Nanning ,capital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region,is an old city of southwest China.a city of long history,beautiful scenery and artistic aoul.
Nanning was chosen to be the location of the seat of Jinxing Prefecture in 318,kilometers.It is the hinge between eastern and western China,and between China and the ASEAN economies.It is political,economic,cultural,financial,and information heart of Guangxi.Nanningboasts coperehensive air ,sea and land transportation and ideal living environment.It has won such honors as the 2000 UN Best Practices in Human Settlements Improvement,the first China Human Settlements & Environment Award,and the Top Ten Chinese Cities of Ecological Constuction. Nanning has a mild climate with plenty of sunshine ;the fragrance of fruits fills the air ,and there is greenery all year round.Flowers combine with modern highrise and bustling street scenes to form a sub-tropical city garden,praised by Chinese and overseas visitors alike as a"green city." According to its urban construction vision,Nanning aims to build itself into a subtropical city with features typical ofGuangxi ethnic minorities.Green will be the dominant color¡ªgreen mountains surrounding the city ,clear water and lush plants adorning it. The plan has detailed stipulations in nine aspects, including landscape construction, layout of greenery and gardens, environment-friendly communities, green energy, and disposal of different wastes. Experts consider that living beings on the planet evolved from tropical areas. which is why humans feel a natural close affinity toward tropical areas and favor adventure and sightseeing m tropical forests. Walking on the streets in Nanning is akin to walking in an open tropical botanical garden. Under the tall evergreen broad-leaved plants are shrubs and ground covering plants. The buildings are all hidden behind flourishing flowers and overgrowing trees. It is said that Nanning has over 1.000 plant species. Arbors include almond.jackfruit, mango, kapok. Queen crapemyrtle. Cuban royal palm and Chinese fan palm. Shrubs include lady palms. Chrysalidocarpus lutesens, banana shrub, and camellia. Ground covering plants include white fringed iris. Chinese Crinum. Monstera. and Rhaphidophora. Many precious "indoor plants" requiring tender nurturing elsewhere can be seen everywhere in Nanning, growing vigorously in the open air.
It is estimated that the total greenery area of a vertical tropical and subtropical forest formed with arbors, shrubs, ground covers and climbing vines can be fifteen times that of a flat plot of greenery. The benefits of such vertical gardening in terms of eco-effect, landscape view and resident amenity also exceed by far those of simple green belts. The newly-created tropical rainforest belts along the Minzu Road have an oxygenating and refreshing effect. Nanning's green city objective makes higher requirements for green planting. In the past, it was the parks department that had to squeeze in planting, but now, the policy departments are active in landscape planning. In the old urban areas, crowded buildings have been demolished to make room for plant beds, open spaces or gardens,while in the newly developed areas, large spaces between roads and buildings are reserved for planting. A dozen parks have been created. To highlight the fact that it is one huge botanical garden, Nanning has built several subtropical gardens of precious and rare shade plants, medicinal herbs, cycad, palm and rainforest plants. The Jinhuacha Park named after the golden camellia chrysantha boasts the world's largest gene bank of this precious plant, known as "Queen of Camellias," in addition to many other camellias. The medicinal herb garden has more than 2,400 kinds of medicinal plant,while the Qingxiushan Cycad Garden has 2,400 rare cycads,some of which are over 1,000 years old. Nanning leads other Chinese cities in terms of total greenery coverage; it stands at 37.47 percent, (34.47 percent in 1991) and per-capita public greenery, 8.87 square meters (3.8 square meters in 1991). The people of Nanning are making their dream reality: they are making their city into an open subtropical park, one with gardens of palm, cycad, camellia chrysantha, medicinal and rainforest plants. The people of Nanning are creating a green homeland, an ideal living environment.
