The China Meteorological Service Association started to organize the annual evaluation of the Natural Oxygen Zones of China in 2016. This year, two counties in Guangdong, Jiexi county and Lianshan Zhuang and Yao autonomous county, are on the list.
The selection of a Natural Oxygen Zone in China is strict. There are mainly six requirements. First, there should be more than 3 months that the climate is mild enough for human settlements. Also, the annual average concentration of negative oxygen ions should be more than 1,000 per cubic centimeter. Besides, the rate of good air quality is no less than 70 percent in a year. The fourth one is that the ecological protection measures have to be appropriate. What’s more, tourism facilities are complete and well-facilitated. The last one is that the service management is standardized.
After a range of intense selections, two sites in Guangdong rated as China's Natural Oxygen Zone. It is unsurprised as the natural scenery of these two counties is well-preserved, such as the State-level Dabei Mountain Forest Park in Jiexi county, alongside with 12 underground hot springs and 78 mountains with an altitude of more than 800 meters. The rich tourism resources help to develop ecotourism. There are six months that Jiexi county enjoys a comfortable climate, and the average negative oxygen ion concentration is more than 1,000 per cc, the maximum concentration even reaches over 20,000 per cc.
As for Lianshan Zhuang and Yao autonomous county, there are rich forest resources, with its forest coverage rate as high as 86.2 percent. With an altitude of 1,659.3 meters, Dawu Mountain is the highest in Lianshan Zhuang and Yao autonomous county, featuring magnificent terraced fields.
Apart from these two sites, 115 sites in China have been selected, which five of them are in Guangdong province. The other three are the Luofu Mountain scenic area in Huizhou, Nanling National Forest Park in Shaoguan, and Longmen county. Among these sites, Nanling National Forest Park surpasses the others and is ranked as the best Natural Oxygen Zones.