Nationalities

Liaoning is a multi-nationality province with 44 nationalities in the province. Besides Han nationality, there are 43 minority nationalities, such as the Manchu, the Mongolian, the Hui, the Korean and the Sibo. The minority population is 6,550,000, making up 16% of the provincial total. In early 1950s, the Fuxin and Kazuo Autonomous counties of Mongolian nationality were established in response to the central people's government's policy towards minority nationalities. Since the reform, another six autonomous counties of Man nationality were formed in Xinbin, Qingyuan, Xiuyan, Benxi , Huairen and Kuandian, together with 35 minority nationality towns and 105 national minority villages.

Land Resources of Liaoning

There are abundant, complicated and varied land resources in Liaoning province and they may provide broad perspective to economic development. The area of cultivable land is 43,200 square kilometers, constituting 29.5% of the total land area. The area of garden plot is 5,400 square kilometers and is 3.7% of total land area. The forest area is 56,300 square kilometers and is 38.6% of total land area. The area of grazing land is 3,900 square kilometers and is 2.7%.The area of land for transportation purpose is 2,100 square kilometers and is 1.4% of the total area. The town and city area is 10,300 square kilometers and is 7.1% of the total area. Water area is about 10,000 square kilometers and is 6.9%. The area that has not been cultivated is 14, 800 square kilometers and is 10. 1 % of the total area. The land resources of Liaoning province have following features:

1. The quality distribution of cultivable land is not uniform. High output farm lands distribute mainly in river valleys of Liao river, Hun river and Taizi river, the valley area in eastern mountainous area and coastal area where there are favorable natural and economic conditions and good irrigation facilities. The areas of intermediate grain output distribute in hilly land of Liaodong peninsula and in the cities of Jinzhou and Huludao etc. of peninsula's western part. The areas of low grain output distribute in districts of Chaoyang and Fuxin etc.. In area of high grain output, the grain output per hectare is more than 6, 000 kilograms and that in low output area is below 3, 750 kilograms per hectare.

2. Liaoning province has abundant and vast land resources in mountainous area. In eastern mountainous region, there are mainly forests which may keep water and are suitable to develop plantation of ginseng and medical plants or breeding tussah silkworms. The climate condition in mountainous regions of eastern Liaodong peninsula is suitable to plant apple trees or other fruit trees, and there are promising perspectives for development of intermediate fruits plantation. In western part of Liaoning province, there are hilly lands which are not suitable for growing forests. Therefore, fruit tree plantation and livestock farming can be developed in lower sloping fields or depression fields.

3. The Resources of Grass land. Grass Land with Sparse Trees and Beach or Shoal Areas Constitute Definite Proportion. The area of grass land and grass land with sparse trees in whole province is 8, 000 square kilometers and is 6% of the total area. They can be used to develop livestock farming. The area of beach and shoal is 39,600 hectares and is suitable to develop sea food breeding.

4. Long Coastline and Numerous Scenic Spots and Historical Sites. The coastline of mainland of Liaoning province is 2,178 kilometers long, and along coastline, there are excellent seaside resorts and ports.

There are numerous scenic spots and historical sites which offer favorable conditions for development of tourism, holiday spending and port trading etc.. Up to now, the utilization ratio of land resources is comparatively low. In urban areas, the utilization ratio is about 75% and in the rural area is below 70%. Only 45% beach and shoal lands have been utilized. Therefore, the potential in utilizing land resources is very great.

