For centuries, travelers to China have told tales of magical landscapes and surprising creatures. Chinese civilization is the world’s oldest. And today, it’s largest, with well over a billion people. It’s home to more than 50 distinct ethnic groups. And a wide range of traditional lifestyles, often in close partnership with nature.

 

We know that China faces immense social and environmental problems. But there is great beauty here, too. China is home to the world’s highest mountains, vast deserts ranging from searing hot to mind numbing cold, steaming forests harboring rare creatures, grassy plains beneath vast horizons, and rich tropical seas.

 

Now for the first time ever, we can explore the whole of this great country, meet some of the surprising and exotic creatures that live here, and consider the relationship of the people and wild life of China to the remarkable landscape in which they live. This is Wild China.

 

Our exploration of China begins in the warm subtropical south. On the Li River, fishermen and birds perch on bamboo rafts, a partnership that goes back more than a thousand years. This scenery is known throughout the world, a recurring motif in Chinese paintings, and a major tourist attraction. The south of China is a vast area, eight times larger than the UK. It’s a landscape of hills but also of water. It rains here for up to 250 days a year. And standing water is everywhere. And in a floodplain of the Yangtze River, black-tailed godwits probe the mud in search of worms.

 

But it isn’t just wildlife that thrives in this environment. The swampy ground provides ideal conditions for the remarkable member of the grass family - rice. The Chinese have been cultivating rice for at least 8000 years.