Bon tradition makes this cypress the life tree of Tonpa Shenrab Miwoche, the man who founded the religion.
Ancient trees in China
China's oldest trees cluster around two kinds of ground: imperial temples and religious mountains. This page maps 20 remarkable trees across 5 cities in China, each one researched and verified. The oldest of them is King Cypress in Nyingchi, at roughly 2,600 to 3,200 years (sources disagree).
Beijing graded its ancient trees by class under the Qing and named ten "ancient tree kings" in 2018, five of which stand here, among them cypresses planted for state altars and a ginkgo that queues photographers every November. Further west, on the Tibetan plateau's edge, Bon tradition holds a giant cypress outside Nyingchi as the life tree of the religion's own founder, at up to 3,200 years the oldest tree this site maps anywhere. A ginkgo at Shaolin Temple carries a monks-training legend in the holes through its trunk, and a banyan on the Jinbao River near Yangshuo was a film location decades before anyone measured its age. Hong Kong's banyans are civic rather than sacred, rooted into a colonial trading port's walls and stairs.
Every place we map in China
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Hong Kong10 trees · oldest about 400 years (recognised as Hong Kong's largest urban tree in 1997)2
Beijing7 trees · oldest roughly 1,200 years3Dengfeng1 tree · oldest roughly 1,500 years4Nyingchi1 tree · oldest roughly 2,600 to 3,200 years (sources disagree)5Yangshuo1 tree · oldest roughly 1,400 years
Hong Kong10 trees · oldest about 400 years (recognised as Hong Kong's largest urban tree in 1997)2Beijing7 trees · oldest roughly 1,200 years3Dengfeng1 tree · oldest roughly 1,500 years4Nyingchi1 tree · oldest roughly 2,600 to 3,200 years (sources disagree)5Yangshuo1 tree · oldest roughly 1,400 years8 species grow in China
Figs and mulberries Indian Laurel Fig 6 · Chinese Banyan 1
Conifers Ginkgo 2 · Tibetan Cypress 1
More broadleaf trees Camphor Tree 4 · Japanese Pagoda Tree 3 · Chinese Arborvitae 2 · Chinese Juniper 1
The oldest tree mapped in China
Trees from China also appear in Autumn Worth the Trip · The Trees the World Has Written About · The Thickest Trunks We Have Measured. See every city on the map, or open the map to find what is near you.