February 2 is World Wetlands Day. This year's theme is Wetlands and Water.

Wetlands are often referred to as "Earth's kidneys."

President Xi Jinping has attached great importance to wetland conservation.

In March last year, Xi inspected the Xixi National Wetland Park in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province. "Water is the soul of wetland, and the beauty of natural ecology is the most intrinsic and important beauty of Xixi wetland," he said.

With a total area of 11.5 square kilometers, the Xixi National Wetland Park is the first national wetland park in the country.

Over the past five years, China's wetland area increased by more than 200,000 hectares, and the protection rate was raised above 50 percent.

A total of 201 national wetland parks were newly built in the period, raising the total to 899, official data showed.

(Wan Chongshan, Wu Fangyu contributed to the graphics)