The Himalayan South Asian corridor lies in a region of high mountains and deep valleys with exceptionally rich biodiversity. It is one of China's key biodiversity hotspots and home to national nature reserves, world biosphere reserves and protected areas of traditional cultural heritage. It was an important gateway of the ancient Silk Road and is now one for the Belt and Road Initiative, long serving as a traditional import route for goods such as medicinal materials and spices from South, South-east and South-west Asia, West Asia and Europe.

Visiting a Tibetan doctor

To carry out the sub-project “Ethnobotanical survey and assessment of wild economic plant resources” of the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research (Biodiversity conservation and sustainable use), team members Zhang Yu, Guo Chang'an, Zhang Xiong, Qian Jie, Zhang Libin and Tong Yan of the ethnobotany group of the Kunming Institute of Botany surveyed native and imported medicinal plant diversity and folk knowledge along the Himalaya–Karakoram–Pamir–western Tianshan line from 13 June to 30 July, focusing on native medicinal plants of the forests on the southern slopes of the Himalaya and on medicinal materials imported through the China–India, China–Nepal and China–Pakistan border ports.

Interview in the Rongxia valley near Mount Qomolangma

The 47-day expedition covered more than 15,000 km. It surveyed native medicinal plants in the Himalayan areas of southern Nyingchi, Shannan and Shigatse; imported medicinal materials at major trading centres and border ports for South Asian goods such as Renqinggang (Yadong), Riwu (Dinggyê), Gyirong, Tangga (Burang), Kashgar, Yulongkashi, Keriya and the Erdaoqiao market in Urumqi; and plant diversity used by ethnic communities in the Chumbi valley, the Rongxia valley and Lozhag in Tibet, and the Ili valley and Kaidu river basin in Xinjiang. Overcoming altitude sickness, blizzards, leeches and snakes, sandstorms, heat and the pandemic, the team completed its tasks, collecting 375 voucher numbers (more than 1,100 specimens) and more than 80 research samples. The expedition documented medicinal plant diversity and associated folk knowledge in the forests of the southern Himalaya, providing data for ethnobotanical research, ecological protection and socio-economic development in the region.

During the expedition the team held a patriotic study session themed “Pure love, only for China”. The route passed the Kangxiwa Martyrs' Cemetery in Hotan, Xinjiang, where four soldiers who died in the Galwan Valley incident are buried. In June 2020, Indian troops crossed the line in violation of agreed consensus; in the ensuing confrontation, regiment commander Qi Fabao was seriously injured, and battalion commander Chen Hongjun and soldiers Chen Xiangrong, Xiao Siyuan and Wang Zhuoran died defending the border. The team visited the cemetery to pay tribute and to learn from the border troops' spirit of sacrifice in defending the country, especially Chen Xiangrong's simple patriotic words “pure love, only for China”. The cemetery lies in the Aksai Chin region at the country's western end; together with the southern slopes of the Himalaya, it is part of China's sacred territory. In future expeditions the team will carry this spirit forward in documenting plant diversity used by ethnic communities and local knowledge, contributing to national unity, the frontier economy and poverty alleviation in border areas.

Field assessment of medicinal plant diversity

Interview in Gyirong

Visiting the Qomolangma station

Visiting the Kangxiwa Martyrs' Cemetery

Visiting a Uyghur doctor

Interview in the Ili valley