In the spirit of the trend toward opening and reforming China, the State Forestry Administration has taken advantage of the
opportunity to improve forest parks and develop forest-based ecotourism. The State Forestry Administration has experienced great success in a short time. By 1997, the State Forestry Administration had built 874 forest parks, with a total area of 7.48×10~6 hm~2. More than 50 000 000 tourists visited the parks each year. The forest parks have become the new focus of forest-based ecotourism in China. This success demonstrated that the use of forest resources and the
development of tourism had moved into a new period. To assure the healthy growth of forest-based ecotourism in China, based on the theory of
sustainable development, we have made several suggestions about how to improve forest parks and develop forest-based ecotourism. Our recommendations are grounded in the principles of resource protection, moderate exports of forest products, and recognition of the special character of individual park.