In pics: Exploring China's first National Botanical Garden in Beijing

Photo taken on April 25, 2022 shows the entrance of the China National Botanical Garden in Beijing, capital of China. (People's Daily Online/Zhang Wenjie)

China's first National Botanical Garden, was officially unveiled to the public on April 18, aiming to conserve the country's biodiversity and serve as a Noah's Ark to preserve endangered plant species, according to the National Forestry and Grassland Administration.

With a planned area of about 600 hectares, the National Botanical Garden was built upon the work of the Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (South Garden) and the Beijing Botanical Garden (North Garden).

Prior to the expansion, the Beijing Botanical Garden had already been a sanctuary for over 10,000 types of plants. Now, the new garden is already home to more than 30,000 kinds of plants and 5 million representative plant specimens from five continents.

Serving as the national plant diversity protection base, the garden is now an important symbol of China's commitment to sustainable development.