Xishuangbanna is the southernmost prefecture of Yunnan Province. The prefecture is nicknamed "Aerial Garden" for its luxuriant and multi-layered
primitive1 woods and tropical rain forests, which are
teeming2 with animals and plants.
Renowned4 as a huge natural zoo, Xishuangbanna's rain forest and
monsoon5 jungles provide a habitat for nearly 1000 species of animals. Within thick and
boundless6 forests wild elephants and wild oxen
ramble7 about, with peacocks in their pride, gibbons at play, and hornbills whispering.
Thirteen species of wild life enjoy state protection, including loris, the gibbons, the red-necked cranes, the brown-neck horn-bills, and the green peacocks, which to the Dai people are a symbol of peace, happiness and good fortune and whose
graceful8 postures9 can put professional dancers to shame. The region has 5,000 kinds of plants or about one-sixth of the total in China. This has earned it the
renown3 and
sobriquet10 "The moonstone on the Crown of the Kingdom of Plants".
Among these are such fascinating ones as the "color-changing flower" whose colors change three times daily and the "dancing herb" whose leaves rotate gently. Then there is "mysterious fruit" which reverse tastes, turning sour to sweet.
Species of trees that go back a million years are still propagating themselves. The "King of Tea Trees ,"which authorities say is at least 800 years old, continues to
sprout11, adding extraordinary
splendor12 to the homeland of the famous Pu'er tea. In Xishuangbanna, there is a saying: "Even a single tree can make a forest and an old stalk can blossom and beat fruit ."
Notes:
1. Xishuangbanna 西双版纳
2. Aerial Garden 空中花园
3. Pu'er tea 普洱茶