Colorful masses of tulips and other flowers draw big crowds in spring to the Beijing Botanical Garden, a public park that partners with the research-driven Institute of Botany nearby. Provided to China Daily

Raven, meanwhile, applauds China's efforts to preserve its biodiversity and plant heritage.

"But it's very difficult to meet the needs of 1.3 billion people, to allow them to consume more and to give them the things they want, like automobiles and other imports from the West, and still preserve the natural landscape or even the quality of the air or water," he says.

"They're fighting that battle - a battle with which we're all familiar - but they're going to have to do a great deal more in the future, as we all are."