Zeng Xiuli went to Tibet Autonomous Region in 2007 as an aid-Tibet talent. She was arranged for a project on the peony. She didn't even know that Tibet had peonies, nor how to cultivate peonies then. 

To her surprise, the peonies she planted in the first year survived and bloomed. “This result encouraged me a lot,” said Zeng. Henceforth, she has had an affinity with the peony. 

In the last ten years in Tibet, Zeng engaged herself in collecting, cultivating, breeding and promoting fruit trees and flowers on Qinghai-Tibet Plateauin the forefront. 

She has conducted a series of applied basic researches, such as introduction and cultivation of peonies, flowering regulation, breeding new species, anthocyanidin analysis, genetic diversity analysis, pollination biology, etc.  

She collects and evaluates Tibet’s wild peony resources as well as distant hybridization study, which lays a sound foundation for cultivation, domestication and breeding of peonies in high-altitude areas. 

It seems to be romantic to deal with flowers, while it turns out to be somewhat dull for scientific researchers. Zeng is either in peony garden or on the way to look for wild peonies all the time.  

Whenever and wherever she heard about the peony, she would go to the scene in person with tins and bottles to collect pollen. Hybridization is the premise of improving the quality of Tibet’s peonies and pollen is the premise of hybridization. 

Every flowering season, she would take her team to observe the peonies marked before which is quite painstaking.  

After returning to the peony garden in Tibet Academy of Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Sciences, each blossom should be manually pollinated and related data should be recorded and analyzed to make the optimized breeding scheme. 

Unexpectedly, Zeng is allergic to peony blossoms. Whatever the study objects are, breeders tend to be allergic to these things. 

Zeng said, “Tibet is the hometown of peonies. I’m so lucky to meet peony and get involved with it. It witnessed my progress so I will stick to it.” 

It took Zeng and her team ten years to figure out peony’s distribution and quantity in Tibet. Preservation and domesticated cultivation bases for peony and Chinese herbaceous peony have been built, which establish the foundation for the protection and utilization of peony resources in Tibet. 

In 2016, Zeng’s team’s efforts and achievements obtained them the third prize of Tibet Autonomous Region’s science and technology progress award. “We are greatly inspired,” said Zeng. 

Zeng’s team also plays an increasingly important role in preserving the endangered plants (like Paeonia ludlowii). The peonyis like a baby for her, which needs good care as well as wind and rain. She will continue her way to study and protect peonies.