Wetlands are marshy areas where the soil contains a great deal of moisture. Wetlands are covered in water either permanently or seasonally. They can be partially or completely covered by shallow pools of water.
Together with forests and oceans, wetlands are one of the top three ecosystems that are most closely linked to global ecosystems and the natural environment on earth.
China is among the countries with the richest wetland resources in the world. All the 31 types of natural wetlands listed under the Ramsar Wetland Convention can be found in China, as well as nine kinds of artificial wetlands.
In today's On the Road, we'll take a look at a wetland in the southern part of northeast China -- The Namusilai Wetland.
China's wetlands cover 63 million hectares and are home to many of the world's most endangered species including the Oriental Stork, Chinese Alligator, Crested Ibis, and Finless Porpoise. These habitats also support human life by providing food -- fish, crabs, and other marine life, as well as reclaimed land for agriculture.
Wetlands worldwide are critical resources that have come under threat and are the subject of conservation efforts.
The reduction in and degradation of wetlands is damaging their ability to play their vital part in the natural ecosystem; their critical role in storing, filtering, and purifying water – as well as in moderating floods – has diminished.
Since the 1980s, the Chinese government has implemented a series of environmental protection laws and built water environment monitoring networks. These measures played an important role in preventing pollution from damaging the wetlands.
China has been making great efforts to re-draw the disappearing northeastern China wetlands on its maps. The country's largest freshwater wetlands have changed dramatically in the face of the country's rapid agricultural development in recent decades.
In a major campaign to revive the wetlands in northeast China, the development of the Namusilai Wetland nature reserve has greatly improved the ecosystems of the local area.
A low plain that borders the Khorchin Desert, the Namusilai Wetland is located in Zhangwu County in Liaoning Province.
Namusilai means "the eyeball of living Buddha" in the Mongolian language. But the local people call it the "lotus pool" for its abundant lotus blossoms in summer.
Gao Yang is a senior engineer in the Forestry Bureau of Fuxin city in Liaoning.
Gao says that to the north of the wetland is the Khorchin Desert which is not big but is dry and the quality of its environment is very poor. The Namusilai Wetland has a vast area and is rich in fauna and flora. A major campaign to restore the wetland ecosystem started two decades ago. It was aimed at protecting the natural resources in the wetlands, and improving the natural conditions of this area. The wetland project will greatly benefit the local people in a long run. Meanwhile, the senior engineer explains wetlands are important ecosystems that affect human lives as well. Their biodiversity has contributed much to the study and development of new medicines as well as healthcare and food processing industries.
More than ten hours drive from the provincial capital of Shengyang, lies Houma Village, the nearest town to the wetland.
Huang Li is the director of the Namusilai Wetland Management Office and has been in this position for the past 15 years. He says it takes another six hours on foot before one can reach his office in the wetland.
Huang says the nature reserve is divided into several areas, namely the buffer area and the core regions, among others. In the core regions, human activity and herding are forbidden. They are kept undisturbed to allow the natural vegetation to grow. Only scientists are allowed into this area for vegetation plantation and scientific research. In this way, they hope to maintain a good ecosystem in the wetland.
Wetlands are considered the most biologically diverse of all ecosystems. Plants found in wetlands include mangroves, water lilies, and many others. Animal varieties include many different amphibians, reptiles, birds, insects, and mammals.
An important plant in the Namusilai Wetlands is the lotus. Huang Li believes the most beautiful scenes in the wetlands are of lotuses blossoming at sunset.
(Sound 4, Huang Li, male, in Chinese)
Huang says the lotus is, in fact, a tropical plant which is popular in southern China. Lotus blossoms are rare in northeast China due to the cold weather. However, the flower grows vibrantly in the wetland. They are probably the only ones you can find in the whole northeast China region.
Lotus seeds are planted in spring, and harvested in the autumn. Two decades of efforts by the scientists have paid off because today, the lotus fields totaled 400,000 square meters, which is six times larger than two decades ago. Some 250 different species of higher plants can be found here.
Huang Li talks about other crops grown in the wetland.
Huang says different varieties of plants and grain grow well in the wetland. They include those species from southern China such as cockscomb rice and water chestnut which were rarely seen in this area in the past.
