REGIONAL> Culture Tourism
Daming Palace tree-planting begins
By Lu Hongyan (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-03-16 11:26

XI’AN: Some 1,000 residents in the capital of Northwest China’s Shaanxi province planted more than 400 trees at the Daming Palace National Heritage Site Park last Thursday.

Coinciding with the country’s Arbor Day, which falls on March 12, the tree-planting activity was aimed at turning the park into a “green lung” in the center of Xi’an. It is also hoped to give another name card of the city’s tourism sector, said the city’s party chief Sun Qingyun.

As one of the cradles of Chinese civilization, Xi’an was the capital of 13 feudal dynasties in China Built in AD634, the Daming Palace was one of the three imperial palaces of the Tang Dynasty (AD618-907), a lustrous period in Chinese history.

Its ruins, which were discovered in 1957, cover 3.5 square kilometers. They are 4.5 times the size of the Forbidden City in Beijing and about the same size as Central Park in New York, the United States.

In October 2007, the Qujiang New Zone in Xi’an began making plans pertaining to the preservation of the ruins of Daming Palace.

Covering 19.16 square kilometers, the ruins are being built into a park, which will open in October 2010. It’s expected to be the most beautiful place in Xi’an, Sun said..

The park has received a donation surpassing 2 million yuan which will be used for its afforestation, and local residents have vowed to donate 10,000 trees, Sun said.

The tree-planting acitivity will run until March 31.

China Daily Shaanxi Bureau