Pei Shengji, born on 13 July 1938 in Zitong County, Sichuan, is a professor and doctoral supervisor at the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London. Pei Shengji is Honorary President of the Ethnobotany Branch of the Botanical Society of China, honorary professor of Southwest Forestry University and science adviser to the People's Government of Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture. Pei Shengji has served as Director of the former Yunnan Institute of Tropical Botany (Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden), Deputy Director of the Kunming Institute of Botany, head of the Mountain Natural Resources Division and biodiversity expert at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), President of the International Society of Ethnobiology, international technical adviser to WWF, Vice President of the China Association of Ethnic Medicine, adviser to the Committee on Medicinal Plants and Plant Drugs of the Botanical Society of China, Vice Chair of the Committee on Chinese Medicinal Resources Ecology of the Ecological Society of China, Chair of the Committee on Traditional Medical Knowledge and Medicinal Plant Conservation of the Lancang–Mekong traditional medicine cooperation mechanism, international editorial board member of the Journal of Ethnobotany and Fellow of the Society of Ethnobotanists. The research covers plant resources, ethnobotany, ethnic medicine and biodiversity conservation. Pei Shengji has published more than 240 papers and books and received 18 national and international awards. A founder of ethnobotany in China, Pei Shengji received the Harshberger Medal, the highest award of the Society of Ethnobotanists, and an outstanding contribution award from the East-West Center in the USA.