I visited Shanghai ChenShen Botanic Garden for Botanic Garden development and attended the management training course from 27th August to 15th September 2018. It was not my first visit to China nor my first working relation with experienced and esteemed Chinese scientists. As a graduate of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, I spent almost 4.5 years in Yunnan province and got my PhD in 2016. The visit to Shanghai ChenShan Botanic Garden refreshed all my pleasant memories and improved my skills for the sustainable working of Botanic Gardens. The course was full of best possible experts who shared their experiences with us and provided the way forward for the globally emerging discipline highlighting the importance and establishment of Botanic Gardens for our coming generations, already struggling to have more and more well-managed green space with the aim to promote education and research. For me, the course venue, Shanghai ChenShan Botanic Garden itself was a well-organized and well-designed living plant collection with a wonderful display of plants in every section, including the glass houses, nurseries, and aquatic collections with the level of maintenance at its best. This display was supported by important scientific laboratory work and engagement of public in education. I learned a lot both inside the lecture rooms and also outside by observing different sections of Botanic Gardens with guided tours. The learning was especially enhanced when we visited the national nature conservation reserves outside the Botanic Garden in the Tianmu Mountain, where we spent almost 4 days and became familiar with many useful modern techniques. The visits to various urban parks, museums, and Shanghai Botanic Gardens were also source of several new information about the specific landscape design and plant display.

The course coordinator, Ms. Shubo Huang, was very proactive and efficient in managing the course. All the relevant information about the course was made available well in time. The accommodation was comfortable and meals were wonderful, as the variety of food was available to take care the food restrictions for Muslims as well. I am trying to apply all I learned from the course in my University Botanic Garden. I have also designed a special course, ‘Botanic Garden Management’ for our post-graduate students and in the current semester, I am teaching the course, it seems very popular among the students, as the maximum students have opted this course. I hope I will find some opportunity in future to visit Shanghai Chenshan Botanic Garden again, as I am optimistic to have some joint collaborative work with the research groups of this garden. I am thankful to all course organizers and sponsors, and would like to wish that Shanghai Chenshan Botanic Garden CAS, and IABG-Asia will continue to have trainees from various parts of Asia and transfer their skills and knowledge into more and more interested people from various organizations to enhance this much needed capacity building.