China's most beautiful wetland

Wetlands are vital to human life, as they host a huge variety of life, protect coastlines and provide natural sponges against river flooding and store carbon dioxide to regulate climate change.

But such important and beautiful lungs of the planet are disappearing every year due to human activities. More than 64 percent of the world's wetlands have vanished since 1900 and China too is seeing its wetlands evaporating.

With World Wetlands Day being marked on Feb 2, China Daily selected 10 most beautiful areas in China, with one of them located in Shandong province.

[File photo]

Huanghe Delta Wetland

This wetland lies in East China's Shandong province. The place is a temporary home to more than 300 kinds of bird, and is jokingly known as "the international airport for birds" by officials from Wetland International. About 54 percent of the area is covered by forest, making it China's largest coastland forest.