Situated at the southern slope of the middle section of the Qinling-Mountain Range in Foping County, Shaanxi Province, the Foping Nature Reserve, established 1978 primarily for the protection of pandas,occupies an area of 35, 000 hectares. It slopes from the northwest down to the southeast at altitudes of 980—2, 904 meters, and houses the three rivers of Donghe, Xihe and Dachenghao which are the origins of Jinshuihe River.

Located in the transition zone between the subtropical area and the temperate area, the Reserve possesses. a complete ecosystem of forests consisting of mainly natural secondary forests with a clear vertical spectrum of vegetation as follows: As the land rises, there are deciduous leaf — broadleaf forests, coniferous and broadleaf mixed forests, coniferous tree forests and alpine bush meadow zone, thus forming a unique mountainous landscape of forests and vegetation at the southern slope of Qinling Mountain Range.

Besides pandas, there are more than 200 species of wild animals (including such rare varieties as golden monkey, takin. South China tiger. Reeves' pheasant, etc. ) and 1580 species of successively discovered higher plants including 30 species of bryophytes, 71 species of pteridophytes, 20 species of gymnosperms and 1459 , species of angiosperms.