This map was compiled over a five-year period from May 1972 to July 1976. During the development of the legend and cartographic process, it incorporated the majority of post-1949 vegetation survey data from China (including cartographic materials and textual records) and underwent over a dozen cartographic workshops involving researchers both within and outside the compiling institution. Prior to final publication, additional newly acquired survey data—particularly vegetation records from western Tibet—were integrated.
The map primarily represents current vegetation, comprising both natural and agricultural vegetation systems. The natural vegetation legend is organized into seven vegetation formation classes, categorized based on plant community physiognomy and ecological characteristics. Agricultural vegetation communities are defined similarly to natural communities, possessing specific life forms (physiognomy, structure, synusia), species composition, and distinct ecological habitats.
In 1990, the State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information Systems at the Institute of Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, digitized this map and produced accompanying metadata documentation. The digitized data adopt an equal-area conic projection and can be reprojected into other coordinate systems using GIS software.
The dataset includes:A vector file in E00 format、Vegetation Coding Scheme Documentation for China、Dataset documentation、Attribute table for the vegetation data layer and Scanned copy of the Brief Description of the Vegetation Map of the People's Republic of China.
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CSTR:11738.11.ncdc.nieer.2020.1562
10.12072/ncdc.nieer.db2977.2023