中国是世界上野生动物种类最多的国家之一，仅脊椎动物就有6266种，其中陆栖脊椎动物2404种，鱼类3862种，约占世界脊椎动物总类的10%。大熊猫、金丝猴、华南虎、褐马鸡、丹顶鹤、朱、白鳍豚、扬子鳄等百余种中国特产的珍稀野生动物，闻名于世。毛色黑白相间的大型哺乳动物——大熊猫，体重可达135公斤，靠 吃嫩竹和竹笋为生，目前只剩下1000余只，由于极其珍贵，已成为世界保护野生动物的标志。丹顶鹤，体长可达1.2米以上，身上覆盖着白色羽毛，头顶上长着一小块丹红色的裸露皮肤，在东亚地区被视为“长寿”的象征。白鳍豚是世界上仅有的两种淡水鲸类之一，1980年首次在长江捕获一头雄性白鳍豚，引起世界豚类研究界的极大兴趣。
中国也是世界上植物资源最为丰富的国家之 一，仅高等植物就有3.2万余种。北半球寒、温、热各带植被的主要植物，在中国几乎都可以看到。 木本植物有7000多种，其中乔木2800余种，水杉、水松、银杉、杉木、金钱松、台湾杉、福建柏、珙桐、杜仲、喜树等为中国所特有。水杉是一种高大乔木，被列为世界古稀名贵植物。金钱松产于长江流域山地，叶子簇生在短枝上，状如铜钱，春夏苍绿，秋天变黄，是世界五大庭园珍贵树种之一。中国食用植物有2000余种；药用植物3000多种，长白山的人参、西藏的红花、宁夏的枸杞、云南和贵州的三七等，均属名贵药材。花卉植物种类极多，“花中之王”——牡丹，为中国固有，它花朵型大、多瓣，色彩艳丽，被推崇为中国的“国花”之一。
Among those countries with the greatest diversity of wildlife, China has more than 6,266 species of vertebrates, 10 percent of the world's total. Among them, 2,404 are terrestrials and 3,862 are fish.More than 100 species of wild animals can be found only in China, including such rare animals as the giant panda, the snub-nosed monkey, the golden-haired monkey, South China tiger, brown-eared pheasant, red-crowned crane, red ibis, white-flag dolphin and Chinese alligator. The giant panda, which makes its home in the forests of the Upper Yangtze River in southwest China, weighs on average 135 kg and lives on tender bamboo leaves and bamboo
shoots. Because it is extremely rare - just over 1,000 are left at present - the giant panda has become the symbol of the world's protected wild animals.
China's abundance of plant life ranks it among the top in the world. For example, with an area almost exactly that of the continental United States, China has nearly twice as many plant species, about 32,000 (compared to 17,000 for the U.S. and Canada combined) or one-eighth of the world's total. China's plant species include almost all the major plants that grow in the northern hemisphere's frigid, temperate and tropical zones. In addition, China has more than 7,000 species of woody plants, including 2,800-odd tree species. Found only in China are the metasequoia, Chinese cypress, Cathay silver fir, China fir, golden larch, Taiwan fir, Fujian cypress, dove-tree, eucommia and camplotheca acuminata. The metasequoia, a tall species of arbor, is considered to be one of the oldest and rarest plants in the world. The golden larch, one of only five species of rare garden trees in the world, grows in the mountainous areas in the Yangtze River Valley. Its coin-shaped leaves on short branches are green in spring and summer, turning yellow in autumn. China is home to more than 2,000 species of edible plants and over 3,000 species of medicinal plants. Ginseng from the Changbai Mountains, safflowers from Tibet, Chinese wolfberry from Ningxia and notoginseng from Yunnan and Guizhou are particularly well-known Chinese herbal medicines. China has a wide variety of flowering plants, including the world-renowned peony that is indigenous to China and considered one of the country's national flowers.
