Abstract: Based on the data of the general surveys of forest resources from 1973 to 2008 and 7 assessments of nationwide forest resouces,the paper analyzes the current situation of nationawide natural forests,their structural changes and potential areas that need tending.It is found that between 1973 and 1988 there had been obvious decrease of both area and stock volume of natural forests,10% in area and 11% in stock uolume respectively.Between 1989 and 2008,however,there had been steady increase in both area and stock uolume of natural forests,25% in area and 34% in stock uolume in these 20 years compared to those of 1973.In addition,the structural changes of forest category are prominent,and the proportion of mature and overmature forests decreased sharply while the proportion of sapling and half-mature forests increased strikingly in terms of area and stock uolume,which shows that the areas that need tending are tremendously large,amounting to 37.8 million hm².

Key words: natural forests, forest structure, tending