XI'AN -- A plan to transform the core area of the Qinling Mountains, deemed a natural boundary between China's north and south, into a national park has been approved by the country's national park authorities.

The planned national park, slated to be completed by 2025, will cover the core ecological area of the mountain ecosystem, according to the forestry authority in northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

The Qinling Mountains are known as China's gene bank of wild biology as they house a huge variety of plants and wild animals.

Dang Shuangren, director of the Shaanxi forestry and grassland bureau, said that the establishment of the national park is of great significance for biodiversity protection.

China's national park administration is expected to establish a coordination and promotion mechanism with the Shaanxi provincial government in the preparatory work to build the national park in the Qinling Mountains.