Thanks to digital imaging technology, each of Beijing's 18,235 ancient trees will be recorded in detail and their digital pictures will be made available on the Internet early next year. People will be able to learn the "life story" of each old tree online, said Beijing Forestry Bureau.

A citywide survey completed recently showed that an 8-meter high cypress in Miyun County is over 3,500 years old, making it the oldest living tree in Beijing. There are currently 2,310 trees in Beijing over 300 years old. The survey also found that the largest number of old trees was planted after the Yongle reign (1403-1424) during the Ming Dynasty. Most of them were planted in clumps. There are 95 groups, each containing at least 10 old trees.

Shi Hai, chief of the forest resources administrative department of Beijing Forestry Bureau, said that in order to better preserve and more conveniently manage these "living cultural relics," the forestry department has made an electronic archival to administer Beijing's ancient trees and famous woods, providing statistics, search functions and conservation planning via a network and database. The system will record all details regarding the location, growth conditions, prevention and control of plant diseases and elimination of pests for each ancient tree. Now when a tree is afflicted with some kind of disease, forestry experts can look up the archives for diagnosis and treatments.

The project will ensure that the information kept on each ancient tree, such as height, girth diameter, history, and current condition and conservation measures are recorded as part of the electronic archives. In addition, each ancient tree will have two digital photos taken at different times, to be used for the evaluation of conservation efforts. Officials say that the bureau has completed records for most of the old trees. They expect to publish the information on the bureau's website in early 2003.

(China.org.cn by Zhao Meng, November 18, 2002)