China tops most other countries in the number of bird species. So far as we hnow, there are 1,186 species found in China, and in case subspecies are to be included, the figure will rise to 2,139.

As we all know, the study of bird classification has a history of several hundred years. Through investigations of bird species have been made and it is indeed difficult to find new ones. However, through their hardworking and strenuous research, China's bird experts have successively discovered more than twenty new subspecies and thus have won honors for the fatherland.

Not only does China possess a rich avifauna, she also has a great deal of rare and precious species which are beneficial to agriculture, forestry and pasturelands.

“Rare things ate highly valued”. China has sixteen out of the thirty rare species of pheasants and nine out of the fifteen precious species of cranes that are left in the world. In addition, nineteen out of the fifty-six species of wild pheasants and more than thirty species of Passeriformes are either mainly distributed or only found in China.

Due to excessive capture and merciless hunting some of the above mentioned species of birds are facing the danger of extinction. In view of this, Chinese Government has issued a series of decrees to protect beneficial birds and those approaching extinction.

Activities such as “Bird-cherishing Week” are launched throughout the country every year in Springs. Currently, a “National Bird-Banding Centre” as well as a number of Bird-Banding Stations have been set up all over the country. Through bird banding, particularly, those migratory birds, we will be able to trace their time and route of migration as well as their breeding and wintering ranges. In addition to the enforcement of decrees in protecting beneficial birds, attempts are also being made to make the country green and further to hang up man-made nesting boxes to attract insect-eating birds to the farms and fruit growing areas. By means of these efforts, we have popularized the practice of protecting mature and natural resource and promote the virtue of cherishing birds. China's bird resources are abundant, and we should become a bird cherishing country.