Dr. Raven is the first person to propose and organize the extensive cooperation between the biologists of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and American botanists. He has been named honorary directors or academic committee members by several CAS institutes. He proposed the Flora of China project (revised edition of the Flora Reipublicae Popularis Sinicae in English) in 1979, and carried it on since 1989. As the foreign co-editor of the Flora of China, he has played critical and indispensable role in proposing the project, compiling book series, and raising funding. Flora of China is a Key joint international cooperation project between the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Missouri Botanical Garden (USA). This project is revising over 30,000 vascular plant species, leading to a contemporary, 50-volume account on all the plants of China. Around 10 million US dollars were sponsored by the American partners for expenditure of the Chinese researchers in foreign countries, joint editorial committee meetings, publications and foreign collaborators’ costs.

"Flora of China" will be completely published by the end of the year 2012, and by then it will be the largest Flora in English. The Flora of China project accelerated the internationalization of Chinese botanical research, improved the recognition of Chinese botany and Chinese plants, and has shown great global influence.