Xinhua is the official news agency of the Peoples Republic of China

LANZHOU (Aug. 23) XINHUA - A total of 33 wildlife nature reserves and an endangered wildlife research center have been established in northwest China's Gansu Province.

There are 112 varieties of wild animals under state protection in the province, including the giant panda, golden-haired monkey, twisted-horn antelope, wild ass, and snow leopard, according to Zhang Guilin, an engineer with the provincial wildlife protection bureau.

The province began to set up nature reserves in 1963 and the area of nature reserves is now over 3.8 million ha, or 8.4 percent of the province's total area.

There are now over 100 giant pandas in the Baishuijiang National Nature Reserve. There were 300 white-lipped deer in Subei County in 1976, but the number is now more than 2,500. The Baishuijiang Nature Reserve authorities have also counted several times groups of golden-haired monkeys consisting of as many as 300 monkeys.