Forest Resources of Liaoning

There are 3.92 million hectares of forest land all over Liaoning province, and constitutes 68% of all land area for forestry in whole province. The areas of sparse forest land, bush land, failed forest land and barren mountainous land suit -able for forestry are 1.82 million hectares, constituting 31.7% of all land area for forestry. The storage capacity of living wood in Liaoning province is 150 million cubic meters and the coverage ratio of forest (including sparse forest land)is 28.7%. If the forest resources are calculated according to 44.4% of forest area, the storage capacity of living wood in the province is 100 million cubic meters. The area of protection forest for farmland is 510, 000 hectares, making up 13% and its storage capacity is 27.96 million cubic meters. The area of firewood forest is 410,000 hectares and takes 10.5%. Its storage capacity is 260,000 cubic meters. The area of forest for special purposes is 50,000 cubic meters, and constitutes 1. 3%. Its storage capacity is 5.33 million cubic meters. Besides, there are areas of economic forest of 1.21 million hectares accounting for 30.8% of total forest land area. The forest resources of Liaoning Province can be divided into different forest vegetation. In the eastern mountainous region, the vegetation is included in category of mixed forest of needle leaf trees and broadleaf trees. The forest there consists mainly of natural secondary forest and the major tree species are toothed oaks, birches, aspens, willows, Chinese lindens, Chinese pines, and Korean pines. In addition, there are also some valuable tree species, such as Japanese yews, ginkgos, Chinese catalpas, northeast China ash, yellow manger and lily magnolia. The eastern forest areas are concentrated and combined forestry base of timber cutting. In the western mountainous region, the vegetation is included in the plant system of north China area. Due to afforestation campaign in recent years, the conditions of vegetation are clearly improved. The vegetation in Liaoning province consists mainly of deciduous forest, and on ridges and sunshine slope distributes mixed forest from Chinese pines and toothed oaks. In hilly areas of Liaodong peninsula distribute mainly forests of deciduous and broadleaf trees, and the major tree species are pines, toothed oaks, spheres, aspens and willows.

Plants in Liaoning

Liaoning province locates in half moist area of north temperate zone with abundant rainfall and sun light and heat resources. Therefore, the natural condition of Liaoning province is suitable for growing different plants. More than 50 crops and plant species can be cultivated here. The major crops are rice, maize, Chinese sorghum (kaoliang), wheat, millet, peanut, soy bean and cotton. Tobacco is an important economic plant in Liaoning and it has a long planting history. Liaoning province is also a major fruit production area all over China and the annual fruit output is more than 1. 8 million tons. The apples in Jinzhou and Xiongyue, the white pears in Suizhong and the golden peaches in Dalian are well- known all over China .

There are also rich resources of wild plant in Liaoning and more than 2,200 vascular bundle plants that can be classified into 161 plant families (including pteridophyte, gymnosperm and angiosperm). Except those species which are included in forest and grass land resources, there have been found more than 1, 350 species of plants which have economic values. According to their purposes, they can be divided into following categories:

1) Plants for medical use: There are more than 830 medical plant species and among them 200 species are precious and constantly needed, such as ginseng, radix asari sieboldi, radix tungsten, the fruit of Chinese magnolia vine and rhizomagastrodiae etc..

2) Wild fruits which can be used to make starch or wines: There are more than 70 plant species, such as wild grapes, yangtao, haw, platy Odon, acorn and water caltrops.

3) Plant species which can be used to make fragrant oil: There are 89 plant species, such as grass,cortex dictamni, sweetgrass, peppermint. All these plant species can be used as the raw materials in perfume industry, food industry and pharmaceutical industry.

4) Oil crops: There are 149 plant species which can be used to pro -duce plant oil such as pine nuts, Siberian cocklebur, nut catalpa, Artemisia and smelly wingceltis etc.. All these plant can be used as raw materials for making soap, paint and medicine.

5) Fiber crops: There are more than 100 plant species, such as yuedizhu, huzhizi , skin of elm tree, lemon and reed. They can be used in textile industry or for making ropes and cords,or used as packing or filling material.

6) Tanning Material crops (for tannic acid or tannin extract):There are about 53 plant species which can be utilized to extract tanning Materials. The main crops are Chinese chestnuts,radix poplar, yu -edizhu,mountainous nuts and Chinese sumac etc..They have extensive application in tannery, anti-corrosion and medical treatment.

7) Traditional farm chemicals: There are about 55 plant species from which farm chemicals can be extracted. They are dahue, tiannanxing of northeast China , the root of Chinese pilsatilla,great celan -dine and rope poisonous weeds etc.

8) Natural dyestuff crops: There are about 7 plant species. Some of them are yellow cypress etc..

9) Edible dried and wild herb: There are about 30 plant species, such as mushrooms, day lily, pteridophyte species (fern or brake) and wild celery etc..

10) Fodder crops: The main fodder crops which can be utilized are Siberian cocklebur, lamb's-quarters, the root of blossom etc..

