The snow lotus is threatened by over-harvesting for use in traditional medicines. Photo courtesy of Jan Salick.

Most people are familiar with Chinese traditional medicine enough to know that ginseng and gingko can be used to treat various ailments. Yet they may not be aware that roses, peonies, and Boston ivy are in their backyard thanks to China as well. China has a rich botanical heritage that is not well-recognized by the rest of the world. It is under increasing threat as China grows.

National Geographic’s Committee for Research and Exploration has focused quite a bit on botanical research projects in China since Dr. Peter Raven of the Missouri Botanical Gardens became its chairman. Many of the projects they fund go without popular reporting. It is hard for plant collectors to compete against folks who study lions or sharks. Botany is rarely the stuff of headlines. Yet these projects are critical for biodiversity and threat assessments. Much of what scientists conducting  these projects have found highlights China’s unique botanical heritage and raises concerns that special efforts should be made to protect it.

Dr. Raven (of the Missouri Botanical Gardens) and the Chinese government are trying to draw attention to a crisis. As writer John Roach reports in his news report, “... in February 2008 China officially unveiled its own plant conservation strategy.”

This effort, however, is rowing against a strong current. As Roach points out, “within three years China hopes to revert nearly 37 million acres (15 million hectares) of farmland to forest. That’s an area bigger than England…” The needs of the Chinese for food and space will only continue to grow.

Protecting the environment is a complex issue for China. Hard choices are being made every day. Is China doing enough to stay green?

For this column, I try to go through each month’s magazine and pick out one photo to discuss. But for the April issue of NGM I want to focus on what we refer to as “mix.”

Each issue of NGM has five or six main features and we strive to create an interesting blend of stories. There are a number of interweaving factors that go into the process of finding the sweet spot of a well-balanced magazine.

TOPIC. Over the years certain topics have garnered repeated interest from the readers of NGM. (A survey is conducted every month to gauge how each specific story faired among our subscribers.) We consider these our “core” topics. The top categories are Archeology/Paleontology, Natural History, Cultures, Landscape/Geography, Science, Exploration, and the Environment. When we look at an issue’s lineup of stories, we often look first to make sure we have offerings from among these topic areas.

But if it were just the topics, that would make this easy.

LOCATION. We also keep in mind where in the world each story takes place, so that we are not having a majority of the stories concentrated in one part of the world. In the best issues of the magazine, we try to take readers around the world.

SIZE. The length of the stories need to vary to provide a balance of in-depth stories with others that are quicker to get through. We don’t want to make reading the magazine an exhaustive experience.

TONE. We consider the overall tone of each issue so that we don’t end up with an issue that comes off as too doom and gloom, bland, or naively breezy. A good mix has a range of emotional experiences.

LOOK. And finally, but most definitely least, we consider the combined styles of photographic approach. NGM is primarily a documentary magazine and thus we lean heavily on photojournalism. But a number of our core topics, particularly the conceptual science and pre-history stories, require different approaches. These stories often provide great opportunities for interweaving visual variety into the reading experience.

The April issue of NGM is an excellent example of a successful mix taking in all of these variables.

It starts with Pascal Maitre’s classic documentary approach to a large story covering the continent-wide Sahel, then shifts gears to Rob Clark’s studio photography for Bio-mimetics (design inspired by nature), then a short cultural story by Ami Vitali on Rickshaws, a luscious set of photographs of Hawaii’s Na Pali Coast shot on large format by Diane Cook and Len Jenshel, and ending on a coverage on tool using chimps by Frans Lanting.

April has excellent mix.

I’m in a Beijing hutong—a narrow alley in the old city—playing Ping-Pong with a monk. It is 1985, and I’m on a photographic assignment for this magazine. Though many Chinese are afraid to be seen with a foreigner, the monk doesn’t care and invites other monks to join us. It is the best experience I’ve had in three months. That night I take a small, dilapidated taxi to the Beijing Hotel, one of the few places where foreigners can stay. It’s 8:30; the streets are dark and deserted. The few cars on the road aren’t using their headlights, I’m told, because the drivers don’t want to burn out the bulbs.

Cars now fill Beijing highways both day and night.

Twenty-two years later I’m in front of the Beijing Hotel at 8:30 at night. The driver of a sleek new Audi taxi pulls up with headlights blazing; he doesn’t seem concerned about burning out a bulb. The city pulses with life. It’s washed in light and jammed with traffic. An attractive Chinese woman approaches a number of men, then comes to me, asking if I need a massage. I don’t need a massage; I need a map—something to help me understand the cataclysmic changes of the past few decades.

China can overwhelm. The shock waves of its growth reverberate in every corner of the globe. That’s what this issue is—a map to help readers navigate the terrain of exuberance and anxiety that is China today.

Photograph by iStockphoto