Beidaihe, in Hebei Province, is one of the best summer resorts in north China, but now more and more people from home and abroad are visiting Puti, a small island 30 km away from Beidaihe.

These people are not holiday-makers but bird lovers who are interested in the 420 kinds of birds living on the 2.09-square-kilometer island.

Puti Island is named after the banyan tree, also known as the bodhi tree or tree of Buddha, which grows widely on the island. The tropical species comes from India and is rarely seen in the colder northern part of the country.

There are more than 260 kinds of plants on the island.

The island is now among four nature reserves that were recently set up by the provincial government.

( Xinhua News Agency August 13, 2002)