Liu Zhibin is a professor of resources and environment at the Liaoning Engineering and Technology University. He has been engaged in the study of wetland ecology and the comprehensive use of natural resources for many years. He explains the important functions that wetlands perform in relation to climate change.
He says reeds, for example, are some of the most typical vegetation in most wetlands. They transmit oxygen into the soil with their roots. In this way, suspended pollutants in the water precipitate into the soil. Thus the water has been purified. That's how wetlands have a major impact on the environment and human life.
With a high degree of biodiversity, wetlands are one of the most important habitats for a variety of birds and other wild animals.
Management official Huang Li says a number of rare birds and endangered animals that went missing for many years have been found returning to this area.
Huang says those are eagles and next to them are Gray Cranes, which are endangered species under state level protection.
He explains the wetland is also home to other migratory birds including the mandarin ducks and river gulls. They migrate into the wetland in May or June, breed and raise their offspring. In fall, they will fly away returning to their habitats in southern China.
The official says today a total of more than 100 different animals can be found in the wetland thanks to decades of protection efforts.
Huang Li is among the very first group of scientists and officials who left their homes in big cities and settled in the nature reserve. When he recalls the difficult time at the beginning, he becomes emotional, saying the biggest headache for him was how to educate the local people about the significance of wetland protection.
Huang says it was hard at the beginning when the local people often caused trouble by destroying the plants in the wetland which greatly hindered the development of the nature reserve. Because the lacked basic environmental education, some local people were mad about such policies which had forbidden herding and farming in the wetland. During that time, a lot of efforts and energy was put into arguing with the trouble makers and promoting environmental education to everyone.
Having seen the improvements to the environment, the local people have changed their ways and now support efforts to protect the wetland.
Ma Debiao is a native whose family has been living here for more than two centuries. Impressed by the changing environment, he says he is one of the beneficiaries of the improved environment.
Ma Debiao says in the past, this was where they herded their livestock. Herds of cattle, sheep and horses could be found everywhere by the river. People were confused at the beginning when they were told to stop herding to make way for the nature reserve. But now everyone supports Mr. Huang and his wetland because they have seen the changes and the improvements to their lives. Thanks to the wetland, the sand that used to erode the farms has gone. He says without the protection of the wetland, the desert would have totally destroyed their farmlands and they would have had nothing to rely on.
To date, nearly 500 wetland nature reserves have been established throughout China, which have helped to protect 45 percent of the country's natural wetlands, 30 of which have been included in the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance.
Management official Huang Li says however, the task of protecting the wetland remains an arduous one and there's still a long way to go.

Unfortunately in Beijing, special needs kids don't have places they can go for specialized physical therapy. When Jacqueline Chen's son was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, they were left with no choice but to leave.
When the family returned to China, she opened Elliot's Corner to give special needs kids the speech therapy, physical therapy, and occupational therapy they require.
Now, she's brought the new concept of acquatherapy to Beijing.
Andrea Hunt has more:

It's Tuesday afternoon and four-year-old Elliot Chen is splashing around the pool with his swimming instructor. Even though he's having a great time as any kid would, this is no ordinary swimming class. This is an acquatherapy class especially tailored to fit Elliot's needs. When he was only a year old, his mother, Jacqueline Chen found out that he had cerebral palsy.
"Cerebral palsy is a physical disability and an injury to the brain affects the muscles and affects the motor portion of the brain. So, many kids with cerebral palsy will have their legs affected, they will have very weak legs or they will have spastic muscles. They will probably have their trunk affected as well."
Jacqueline Chen is from China originally but she and her American husband moved back to America to find better care for Elliot. After his complicated back surgery several years ago in New York, the hospital recommended acquatherapy.
Now, several years later, physical therapist Carmen Liang from Hong Kong can help Elliot and kids like him in Beijing. She explains that there are many benefits to this form of treatment.
" I need to teach the exercise to children who have cerebral palsy. Aquatherapy is a kind of treatment that we can do using the principle of water. In water, the children can do some exercise to increase their muscle power and muscle endurance. For the balance, coordination, there are a lot of advantages in the water."
His mother, Jacqueline watches over while Liang holds Elliot on his back in the water.
