As a painter specializing in natural history, Zeng has illustrated scientific books like Flora of China, a publication aimed at describing plants native to China. He has also designed stamps for the State Post Bureau of China no less than 10 times since 1991.

According to Zeng, there are over 30,000 species of spermatophytes — plants that produce seeds — in China. Half of these species can be found in Yunnan Province.

“The most difficult part of painting lies in showing the eagerness for survival of every petal and leaf in different environments and not in making my paintings look realistic in terms of appearance,” said Zeng who has painted more than 2,000 botanical artworks.