Grass Lands in Liaoning

In Liaoning province scatter numerous natural grass lands and grazing lands in forest and they are all of large area. The area of grass lands, grass - covered mountains and grass mountain slopes is 2.27 million hectares. They distribute in hilly regions and in western part of the province. The area of natural grass lands is 540,000 hectares. They are all grassy marshlands and on them grow plants of sallow thorn species, sheep grass and yinzi grass. These grass species are now in degeneration and their capability for carrying animals is low. In the eastern mountainous region, most areas are covered with sparse forest or bush grassy marshlands. Because of full rainfall in these regions, the vegetation is very good. The plant covering ratio is about 50%. There are more than 200 edible grass species and these regions have the highest animal carrying capability. In northeast hilly and mountainous regions of the province, there are bush grassy marshlands. Because dry climate vegetation is very thin. The grazing grass is of low layer type and the coverage ratio is about 30%. These regions are suitable for grazing sheep. There is abundant reed resource in Liaoning province and it is one of the major reed production areas of China . The reed area in the province is 90, 000 hectares. It distributes at downstream of Liao river and in river mouths of Yalu river and Dayang river. The annual output of reed is about 400,000 ton.

Animal Resources

In animal geography, Liaoning province locates in the mixing region of three regional systems, i.e. Northeast China , North China and Mongolia - Xinjiang regional systems. Therefore it has abundant animal resources. There are in Liaoning 827 species of vertebrate which belong to 492 categories, and further to 210 families, 62 orders and 7 classes.Among them 6 animal species have been listed to be the first grade protected animals, 68 species to be the second grade protected animals and 107 species to be the third grade protected animals.

1) Birds' droppings There are 365 species and 25 sub-species of birds, and the total species number of birds constitutes 31% of China 's total. 62 bird species have been listed to be the first grade protected animals, and some of them are red-crowned cranes, white cranes, white stork, golden vulture, big and small swans,Chinese Qiusha wild goose, tiger-head sea eagle, white-head stork etc.

2) Amphibious and reptile animals There are 13 amphibious animal species, and they belong to 6 categories and 2 orders. They are, eastern bell toad, shi shi toad, frog, Heilongjiang forest frog, Chinese forest frog and spotless rain frog etc.. There are 28 reptile animals, and belong to 42 categories, 3 orders and 16 families. The main reptile animals are frog tortoise, lou skin tortoise, soft-shelled turtle, gecko, lizard (7 species), snake (8 species) and sea viper. The Snake Island that locates 25 nautical miles away , and to northeast of Lushun city is a nature preserve of national grade ( and it has another name of Xiaolongshan) . There are more than ten thousands pallas pit vipers which can be utilized for scientific research, tourism and medical use.

3) Beasts: There are 74 wild beast species and 62 of them are land beasts and 12 are sea beasts. They belong to 8 orders, 26 families and 52 categories. Among them economically valuable beasts are foxes (grass fox and red fox), badger, leopard cat (mountainous raccoon dog), roe deer, rat, wolf, jackal, leopard, black bear, violet marten, otter, lynx, musk deer, wild boar, and Mongolian gazelle etc.. In sea beasts, seal, dolphin and whale are precious and rare sea animals.

Ocean Resources in Liaoning

Along the coast of Liaoning province, there have stored abundant sea resources and natural tourist resources. In its sea territory and favorable natural conditions of its coast regions, there is a great potentiality for developing the sea resources.

Sea species

The total number of species of sea living beings is more than 520. Among them 107 are plankton, 280 are shallow habituating living beings and 137 are nektons, including cephalopod, and mammals. 80 and more species of sea living beings which have economic values have been utilized by the fishery. Among them 30 and more fish species have been developed and the main fish species are spot fish , flat fish , perch, green face fin, and lion fish etc.. In offshore fish species, there are yellow sea perch carp, yellow croaker and silver pomfret. Major precious sea foods are trepang (sea cucumber) with splinters, disk abalone, scallop (fan shell) etc.. In shrimp species, there are Chinese prawn, Chinese shrimp, eagle feet prawn and crawdad etc..In crabs species, there are swimming crab, Japanese crab, Chinese chela or river pincers. In shellfish species, there are clam, clam with four splinters, oyster. In shallow sea shellfish species, there are blood clam, Kui blood clam, red sea snail etc.. Other sea food resources are jellyfish, kelp, sea weeds and laver.

