Sichuan, China Photograph by Don Reid   Eastern Asia: Eastern China Temperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forests   65,000 square miles (168,300 square kilometers) -- about the size of Washington Critical/Endangered

· Place of Rediscovery
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Place of Rediscovery

The Daba Mountains Evergreen Forests contain ancient species of trees, some of which were thought to be extinct until being recently rediscovered. These mountains are the watershed divide between China's two longest rivers, the Chiangjiang (Yangtze River) and Huang He (Yellow River).

Special Features

The mountains and smaller ranges that help define this ecoregion have a significant effect on the climate. They moderate winter cold in the Sichuan Basin and on the Yellow River plains. The Daba Mountains face plains to the south and are warm and moist, supporting plants that are much like those growing in subtropical regions. Three protected plants are found here. The dawn redwood, a descendent of conifers that arose 100 million years ago, was once thought to be extinct. But relict stands were discovered in the 1940s. The dove tree and the coffin tree (Taiwania flousiana ) also live here. These three species are noteworthy because they are primitive and were greatly reduced in number during the Pleistocene ice-ages thousands of years ago, but a portion of their populations survived on the relatively warm southern slopes of the Daba Mountain complex. The Shennongjia Mountain Nature Reserve is renowned for its medicinal plants.

	Shennongjia Mountain is supposedly the home of the yeren, or "Wild Man," described as a reddish-colored, furry, apelike animal with human features. Similar to stories about "Big Foot" of the Pacific Northwest and "Yeti" of the Himalayas, stories about Wild Man persist even though there is no reliable evidence that it exists.

Wild Side

The foothills of low mountains support a mix of evergreen and deciduous trees, mostly species of oak, as well as a member of the mint family. Conifers such as Chinese red pine and Armand pine grow on higher slopes. More than 2,600 species of vascular plants thrive in the Shennongjia Reserve, and 32 are under national protection. The Shennongjia Mountain is home to threatened mammals such as golden snub-nosed monkeys, leopards, and forest musk deer. Reeve’s pheasants, wild pigs, and Himalayan black bears also live here.

Cause for Concern

Agriculture, hunting, and collecting of wild plants and animals contribute to the loss of biodiversity in these mountains. Located in a region of thriving commerce and adjacent to the Sichuan Basin with more than 100 million people, these mountains are subject to large and increasing levels of exploitation.

For more information on this ecoregion, go to the World Wildlife Fund Scientific Report.