STAND TALL: A stand of old cypress trees that are around 500 years old provide a shade for visitors in the Temple of Heaven in Beijing (LU XIN)

West of Tiananmen Square in Beijing, in Zhongshan Park, there stand several ancient cypress trees, each more than 1,000 years old. Their leafy crowns are all more than 20 meters high, while four have trunks that are 6 meters in circumference. The most unique of these old and silent sentinels is the one named "the embrace of the scholar tree and the cypress." The romantic name comes from the Chinese scholar tree growing from the trunk of a cypress tree. The two shared their embrace and have grown together for more than 300 years.

LARGE-SCALE CULTIVATION: Scientists in Tianjin observe the seedlings of plants bred through clone technology (LIU HAIFENG)

Visitors see two giant white-bark pines when walking past the south gate of Beihai Park in the city. The two 800-year-old trees are more than 30 meters high and their trunks are over 5 meters around.

For a long time, people have been worrying that the ancient city residents and symbols of all that in Beijing might be nearing the end of their lives.