Dinghu Mountain, located in Guangdong's Zhaoqing city, was designated as China's first State-level natural reserve during the Third Session of the First National People's Congress in 1956.

Affiliated to the Chinese Academy of Sciences South China Botanical Research Institute, the natural reserve is 17 kilometers to the northeast of Zhaoqing and 80 kilometers to the east of Guangzhou.

The annual average temperature at Dinghu Mountain is 21 C and annual average precipitation is 1,653.6 millimeters.

Covering an area of 1,155 hectares, the natural reserve is home to 1,700 plant species, accounting for a quarter of the total in the province.

Compared to other regions at the same latitude (23 degrees 8 minutes north), which are mostly deserts and semi-deserts, the Dinghu Mountain is regarded as an oasis on the Tropic of Cancer.

On Jan 17, 1979, Dinghu Mountain was approved to be among the UNESCO's World Network of Biosphere Reserves by the State Council, becoming a forest ecosystem research station for UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Program (MAB).

Dinghu Mountain in Zhaoqing, Guangdong