligations under the World Heritage Convention.  Similar to Forest Parks, SLHSs often overlap with existing or planned NRs but have less defined management structures.  Nation-wide, the SLHS remains a type of designation rather than a consistent mode of protected areamanagement.
Over ten different ministries or administrations now manage Nature Reserves ("NRs" - most common type of protected area in China: “ziran baohuqu” in Chinese) in mainland China.  However, two agencies have primary responsibility on PAs issues: State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) is the national authority for environmental protection and biodiversity, and SFA is the national authority for forest, wetland and wildlife conservation and managed over 70 percent of all China’s nature reserves. In all three provinces of the Amur-Heilong River basin, the management of NRs under SFA is further divided between the Forest Industry Bureau (subordinated more or less directly to Beijing) and provincial forest bureaus that report to the provincial government.  These agencies often compete with one another, communicate poorly with each other, and have divergent approaches to planning and management.  In Heilongjiang Province, 65 percent of forests are managed by two Forest Industry Bureaus subordinated directly to Beijing.  Most of the NRs are planned and managed by the Heilongjiang Provincial Forestry Bureau which is responsible for the remaining 35 percent of forest lands of poorer quality.  Because there are few remaining large tracts of pristine habitat in China, NRs are typically located in partially fragmented landscapes and often include villages, farmlands, and water control infrastructure. ( see map on Protected areas and human footprint)
NRs are assigned to one of three major types – wildlife protection, ecosystem protection, or natural monument protection, although most reserves include elements of more than one type.  NRs have three management zones, the core area with no use, habitation or interference permitted, apart from limited scientific research; the buffer zone where some collection, measurements, management and scientific research is permitted; and the experimental zone where scientific investigation, public education, tourism, and raising of rare and endangered wild species are permitted. 

Table. PAs of China and in the China portion of the Amur-Heilong River basin in 2005. (Sources:  SEPA PA List 2006, Ye Hechang 2005, www.chinafpark.net. 2004)