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Xishuangbanna garden: Daunting path to paradise

By Yang Cheng and Li Yingqing (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-09 15:22

Part of the palm tree sector at the botanical garden

Today Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) is one of the world's renowned tropical gardens, but 50 years ago when it was founded in southwestern China's Yunnan province its pioneers faced deadly and daunting challenges from both nature and man.

Dr Chen Jin, director of the stunning 900-hectare nature preserve, recalled the sacrifice made by a group of hardy scientist and students.

"Fifty years ago, famous and respected Chinese botanist and professor Cai Xitao headed up a group of hot-blooded youngsters into this peninsula-shaped area covered by dense tropical forest," he said. "They had to cross the Luosuo River by canoe."

Eight-person group

In May 1958, Cai led an eight-person group to Xiaojie, Damenglong, 46 km from Jinghong, capital of the Xishuangbanna Dai autonomous prefecture, and began pioneering work to create the XTBG.

According to Chen, Xiaojie near China's border with Myanmar and Laos was vulnerable to remnants of the Kuomintang army that had taken refuge in neighboring countries.

After in-depth surveys of the land, Cai submitted a report asking to move the site to an area nestled inside sharp bends in the Luosuo River. It was approved and became home to today's facility in Menglun township of Mengla county.

"It was an inhospitable piece of land with a Dai ethnic village of only six households on the riverside - which was also known as a leper's area for taking in a woman suffering from the disease of leprosy," Chen said.

It was also home to leaches, swarms of noxious insects and potentially dangerous animals.

The pioneers of the garden set some bold targets - to comprehensively research plant ecology and cultivation, then develop tropical plant science and a botanical garden.

"They worked six and a half days each week, six days building the garden and a half day growing grain," he said.

"The rainy seasons and incredibly hot sun in dry seasons were unbearable," Chen said. "Torrential rains and storms often devastated the grass cottages. Floods from the Luosuo River sometimes washed away houses."

The first group of pioneers not only contributed their youth and sweat but even their lives.

Deng Jian, Bao Jilong, Li Wenxin and Zhou San all died while helping start the garden.

By 1963, houses, laboratories and offices had been built along with a nursery for specimens. More than 1,000 species from home and abroad were planted and cultivated.

The garden made advances in the introduction and domestication of oil-bearing fruit, propagation of the medicinal plant Rauwolfia useful in treating high blood pressure and cultivation of high-yielding banana and cassava.

Prestigious researchers Yu Dejun, Chen Fenghuai and Sheng Chenggui all lauded the efforts at the first conference on botanical gardens of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

In 1965, administrators vowed to build the operation into a world-class botanical garden, but some 30 experts including Cai were persecuted between 1965 and 1971 during early years of the cultural revolution and development of the garden was crippled, Chen said.

Following his release, Cai again led efforts beginning in 1972 to develop the garden, with 1,000 plant species rescued and more than 2,000 new species planted.

By 1978 new offices, plantations and national, provincial-level research all took root, but the garden's development continued to be challenging. Cai died in 1981, floods hit in 1984 and 1985, and an earthquake shattered the area in 1988.

Yet administrators and experts continued to blaze new trails, with enterprises in tourism, pharmaceuticals and science established in the 1980s, when a total of 10 million yuan was spent on renovation.

In 1997, the garden's annual income hit 10 million yuan, which supported its further development, stabilized its staff and increased scientific research, Chen said.

Its number of plant species collected has gradually increased to more than 4,000 and it has sponsored a range of nationally recognized research. Its tropical plant germplasm bank was begun as scientific facilities were improved. In 1997, it was combined the Kunming Institute of Ecology.

On a fast track

In 1998, XTBG became a pilot project in the CAS Knowledge Innovation Program and has since made further advances in scientific research, species conservation, collections and education.

The garden now has 20 research groups. Among the 1,000 academic papers they have released, 248 have been published in international peer-reviewed journals and 30 books based on their research have been published.

Its herbarium now has more than 100,000 specimens, mainly vascular plants from tropical and subtropical areas, with photos of all identified plants on the XTBG website.

A 20-hectare tropical rainforest dynamics plot has been started in conjunction with the Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve Administration Bureau.

The garden's number of plant species has increased to 12,000, now one of the richest preserves of outdoor plants in the world.

"The garden's overall layout and scenery have also been improved to meet the province's goal of enhancing tourism," Chen said.

Some 600,000 people visit the garden every year. Its tropical botanical museum now hosts about 300,000 visitors annually.

The garden also creates 500 job opportunities for local youth and generates other income to the local economy.

Some 34 species have been identified for economic use, with 14 now in pilot experiments and 12 under development. Various species have been commercialized and produced across a total of 4,000 hectares.

Research into energy derived from the physic nut tree shows particular promise for China.

The garden also offers training and post-graduate studies for students from Southeast Asian nations.

It has been designated as a research and internship center for many of the nation's prestigious universities.

To Chen's delight, the garden's faculty continues to grow in depth and strength. In 1998, XTBG staff included only two PhDs and eight research groups. Today 46 members of its staff hold PhDs and the number of research groups has increased to 20.

XTBG is now itself accredited to award PhD degrees as well as serve as a workstation for postdoctoral research.

About 200 doctoral and master's degree candidates, 10 post-doctors and visiting scholars are now conducting research at the botanical garden.

Ten XTBG professors serve in international academic organizations or sit on the editorial boards of international peer-reviewed journals.

It also has six full-time foreign research fellows and 10 international students and postdoctoral researchers.

Chen said the garden "will become a world-class botanical garden and a thriving research center for plant biodiversity conservation and ecology".

To meet the goal, the garden has spent 70 million yuan to upgrade its research conditions and the plantation zones and opened a new 18,000 sq m research center.