Xishuangbanna

One of the few places in China to watch wild Asian elephants safely, this valley threads elephant trails through rainforest ravines in a tropical haven.

Among China's largest and most species-rich tropical botanical gardens, the Xishuangbanna garden conserves more than ten thousand kinds of rare tropical plants.

Towering Parashorea chinensis, the tree that proved China holds true tropical rainforest, gives Mengla a celebrated canopy walkway high above the forest floor.

The first World Heritage cultural site devoted to tea, Jingmai Mountain shows how Blang and Dai communities have grown tea beneath forest canopy for centuries.

Xishuangbanna Dai traditions preserve long-standing cultural memories of elephant reverence, human–elephant coexistence, and elephants in farming and warfare.

In 2023, Jingmai Mountain's old tea forests were inscribed for understorey tea cultivation, traditional villages, and community governance.