trees

So Beijing is going to build 28 new forest parks and upgrade 22 existing ones, reports 新京报/The Beijing News’ Wu Di:

郊外将建28个森林公园

28 forest parks to be built outside suburbs

北京今年拟建4条景观大道，每亩绿化费2万元

Beijing plans to build 4 scenic routes this year, cost of greening each mu 20 thousand yuan

明年起，北京将启动50个森林公园新建或改造升级项目，新建28个森林公园。昨天，在市发改委发布会上，区县处相关负责人表示，届时，北京周边将形成森林公园、新城滨河公园、中心城区郊野公园三个体系相连的公园景观。

Starting next year, Beijing will begin a project to build or reform and upgrade 50 forest parks. Yesterday at the municipal development and reform commission’s press conference, the relevant person in charge at the district and county office said that when the time comes, surrounding Beijing three linked-up systems of park scenery- forest parks, new town riverbank parks and central city open-air parks- will have been formed.

据市发改委区县处相关负责人介绍，目前北京林地面积为300万亩，其中已建成的森林公园有22个。从明年起北京将在山区开始规划新建和 改造50处森林公园，其中包括原有的22个森林公园进行升级，新建28个总面积为200万亩的森林公园。分布在平谷、怀柔、密云、昌平、门头沟、房山、延 庆等山区。“从报国家批到完成，大概需3-5年。”

According to the relevant person in charge at the municipal development and reform commission’s district and county office, the area of Beijing’s forest land is presently 3 million mu, and includes 22 forest parks that have already been established. Starting from next year, Beijing will start to plan the new establishment or reform of 50 forest parks in the mountain areas, including an upgrade of the original 22 forest parks and the establishment of 28 new forest parks covering an area of 2 million mu. They will be distributed through Pinggu, Huairou, Miyun, Changping, Mentougou, Fangshan, Yanqing and other mountain areas. “From reporting to the state to completion should take around 3 to 5 years.”

据介绍，今年，北京计划在京包高速公路、京山铁路、S2线、六环路二期等联络线建4条生态景观大道，总长176公里，绿化面积达4.4万亩。每亩投入都在2万元以上，要求须有15种以上树木植物。

It is reported that this year Beijing plans to build 4 ecological scenic routes along the Jing-Bao Expressway, Jing-Shan Railway, S2 Line, and the second phase of the Sixth Ring Road, with a total length of 176 kilometres and a greened area reaching 44 thousand mu. The investment for each mu is over 20 thousand yuan, and it is required to have over 15 species of trees and plants.

Three things:

1. 1 mu, according to the conversion tables in the back of my dictionary nciku (the conversion table in the back of my dictionary being somewhat less than comprehensible), equals 0.0667 hectares.
2. I really hate it when I come across a sentence I’m sure I understand perfectly well in Chinese but just can’t find a way to express intelligibly in English. Case in point: “昨天，在市发改委发布会上，区县处相关负责人表示，届时，北京周边将形成森林公园、新城滨河公园、中心城区郊野公园三个体系相连的公园景观。 “
3. I was hoping this story would go some way to either confirming or denying a rumour I’ve heard about two areas in Beijing’s outer suburbs and a county in Hebei. Instead, it only adds to the tantalisingness of the possibility of the rumour having perhaps some shred of truth to it. And no, sorry, I won’t repeat the rumour. Spreading rumours is not very responsible behaviour.

Anyway, more trees = more goodness.