Hug the trees

A student takes notes on her 'nature journal' during a nature education tour in the garden. [Photos Provided To China Daily]

Han Minzhu, a 7-year-old student from a primary school in Jinghong, the major city of Xishuangbanna, went with her mother Li Yuanding for a night hike recently, together with dozens of her classmates and their parents. The hike was part of a nature-experience weekend in the botanical garden organized spontaneously by the students' parents.

During the hike, which took one and a half hours, the girl was impressed by the flowers of konjac, which "stank". She saw bats preying in the night sky and heard the calling of a barn owl.

"Our children grew up in cities and have few opportunities to stay out in the wild at night," Li says. "So we truly enjoy the tour a lot."

The following morning, Wang gave the students a lecture on how to keep a nature journal - specifically on leaves. After the class, the students had time to wander around the botanical garden to take down notes in their journals.