Eden Project, one of the more interesting ecologically minded projects of recent years, says it has plans to come to China.

Eden Project founder Tim Smit told the BBC that the popular ecopark in Cornwall, UK is planning to work with the Chinese government to develop a mainland version.

Ten years have passed since the opening of the original Eden Project in an old clay mine – since then it has received more than 13 million visitors. The park features three biomes: an uncovered outdoor biome plus covered Mediterranean and tropical biomes.

The covered biomes are located within enclosures made of geodesic domes requiring no inner support. Both enclosures display a surprising diversity of plantlife, whose native climates are reproduced within the domes.

In addition to the role it has played in raising environmental awareness, especially among children, the Eden Project also hosts cultural events and is constantly striving to minimize its environmental impact.

Smit did not disclose where China’s Eden Project would be located or when work would start on the project, but he said building could begin as soon as 18 months from now.

We admire the Eden Project’s fun and effective approach to environmental education and wish them all the best in bringing their vision to China!

Sometimes WildChina ends up in interesting places on the information super highway, so I thought it would be nice to share some of these links. I realize that these have been out there for awhile – let’s just say they took the slow boat from the US to get to the Beijing office.

• Here’s a blog post written by Tom Swick of the Florida Sun-Sentinel. He mentions a letter our founder Mei Zhang sent out in May after the Sichuan earthquake.  We’re still thankful that our guides in the area came away unharmed, and were glad to hear that the earthquake yesterday in California was relatively minor.
• For those of you looking for a secret “in” to the Olympics, check out this recent Forbes article mentioning WildChina. While we can’t promise you tickets to the opening ceremony, we can help you beat the crowds on custom tours outside of Beijing.
• Finally, while the BBC program “Wild China” is not affiliated with this WildChina, we’ve been getting a few inquiries about going on the same trips as that camera crew. While we can’t exactly duplicate their routes, we’re always excited to show people the largely unknown (until now??) beauty of China’s wilderness.

As I discover more places WildChina has traveled to on the web I’ll post a new list of links. Let me know in the comments if I miss something!