Updated 30th September, 2002
* * * Jinghong Summary * * *
In the Xishuangbanna gardens and parks grow an amazing variety of bushes and trees. One section of a park in Xishuangbanna was laid out entirely with plants and bushes used in Chinese medicine, of particular interest to Zhong as they form the ingredients of the medicines he prescribes in the Longzhou hospital.
On one visit to China he gave me some Chinese medicine to cure a troublesome stomach; it was extremely unpleasant to swallow, but very effective. Fortunately none was required on this Xishuangbanna visit !
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The trees and bushes in the Botanical Gardens in Xishuangbanna and the surrounding forests were a good source of nuts and seeds which the women used for making necklaces, with considerable skill and patience. Just another way for the Xishuangbanna people to supplement their low income.
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In the gardens and forests of Xishuangbanna can be seen many different types of butterflies. Butterflies have such attractive patterns on their wings, some of which are very colorful, and are always looked forward to in the early summer as they flutter amongst trees and plants in any garden. In my opinion, it is a great pity when they are captured and mounted in glass cases, but in the Botanical Gardens at Xishuangbanna, there were many collections available on the stalls.
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At the entrance of one park in Xishuangbanna a memorial Statue of Zhou Enlai, a revered statesman of China, dominated the scene. Strangely enough I cannot recollect seeing any portraits or statues in Xishuangbanna of Mao Tse Dong.
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