This book is an original hardcover album on the theme of Chinese plants. The material of it comes from the documentary of the same title Chinese Plants Affecting the World, which was broadcasted at Beijing World Horticultural Exposition. Being commissioned by Beijing World Horticultural Exposition Coordination Bureau, CCTV Li Chengcai Documentary Studio (Beijing Muzi Composite Film and TV Cultural Media Co., Ltd.) produced the documentary, which presents the magnificence and magic of the plant world from the perspectives of life, science, aesthetics, civilization and philosophy.

Chinese Plants Affecting the World is a fixed-frame art collection of wonderful pictures that is different from video. The album is mainly composed of pictures, supplemented by text introduction. It contains some representative flowers, fruits, crops, garden plants and herbal plants originated in China. The pictures displayed include a large number of precious aerial photographs and laboratory delayed photographs. To take these pictures, the camera crew had overcome many difficulties in the process. Stories of human and art presented by these pictures, allow readers to feel the power of plants, as well as the impact of plants on civilization and social development.

The book outlines the diversity of plant distribution in China at present time, and briefly introduces three typical habitats in the Tropic of Cancer, Hengduan Mountains and arid areas of Northwest China. Stories of more than twenty kinds of plants such as Metasequoia, Davidia involucrata, Ginkgo biloba, Tea Tree, Mulberry, Soybean, Millet, Rice, Velvet Artemisia annua, Artemisia annua, Tahuang, Dendrobium, Plum, Orchid, Chrysanthemum, Lotus, Rose, Rhododendron, Bamboo, Apple, walnut, orange and kiwifruit are presented in this book.