Yunnan Province, which has been long known as a "Kingdom of Plants" and a "Kingdom of Animals", is a crucial part of the Chinese ecological system.

The province has 151 endangered species of plants under state-level protection, making up 42.6% of the total number, and has 199 species of endangered animals under special state protection, covering 59.4% of the total endangered animal species. In addition, Yunnan ranks the third among the four largest Chinese forest areas, constituting 9.6% (23.81 hectares) of total Chinese forestland.

In June 1993, China's forest unit of the Armed Police Force was established to guard this land, a far-reaching act in protecting this green land of miracle. These soldiers performed well indeed in preserving this land.

Arresting timber stealers on the Yulong Snow Mountain

Yulong Snow Mountain is a state natural reserve, one of the major protected natural forestlands along the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze River and a main tourist attraction in Lijiang. The scenic mountain has a wealth of forests and is abundant in rare species of trees. Though local forest authorities and the Forest Unit of the Armed Police Force launched many joint attacks at the lawbreakers who illegally cut and transported trees, these illegal activities are still happening in the Mountain now and then.

At 5:00pm on June 23, 2003. the duty office of the Forest Contingent of the Armed Police Force in Lijiang County received a phone call from a villager of Baisha Village. He reported that men with three trucks were trying to cut down trees and steal them.

Officers and men quickly reached Ganhaizi, situated at an altitude of 3 680m on the middle slope of the Mountain. The weather there was capricious. It started to drizzle and turned very cold. Seeing his comrade Zhang Lili shaking with cold, Li Hua handed him his raincoat and comforted him:" Hold on! The target is soon to appear."

About 20 minutes later, heavy sounds of the truck's engines came from nearby. "Get ready!" Li Hua ordered, readjusting his hiding men. "Stop! You are under examination." Police officers suddenly emerged in front of the flashing lights of the three trucks. Men on the last two trucks tried to escape but were exposed to lights from the officer's electric torches and freezed. In this raid, 7 lawbreakers were arrested and three trucks with 24m3 of stolen timber were detained.

　　Tracing desperate criminals on the banks of the Jinshajiang River

Shangrila County, an acclaimed "Fairyland in the World" in the Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, was beautifully covered in white snow in winter and profusely colored in flowers in summer. In its mountains there is a large number of rare species of plants, among which the rarest are torreya and yew priced at more than 100 000 RMB per cubic meters. Driven by the potential huge profits, lawbreakers cut and smuggled these rare trees. The Diqing Forest Contingent of the Armed Police Force situated at Hutiao Gorge Town that cut the only path leading to the outside world set up a checking station on the Songyuan bridge crossing the Jinshajiang River, and checked all the passing vehicles, shattering the profit dreams of those thieves who tried to smuggle the rare trees.

At around 7:20pm, on June 17, 2003. deputy head of a detachment Li Zhaoxiong and his 8 men were on duty. Three men riding a truck with stolen yew priced at 130 000 RMB were ordered to stop at the checking station for inspection. They tried in vain to bribe the police officers and started escaping in their truck. Police officers chased them down 4 kilometers and intercepted the truck on the expressway leading to Dali.

According to incomplete statistics, the Forest Contingent of the Armed Police Force in Yunnan used more than 40 000 person-times to put down 98 cases of plundering and stealing rare trees. 340 lawbreakers were arrested. In addition, the officers and men planted 10 Guardian Forests in an area of more than 1 000 hectares.

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