Peonies of China

The sign-up period is over and we are fully booked.

This website is a work in progress. All images, including maps, are © Paige Woodward unless otherwise noted. 

Map of itinerary

Because we are arriving from many parts of the world, we are on our own — most us will want a shower and a nap — until evening and our first dinner together. To China, peonies, and friendship: Cheers! Gan bei (Dry the cup)!

Grand View Garden Hotel

A Dream of Red Mansions re-enacted at the Daguanyuan

Returning Peonies of China members may see these "don't miss" sights again or take free time to shop, wander, or perhaps visit the new Capital Museum, which is getting rave reviews. (Before we arrive, tour members will be asked to vote on activities in Beijing. In addition to the museum, possibilities include seeing the last of the old town and shopping for things like books, pearls, jade, silk, carpets or antiques.)

In the evening we will rendezvous in the traditional private garden of a former high official for a banquet with some of our Beijing plant friends, including Dr. Hong Deyuan, China's chief botanist and a world authority on peonies, who will join us in Chengdu when the botanical part of our study-tour begins. 

Emperor Qianlong's peony garden. Photograph ©  Carsten Burkhardt

Gansu and especially Lanzhou are famous for Paeonia rockii cultivars and hybrids. In China these are all known as Ziban mudan (purple-center tree peonies); but the finest cultivars come from Gansu and are called Gansu mudan (Gansu tree peonies). On the drive in from the airport we will stop for lunch and then visit the OK Peony Nursery, the most meticulous Gansu mudan nursery in the region. Here all cultivars are produced by division and grafting, not seed-grown and then rogued to description. Seedlings are grown for selection of new cultivars. At the OK we will be met by our dear friend Prof. Cheng Fangyun of Beijing Forestry University, China's foremost authority on Paeonia rockii cultivars. Prof. Cheng advises the nursery and his brother, Cheng Xingyun, runs it. 

Last spring a gorgeous book that Cheng edited and co-authored was published. Little except the title, Chinese Flare Mudan, is in English, but much of the information in the book is visual and several study-tour members bought copies that they now cherish. Members of this year's tour will be offered a chance to order copies, too. 

This evening we will enjoy a banquet with the Chengs and some of our other plant friends in Lanzhou. 

As for lodging: Strings have been pulled and by invitation we will stay at the Ning Wo Zhuang, the provincial government's private guesthouse, which has a wonderful private peony garden.

Ziban mudan cultivars

OK Peony Nursery, photograph ©  Cheng Fangyun 

Chinese Flare Mudan

Lanzou banquet, 2005

Venerable, gnarled  peonies at the Ning Wo Zhuang

Wolong, a United Nations International Wildlife Reserve, is home to many rare birds and animals, including the giant panda, and to about 4,000 taxa of plants. 

On the coach and over dinner, the talk is pandas, peonies and plants, plants, plants.

Tonight we stay at the 4-star Wolong Hotel.

Peony-growing  discussion, Peace Peony Nursery

Ziban mudan cultivar 

Paeonia delavayi, orange form

Most of the local people we meet are culturally and ethnically Tibetan. We are now in "Greater Tibet" and will be for days to come. 

Tonight we stay in the Maoxian Guibinlou Hotel (3 stars).

Giant panda

Paeonia mairei  

Paeonia decomposita  

Paeonia anomala ssp. veitchii

Q: Why fly from Chengdu? Why not just keep driving till we reach Tibet?  A: Because it could take weeks to get there. The roads are poor and landslides are frequent. 

On the way to Chengdu we stop at Dujiangyan for a look at a brilliant irrigation system, built more than 2000 years ago. If there is time, we may also see some of the Taoist temples on nearby Qingcheng Mountain.

In Chengdu, we stay at the Tibet Hotel. Four stars again! Bliss.

Dujiangyan. Photograph © China Radio International

There will be time to see the major sights of Lhasa near the end of our trip.

The Potala 

Tonight and tomorrow night we stay at the Shangpala Hotel, 3 stars and comfortable.

If time allows, we will also visit some of the Buddhist temples in Nyingchi.

Paeonia ludlowii

Paeonia delavayi

Tonight and tomorrow night we stay at the Bomi Zhongxing Hotel, simple but comfortable.

Bomi. Photograph ©

Tonight and tomorrow night we are back at the Lhasa Hotel (4 stars).

• International Society for Mountain Medicine
• Travel Doctor 

I intend to take the drug called Diamox (acetazolamide). It would be lovely to bring along a Gamow Bag (a portable hyperbaric chamber), but they are very expensive, and while I keep reading that they can easily be rented in Tibet, so far I'm not finding that. So please do not assume that we will travel with a Gamow Bag. 

Please also remember that even Tibetans get altitude sickness. It is something to be careful with, for sure, but not a reason to avoid Tibet.

If you want more information, please get in touch. Please understand, however, that you won't receive the complete Tour Members' Package unless you sign up.

The Tour Members' Package includes: 

• detailed travel advice on luggage, clothing, medicines, immunization and more.
• tips on arranging flights, visas and passports. 
• an introduction to Chinese manners and usage.
• how to import plants from China (unless you live in Canada or another place where it's illegal to do so).
• an extensive reading and movies list.
• a huge foldout map of China and Tibet (to be distributed on arrival in Beijing).
• plant checklists when available (they aren't always).
• printouts of the English-language peony publications of Hong Deyuan (if desired) for the cost of photocopying and postage .
• opportunities to buy Chinese books about peonies.

This information was updated April 27, 2006.