Wonderland far from the madding crowd

Of the more than 100 institutions under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) in Southwest China's Yunnan province is the only one not within or close to a major city.

But this has not impeded efforts by the nation's largest botanical garden to become "a regional conservation and research leader", says XTBG director Dr Chen Jin.

"Actually, being far from any city and close to nature can be considered one of our advantages, as it nurtures an atmosphere conducive to research," he says. "Our role model is the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institution (STRI) in Panama."