Marine mineral

A large number of different marine mineral resources scatter on the vast sea area of Liaoning province. The major marine mineral resources which have been investigated and explored are petroleum, natural gas, iron, coal, sulphur, rock salt, manganese nodule, heavy sand mine and soft sea soil containing many kinds of metals (so called hydrothermal deposits) . Petroleum and natural gas are mainly distributed in Liaodong gulf and the estimated oil resource is about 750 million tons. The estimated reserve of natural gas is approximately 100 billion cubic meters. It has been explored that the oil reserve of 125 million tons and natural gas reserve of 13.5 billion cubic meters are worth to be recovered. In offshore sand mine, thereare diamond, alluvial gold, zircon, cast sand and gravel. All these sea mineral resources have a great development potentiality.

Marine Energy

The reserve of marine energy source in Liaoning province is about 7 million kilowatts. Among them the tidal energy which have good development prospect is 1.936 million kilowatts and the theoretical installed capacity is below 5 million kilowatts.

Tour

Liaoning province has different kinds of coastal tourist resources, and its coastal sea landscapes distribute mainly in west coast and southern part of the Liaodong peninsula. Among the well-known scopes are coastal karst topographic land scape in Jinzhou gulf of Dalian city, corroded pillars and tunnels in southern Dalian and Lushun, Great Pen Rack mountain in Jinzhou city and the Chrysanthemum Island in Xingcheng city. The coastal wet landscapes distribute mainly in top region of Liaodong gulf, river mouth of Liao river and the vast region from mouth of Yalu river to that of Dayang river. In these regions, there are broad reed field and different wild animals and beasts on the swamp area. They are valuable for tourism and scientific research. Along coastal region of Liaoning , there are 72 seaside resorts which are the best places for spending holiday.

Water Resources in Liaoning

In Liaoning province there are 392 large and small rivers,and their total length is more than 160,000 kilometers. The major rivers are Liao River , Hun River , Taizi River , Yalu River , Daling River and Xiaoling River . Liao River is one of the seven longest rivers and it is converged from West Liao river which rises in Guangtoushan Mountain of Qilaotu Mountains in Hebei province and East Liao river which rises in Hadaling mountain in Jilin province. The confluence of both its tributaries is at Guyushu in northern part of Liaoning province. The total length of Liao river in Liaoning province is 512 kilometers and its river basin area is 69,000 square kilometers.Yalu river is the border one between China and D.P.R.K.,and it is the second longest river inside the border of Liaoning province. It rises in Tianchi Lake of Changbai mountain of Jilin province and flows through Jilin province. At the mouth of Hunjiang river it flows into Liaoning province, then it is divided into two tributaries at Donggang city and finally it flows into Yellow sea . Its flow length in Liaoning province is 218 kilometers and the river basin area is 62, 000 square kilometers. The annual average discharge of all rivers calculated during many years is 32. 5 billion cubic meters and is equivalent to runoff depth of 223 millimeters. The synthetic compensation capacity of underground water is 11. 1 billion cubic meters and the recovered capacity is 6 billion cubic meters.Sub-strutting ground surface water and the repeated capacity of underground water, the total capacity of water resources in Liaoning province is 36.3 billion cubic meters.

Liaoning province locates in monsoon climate region of temperate zone and the compensation of water resources depends mainly on precipitation of atmosphere. The annual average total precipitation is 100 billion cubic meters. The precipitation concentrates in period from June to September, therefore it is important to develop and utilize the water resources.Since the foundation of new China , a large number of irrigation works have been built up successively in Liaoning province. To date there are 930 large, intermediate and small reservoirs in Liaoning province and their total capacity is more than 32.5 billion cubic meters. The capacities of both Dahuofang reservoir in Fushun and Guanyinge reservoir in Benxi all exceed 2 billion cubic meters. The theoretical reserve capacity of water resources in Liaoning province is 1. 752 million kilowatts and the installed capacity which can be exploited is 1.633 million kilowatts. To date 4 large and intermediate hydropower stations and 119 small hydropower stations have been set up and the total installed capacity which has been utilized is 908, 000 kilowatts.

