Spring and Autumn of the Tropical Botanical Garden 
– a Garden of Harvest

Professor Cai on Field Investigation

Professor Cai Xitao, Founder of the Botanical Garden

Professor Cai’s Village

Professor Cai Xitao (1911-1981) was a native of Dongyang, Jiangsu province; and a very famous botanist in China. He entered Beijing Jing Biological Investigation Institute in 1930 and went to Yunnan for investigations in 1932. He collected thousands of specimens there, and he founded the predecessor of the current Kunming Plant Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences – Yunnan Agriculture and Forestry Plant Research Institute in 1938. After 1949, he worked as the Chief of Kunming Working Station, and the Deputy Chief of Kunming Plant Research Institute; in 1958, he led on some young researchers to Xishuangbanna, he founded the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden and was appointed as the Chief of the Botanical Garden. Professor Cai Xitao made imponderable contributions to the development of the tobacco industry, the rubber industry, the perfume industry, planting of medicinal plants and the protection of the tropical rain forests in Yunnan province. The Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden founded by Professor Cai has now become an important research base for tropical botany and a famous tourist sight for both Chinese people and foreign guests. The President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mr. Zhou Guangzhao, once said: “Comrade Cai Xitao’s scientific spirits and patriotic passion are the spiritual treasures of the Chinese Academy of Sciences”. Nowadays, the great cause established by Professor Cai has become a cloud-kissing tree. The tree is deeply rooted and verdant in branches and leaves. 

Professor Pei Shengji, the Second Chief of the Botanical Garden

Professor Pei Shengji,  the Second Chief of the Botanical  Garden (first from the left)

Professor Pei Shengji was born in Xintong County of Sichuan province on July 15, 1938. When he began to work in Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden in 1961, he participated in collection, investigation and expedition works; and he set a profound foundation for the plant categorization, plant resource and national plant studies of the botanical garden. In 1987, after Professor Pei Shengji was appointed as the Deputy Chief of Kunming Plant Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, he established the first national plant research lab in China and fulfilled a blank for China in the field of national plant study. 

Professor Xu Zaifu, the Third Chief of the Botanical Garden

The Third Chief of the Botanical  Garden, Professor Xu Zaifu

Professor Xu Zaifu is a native of Raoping County, Canton province, and he was born on September 15, 1939. Professor Xu is an expert in the management and protection of tropical forests, horticultural design, transplantation and cultivation of plants, and in the research of plant resources. Professor Xu engages in the development, use, and protection of tropical plants for nearly 40 years; and he especially devoted himself to the protection of multiplied life forms and the study on sustainable development of the rain forests from the 1980s. Professor Xu is one of the earliest experts that engage in the systematic protection of life forms in China. 

Professor Xu Zaifu is Giving  Instructions on Works of the Garden

Professor Xu Zaifu is the person in charge of the botanical garden for more than 20 years and he has made great contributions to the development of the botanical garden. In 1997, under his leadership, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden became an independent research institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the garden appeared in front of the world in a completely new poise. Professor Xu is also awarded many honors such as “the Zhu Kezhen Field Investigation Prize of the Chinese Academy of Sciences” and “a Technician that has Outstanding Contributions in Xishuangbanna” etc.