Comparison of Forest Culture Activities Between Two Suburban Forest Parks of China and Finland

The human beings originated in the forest, and there is a natural emotional connection between people and forest; however, the modern city life cuts off such natural emotional bond between people and forest. Therefore, establishing forest parks near a city is the health, psychological, and emotional needs of city residents. Many mature national forest parks have been established in European and American developed countries, while the construction of national forest parks in China is still in its infancy. Based on the field investigation and literature review, we compared and analyzed the similarities and differences of activity by which modern tourists interact with forests at the Heimifeng National Forest Park near Changsha City of Hunan Province and the Nuuksio National Forest Park near Helsinki of Finland, and tried to earn experiences for improving the construction of national forest parks in China. We draw the following conclusions. ① The tourism cost should be waived as much as possible by cancelling the entrance tickets, offering cheap and convenient public transportation and even providing financial subsidies by government if possible. ② The commercial operations should be reduced, which would minimize the noise caused by the commercial activities. Business operations inevitably require public attentions and thus bring noise, which is not in line with the idea that people seek peace in nature. Forest parks should be kept as quiet as possible even in the necessary business operations. ③ The natural materials such as stones and timber should be utilized to protect the authenticity and integrity of natural ecosystems as well as natural and cultural heritage. This will enable citizens to have close connections with nature in a peaceful and natural environment during weekends or short holidays. ④ We should improve the quality of tourists' activities in the parks, and cultivate their ecological consciousness of loving nature and cherishing life. Forest tourism has just risen in China, and many tourists still put emphasis on sightseeing, leisure and recreation. It takes some time to cultivate a simple sense of going out only for nature. ⑤ It is necessary to carry out a systematic and scientific tourist feedback survey, then take the tourists' feedback seriously and adjust the park operation mode according to tourists' feedback.