On August 23, 2022, WEN Shifeng, deputy director of the Wildlife Conservation and Monitoring Center and the National Botanical Garden System Planning Office of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration (NFGA) visited Shenyang with two of this colleagues to investigate the National Botanical Garden System in preparation in Shenyang.

The investigation team first visited the Arboretum of the Institute of Applied Ecology (IAE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and its Huishan Branch, and learned in detail about the arboretum's development history and current situation. Then, the investigation team visited Shenyang Botanical Garden. Afterwards, the investigation team came to see the Northeast China Herbarium at IAE.

Later, at the symposium held at IAE, ZHU Jiaojun warmly welcomed the arrival of the investigation team of NFGA. He said that with the strong support of Liaoning Provincial Government and Shenyang Municipal Government, IAE has done a lot of work for the establishment of Shenyang National Botanical Garden. He hoped that NFGA leaders and experts will provide comprehensive guidance on the establishment of the national garden. HE Xingyuan, head of the Arboretum of IAE, reported on the characteristics and advantages of the Arboretum of IAE and Shenyang Botanical Garden, and stated goals and plans for establishing the national garden. JIANG Shengwei, deputy director of Liaoning Provincial Forestry and Grassland Bureau, LI Ying, deputy director of Shenyang Natural Resources Bureau, stated that they will fully support the establishment of the National Botanical Garden in Shenyang.

In the concluding speech by WEN Shifeng, he pointed out that National Botanical Gardens are research and education bases, "treasure lands" for conserving rare plants, "holy lands" for public recreation, "blessed lands" for fast economic development, and "forward positions" of ecological protection. "IAE and some other institutions have made some preparations for the establishment of Shenyang National Botanical Garden," he said. "To reach the criteria of establishing national botanical gardens, however, it is necessary to make efforts to fully integrate local advantages in natural resources and geographical position, and resources of governments and research institutes."

The series of activities provided supports and guides as to the establishment of Shenyang National Botanical Garden.