"…Right now, she's asking him to kick. So, he has very weak hip muscles as well….So, she will try to hold him in a way whereby maybe it will fix his pelvis in a certain way so that he'll move certain muscles in his legs so that he'll kick in a better way or he'll kick so that it will activate the muscles that are weak."
Unlike exercise on land, the warm water calms the muscles. This makes it easier to exercise and strengthen his muscles without straining them, making them more flexible.
Acquatherapy may have many benefits, but small children have a short attention span so it needs to be fun as well.
"I will give him some games for him so he loves to play in the water and he can enjoy so I can teach him freely to do the exercise. I integrate the exercise into the game. For example, I want him to do the free hand stand exercise in water. But I use another method, it's efficient so that he can stand in the water and I will push some water to him to let him improve his standing balance. So, I integrate exercise into the game to make it more fun."
Even from the first lesson several years ago, Chen says she could see the difference.
"His energy level increased right after that session, he wanted to play in the park for about three hours, he wanted to ride his bike, he tried to go up and down a curb and things I've never seen before and now, he loves the water. And he is physically disabled and he does have a lot of dependencies but in the water, he's just very happy all the time and I really attribute that to acquatherapy because before that, he never liked the water."
But this kind of program wasn't available in Beijing several years ago. When Elliot was diagnosed, they looked everywhere for appropriate care and grew frustrated. The western hospitals weren't helpful and neither was the Chinese hospital that they'd been to.
"I think Beijing, it's really lacking in resources for kids with special needs; there's not a resource group. There's not a support group for mothers to turn to. When I came back this time round, I tried to do a lot of research but still there's nothing."
So, she started Elliot's Corner. The center aims to provide speech, occupational, and physical therapy for children up to twelve. Sometimes kids only come for an assessment, other times they stay for long term programs. While acquatherapy helps kids with cerebral palsy, it's also useful for other children as well such as those who have autism or Down syndrome.
In the future, Chen also hopes to start a support group for the mothers of special needs kids. Through centers like this that provide acquatherapy, kids like Elliot will finally be able to get the care they need in China.

China is a multi-ethnic country, and its 55 ethnic minority groups account for almost 8.5% of the total population in China, as of 2010. Among these ethnic minority groups, the Khazaks in Xinjiang are one of the largest. Khazaks are known for their singing and dancing abilities. Their traditional style of music and dance is characteristically rhythmic with a merry tune, and is enjoyed by music lovers and ordinary people throughout China. Today we introduce you to some of the most popular tunes of the Khazaks.
The Khazak group is one of the oldest ethnicities in China, with a history dating back to the mid-15th century. In their ethnic language, their name means 'white swan'. Some Khazaks also call themselves 'free men', with freedom in life and freedom in love being some of the most popular themes within their music.
This is one of the traditional folk songs of the ethnic group, called Tudar and Maria. The song is one of the most popular ethnic tunes in the whole of China. It's a love song which tells of the affection shared between a young boy and a young girl.
As one of the largest ethnic groups in China, the Khazak population exceeds one million, and mainly lives in areas around the Jungar Basin and Yili in northern Xinjiang.
Khazak people are mostly herdsmen, and a good natural environment in this area means that their homeland possesses some of the most fruitful pastures in China. In summer, herds of livestock can be found in the high mountains around the Jungar Basin area. And in winter, the slack season for most herdsmen in China's grassland areas, the Khazaks feed their herds in the lush prairies between the hills and valleys by the river. Shepherds gaze their animals on the pastures, riding horses while singing songs.
The Khazaks are known for their rich cultural tradition, which also includes folk literature and a number of other folk art forms. In an effort to preserve the group's rich culture, a group of people have been designated as professional singers of Khazak music. Large scale performance shows are staged every year to promote their traditional music. These performances, known as Aken concerts, have become a major holiday for the Khazak people. Various Aken concerts are held in the fall every year in Khazak settlement areas, attracting large numbers of singers and large audiences. People sing and dance to the accompaniment of the Donbora, a traditional stringed instrument of the ethnic group.
To end today's show, we bring you the popular Khazak folk song, Mayila; a beautiful maiden who's fond of singing and dancing. The song conjures up the image of her fellow villagers attracted by the sound of her beautiful voice, gathering outside her tent to listen to her sing.