Aquatic Product Resources in Liaoning

In vast offshore regions of Liaoning province, there are abundant resources of aquatic products and living beings. The number of their species and categories is more than 520 in 3 classes. There are 117 fishes and swimming living things in shallow sea habitat which can be directly utilized or caught in fishery work. The major fish species are yellow croaker, small yellow croaker, hairtail, Spanish mackerel, chub mackerel, pomfret, left-eyed flounder, fareast sardine etc.. There are 20 and more prawn or shrimp species, such as Chinese prawn, shrimp, black shrimp etc.. There are 10 or more crab species, such as swimming crab, Chinese river crab. There are 20 or more shellfish species, such as blood clam, clam and razor clam etc.. There are still many cephalopod species, such as spear cuttlefish and gold inkfish etc. and medusa species, such as jellyfish. The sea breasts are finback whale, seal etc..

The area of offshore regions in Liaoning province is 6. 4 million hectares and the area of the shallow sea depth of which is below 10 meters is 773,000 hectares. The shallow sea areas can be used to develop sea farming. Up to date, in the sea area which has been utilized, there is only 18.4% of what may be developed. Therefore, there is great potentiality in the area of sea-farming. The major sea products from sea- farming are mussel, fanshell, sea cucumber, kelp, skirt vegetable, abalone and large clam, etc.. The annual output of shallow sea farming in the province is only 500,000 tons or more. The area of beach land between tides is 162, 000 hectares and the usable area of tiding beach is 17, 000 hectares. The beach area on which dikes for sea farming can be built is 60,000 hectares and 31,000 hectares have been exploited, which constitute only 51. 7% of the exploitable area.

Abundant Mineral Resources in Liaoning

There are abundant and different mineral resources in Liaoning province and they distribute in broad area of the province. The history of mining industry has lasted several centuries and the scale of mining industry is quite great, comparing with other provinces. Therefore the consumption of mineral resources is also very serious. Up to now, there are 70 kinds of ores which have been explored and from 692 mining places. The potential total value of mineral resources comes to RMB 1600 billion.39 minerals have been exploited and utilized, and their mining spots scatter at 343 places.

The 7 minerals of energy sources are petroleum, natural gas, coal, bone coal, oil shale, ground heat and uranium. Liaohe Oil Field is the third largest oil fields and gas fields of China , and its reserve capacity of petroleum and natural gas constitute about 15% and 10% of the total reserve capacity of all China respectively. So far the output of crude oil is 15 million tons and that of natural gas is 1.7 billion cubic meters per year. The conservative reserve capacity of coal in Liaoning province is nearly 7 billion tons, and coal reserve spots scatter at 174 places. Among them 97 places have been exploited and utilized, making up 69.2% of total reserve capacity.

The minerals of ferrous metal and auxiliary metallurgical raw materials are iron, manganese, magnetite, silica for metallurgical use, flux limestone, refractory clay, fluorite, dolomite for metallurgical use, and etc. . The conservative reserve capacity of iron mines which have been explored all over the province is nearly 11 billion tons taking one quarter of that of all China . The number of mining spots is 70 or more. The conservative reserve capacity of magnetite which has been explored is 2.57 billion tons, ranking the first place in China . The number of mining spots is 12 places.

In the area of non-ferrous metals and noble metals, it has been explored that there are minerals of copper, lead, aluminum, zinc, molybdenum, cobalt, tin, tungsten, nickel, mercury which are non- ferrous metals, and gold and associated silver, which are noble metals. There are other minerals, such as associated columbine, tantalum, zirconium, crystallite, gallium, indium, rhenium, cadmium, selenium, tellurium and all these elements are minerals of rare and scattering types. The minerals of copper, lead, molybdenum, gold and silver have already been exploited and utilized.

The resources of nonmetallic minerals in Liaoning province are both promising and potential important resources. There are numerous categories of nonmetallic minerals which distribute in extensive regions of the province. Their reserve capacity is very abundant and the major nonmetallic minerals for chemical use ,the reserves of which have been explored, are ferrosulphas, boron, associated sulfur, calcium carbide limestone, arenaceous shale containing potassium, arsenic and phosphorus. Their 54 mining spots have been found. The building materials and other nonmetallic minerals which have been explored are diamond, talcum, jade, zeolite, pearlite, dolomite, graphite, rock crystal, mica, limestone for producing cement, silica for producing glass. Their number of categories is 26 and 108 mining places have been found. The reserve capacities of boron, diamond, talcum, jade and flux limestone rank the first place in China .

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 [Origin:Liaoning Government Website]