Founded in 1957, the Xinglong Tropical Botanical Garden was originally established as an agricultural research station for the ethnic Chinese who had returned from Southeast Asia and brought their tropical farming knowledge with them. It has since grown into a proper botanical garden covering 400 hectares with over 1,200 plant species, many of them economic crops that are rarely seen in northern China: coffee, cacao, vanilla, black pepper, dragon blood trees, and dozens of varieties of tropical fruit.
The garden is divided into themed zones — a plant viewing area, an ecological recreation section, a demonstration planting area where you can see crops at different growth stages, and a forest walk through more naturalistic terrain. Tasting the products is part of the experience: the coffee sold at the garden's café is grown and roasted on site, and it is genuinely good — strong, low-acid, and with the slight sweetness that characterises properly ripened Arabica. Allow two hours for a thorough visit.