The Xishuangbanna Arboretum of Tropical Plants of the Chinese Academy of Sciences is situated on the Calabash Islet surrounded by the Luosuo River in the Xishuangbanna Autonomous Prefecture of Yunnan. Here plants of every description grow luxuriantly in a picturesque surrounding, and myriads of tropical plants vie with each other in splendour. It is a place highly favoured by botanists and people who have a fancy for plants.

The Xishuangbanna Arboretum of Tropical Plants is located at Mengla County, and lies 21¡ã41' north latitude and 101¡ã25' east longitude, with an elevation of 570 meters. Annual temperature is 21.5¡ãC, while the annual rainfall is 1,500 mm. It is 780 km. from Kunming, and can be reached either by plane or by bus.

The Arboretum was founded in l959 by the famous Chinese botanist professor Cai Xitao, and has a history of more than 30 years. It is one of the most important research institutions on tropical plants belonging to the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It is mainly concerned with the research on tropical economic plants, germ plasma resources and the cultivation of exotic tropical plants introduced from other countries, with a view to providing new varieties of cultivated plants, preserving rare and precious tropical plants as well as those in imminent danger of extinction, and promoting the development of economic and cultural enterprises of the minority nationalities in that area.

The Arboretum occupies an area of 14,000 mu (about 933 hectares), and has a staff of 261 persons. It has a number of laboratories with a total floor space of 5,000 square meters and garden structures of 1,000 square meters. There are 3,000 species of tropical plants introduced from abroad and other places in China have been cultivated, and sections of tropical economic plants, fast growing trees, plants of southern Yunnan, bamboos and palms have been established, displaying a typical botanical geographical landscape full of rich and colourful varieties of tropical economic plants found in the tropical zone of southeast Asia. A herbarium for South Yunnan plants, Aqermplasm pool for rare and endangered plants and diverse laboratries for biote-chnology have been constructed in the garden. The garden has become an important research centre for the exploitation, utilization and conservation of tropical plant resources in China.