Just outside Jinghong, travellers have the opportunity to visit one of the most impressive botanical gardens in the world, the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden.  This 900 hectare site was founded in 1959 by renowned Chinese botanist Cai  Xitao and features over 12,000 species of plants in its 35 different garden habitats, two national field stations and arboretum. The site envisions itself as a “Noah’s Ark” for plants, an innovative place for plant research and an attractive and relaxing place for tourists. It is the largest tropical botanical garden in China and among the largest in the world. Tropical rainforests are the most diverse ecosystems in the world, and this site has proved to be an invaluable resource for understanding the complex biodiversity contained within and contributes to conservation and preservation efforts everywhere.

The site is home to a preeminent research institution that engages in biodiversity conservation, research in forest ecosystem ecology and sustainable use of plant resources.  To date, 698 scientific research projects have been performed or supported onsite, appearing in scientific and peer reviewed journals for tropical ecosystem studies.

Within its 35 gardens are housed over 12,000 unique species of plants, many of which are endangered or nationally protected. These serve the dual purpose of educating and entertaining tourists while providing valuable research into living ecosystem and biodiversity behaviour to further conservation and preservation efforts for the garden’s scientists. The most popular regions of the botanical garden are: