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	National Park

	There are now six national parks in Taiwan: Kenting National Park, the first to be established, includes a beautiful coast line, beach area and tropical forest. Yushan National Park, the largest, includes the mountain area of Taiwan. Yangmingshan National Park, the smallest, has a volcanic landform. Taroko National Park is famous for its marble gorge. Shei-Pa National Park is famous for brook masu salmon (Oncorhychus masou formosanum). Kinmen National Park, the park land area is the smallest one among all the national park in Taiwan and its main goal to preserve historical battle-fields and traditional villages. The total area of these six national parks is more than 239,407,000 hectares (about 227,336 acres), approximately 8.43 percent of Taiwan's total area.

	Yangmingshan National Park
	Yangmingshan National Park is renowned for its wealth of unusual volcanic features and topography. Being so accessible and close to Taipei City, the park attracts a very large number of visitors despite its small size compared to Taiwan's other national parks. For this very reason it faces greater and more complex pressures for man-made development. Over the years the National Park Headquarters has put considerable energy into managing the park's resources, and has launched an educational and publicity effort aimed at creating a distinctive "small is beautiful" image for the park.

	Taroko National Park
	Taroko National Park, in the north-eastern part of the island, faces the Pacific Ocean on the east and covers an area of more than 92000 hectares in the northern section of the Central Mountain Range. The Park is 36 kilometers from north to south and 42 kilometers from east to west. It is situated at the Nantou. The park has many high mountains and steep gorges, with many peaks towering above 3,000 meters in height, and with many natural watersheds. The spectacular Taroko Gorge and the scenic beauty of the Liwu River can be viewed conveniently from the Central Cross Island Highway. The many waterfalls, diverse forms of plant and animal life, and the indigenous Atayal people, together create the rich texture of this unique natural ecosystem.

	Yushan National Park
	Yushan National Park is located in the heart of Taiwan, exerting a balancing influences of all life status on this island. To lay out and establish a National Park is Human beings' greatest endeavour: an endeavour to preserve the earth's most natural as well as the most precious sources of all life existence and its spirit within an area. It is not a park of the city, nor is it a recreation district in its narrower sense. It has a purpose and also a responsibility, i.e. to preserve special environments, to save natural ecosystems and to teach everyone to know the great nature, that deserves recognition and respect.

	Shei-Pa National Park
	Shei-pa National Park ,which also has a lot to offer the nature-loving hiker. The main aim of this national park, which was established in 1992 as Taiwan's fifth national park, is to protect and preserve the environment in this marvelous mountain area. The park covers an area of 76,850 hectares and is a wonderland of soaring peaks, spectacular waterfalls, and wild nature. One of the most remarkable mountains in this park is Tapa Peak. With its sheer cliffs of over 140 meters and its distinct shape, this peak, which is regarded as a sacred mountain by the indigenous Atayal people, is a delight for the eye and a challenge for the hiker. Usually a hiking trip to Tapa Peak starts and ends at Guanwa, with overnight stops both going and coming at 99 Mountain Lodge. Another famous mountain area that provides some of the most fascinating trails in Taiwan is the ridge that connects Tapa Peak with Mt.Shiue to the south, which also called the "Holy Ridge".

	Kenting National Park
	Kenting National Park was the first national park and was officially opened in 1984. The Park is located at the southern tip of Taiwan in the area called the Hengchuen Peninsula. The Park now contains about 20,000 hectares of land and approximately 16,000 hectares of ocean along the three coasts. It is well known for its uplifted coral reefs, oceanic natural resources, natural monsoon forests, and coastal tropical rainforest.

	Kinmen National Park
	These five national parks are mostly involved in ecological conservation and protection of the natural landscape. Kinmen National Park is the first national park in Taiwan set up to maintain and protect historically and culturally important sites and battlefield monuments, in addition to conservation of natural resources. Kinmen borders on mainland China, so the climate is influenced by both land and ocean. And it is an important way station for migratory birds in East Asia. Birds are the richest and most characteristic form of wildlife in Kinmen National Park.


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