A total of 2,229 nature reserves have been built by China's forestry departments since the country started setting up the first nature reserves 60 years ago, said a senior official.

Chen Fengxue, deputy director of China's State Forestry Administration, made the remarks during a meeting convened by his administration in Dujiangyan, Sichuan province, on Wednesday to mark the 60th anniversary of China's establishment of nature reserves.

During the third session of the first National People's Congress held in Beijing in September 1956, a proposal submitted by some renowned scientists to set up nature reserves banning the felling of virgin forests was passed.

That same year, China's first nature reserves were set up in the Dinghushan Mountain in South China's Guangdong province, Wanmu Forest in East China's Fujian province and Xishuangbanna in Southwest China's Yunnan province.

The 2,229 nature reserves built by forestry departments cover 124 million hectares and account for nearly 13 percent of China's land areas, shielding 85 percent of China's wild animal species and 65 percent of its higher plant communities, according to the State Forestry Administration.