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Hainan Celebrates 20th Anniversary Special> Hainan Celebrates 20th Anniversary
UPDATED: June-18-2008 NO. 26 JUN. 26, 2008
Plant Paradise
One man's vision of an ecological reserve has grown to become a haven for rare species and an attraction to a growing stream of appreciative visitors
By JING XIAOLEI

VAST GARDEN: Dubbed the tropical plants encyclopedia, Xinglong Tropical Botanical Garden in Hainan Province is home to a variety of 3,400 plants, including dozens of rare species on the verge of extinction (JING XIAOLEI)

"You see. It's much cooler here in this garden than outside. The forests are like a vast and natural air conditioner," said Pang Shuiqing, a manager of the Xinglong Tropical Botanical Garden, as he took a tour of the garden with some guests.

The garden, located in Xinglong County, Wanning City, in Hainan Province, is known as the tropical plants encyclopedia as it covers an area of 400,000 square meters and is home to 3,400 varieties of plants, including dozens of rare plant species that are on the verge of extinction.

"It is a wonderful experience to know what coco, coffee, peppers and many other plants we may never have seen look like before they're in your cup," the manager said. The garden is divided into different zones: ornamental plants, rainforest, camping area, sightseeing, horticulture, and others.

Trees, colorful flowers and fruits lined the sightseeing path as the tour bus zigzagged inside the ocean of plants. The bus stopped by a small plant in an open field. "That small tree was planted by Pakistan President Musharraf this April during his attendance at the 2008 Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference, as a wish for permanent friendship between Pakistan and China," Pang told Beijing Review.

Returned overseas Chinese Zheng Wentai, who is now in his sixties, built the garden in 1992. Zheng was one of the first Chinese pioneers of the concept of eco-friendly industrial development in the early 1990s, according to Pang. Zheng has spent tens of millions of yuan building and caring for the garden, all at his own expense.

As a major ecological project in Hainan, the garden combines a natural landscape, culture, gardening, and ecological and environmental protection. It is one of the four national eco-environment exemplary education centers and gene pools of species in China, and was recommended by the Chinese Government as one of the Global 500 Award by United Nations Environment Program.

Though it attracts an increasing number of tourists, Zheng is reluctant to develop hotels or properties in the garden as he fears that the overwhelming numbers of people might ruin its beauty.

Story behind the gardener

"Compared to how much Zheng has devoted to the garden, the 16-yuan ($2.2) entrance fee is something of a symbolic gesture, which makes the garden more a public space than a commercial tourism park," said Pang, adding that Zheng continues to collect new tropical plants.

"My life has turned out to be more colorful than those of my teenage friends I left in Indonesia. I have grown up as China has grown up, and I have shared both its sweet and bitter moments," Zheng said.

As the only son of a Chinese property developer based in Indonesia, Zheng returned to China alone in 1960, at the age of 14, determined to help with the development of his country of origin.

He studied at the newly established Chinese Language School for Overseas Returnees in Beijing and later at the University for Overseas Chinese in Quanzhou, Fujian Province. After graduating with a degree in tropical botany in 1964, he volunteered to work as a scientist on the farm in Xinglong.

In 1971, Zheng went to the University of Hong Kong, studied architecture, and later joined the family real estate business. In 1984, he returned to Xinglong after the local government invited the now successful landscape designer and businessman to help draw up a blueprint for the development of the region's tourism industry.

Explaining his idea to build the tropical garden in 1992, he said, "I thought it would be a great attraction for tourists and also help stop the ecological deterioration of the area."

Zheng now still lives on the farm, while he also keeps businesses in Hong Kong, Indonesia and Singapore. In 2008, Zheng, as a respected member of the farming community, became one of the first people chosen by the Olympic organizers to carry the torch in the relay held in Wanning.



 
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