Xiang Xiufa has become almost a household name in Chongqing after filing a lawsuit against the municipality's forestry bureau for the death of 3,200 rare plants.

The 44-year-old businessman had transplanted them from their original habitat in the Three Gorges Dam area before it was submerged.

Xiang Xiufa standing beside a withered plant

He says the bureau's dereliction of duty caused the plants to die and is seeking compensation for the loss.

"The municipal bureau got a special fund of 2.09 million (US$278,667) from the State Forestry Bureau to build a garden, but I haven't received the fund," he said.

The Yubei District Court in Chongqing has heard the case filed on August 31, Xiang's lawyer Chen Huixiang said. The judgment is due any day now.

Xiang specializes in pisciculture, and raced against time to save many rare and endangered plants from being submerged in the waters of the dam five years ago.

He set up the Three Gorges Botanical Garden of Rare Plants in 2002, transplanting about 24,000 rare and endangered plants and 380 ancient trees there.

Xiang's work was supported by the State Forestry Bureau, which sanctioned 3.13 million yuan (US$417,333) for his garden. But the grant was not enough for the mammoth project and to pay the about 20 workers he had hired for the garden.

Such was his determination to save the plants and trees that he sold his aquatic breeding business, seven shops and 700-square-meter house to fund the garden after the grant had been spent.

"Lack of funds made it impossible for me to hire botanists to manage the garden. Worse still, 3,200 rare plants died in the drought like conditions in the area because there was no money to buy pumps to irrigate them," Xiang said.

Work on his garden stopped June 9. All the workers, except Xiang and one of his relatives, have left.

Some of the plant species Xiang transplanted had survived the Fourth Ice Age 2 million years ago, thanks to special landforms in the Three Gorges Dam area.

Hence, they still have the features abundant in flora before the ice age and their biodiversity value is immense for research.

Some local bureau officials reportedly wanted Xiang to run the garden to the dictates of the market, that is, sell some of the plants. But Xiang refused to succumb to their pressure, saying he would never trade them for money.

(China Daily November 8, 2007)