Wildlife Tourism Destinations

Kind of weird for me to be posting a regular ol' China travel question here, but here goes:

I'm planning to take my two middle-school-age kids for their first trip to China next spring (waited longer than I'd like thanks to COVID and then various work/school scheduling issues) and while the older one is easy to impress, the younger one tends to have limited interest in food or culture but is extremely keen on anything to do with wildlife and is an enthusiastic wildlife photographer.

I've never given much thought to where to go in China to see interesting wildlife on any of my couple dozen trips there over the years; does anyone have any recommendations for particularly good places to see animals in the wild nowadays? My first thought was Yunnan - since that also offers a fair amount for the other members of our party - but I'm not sure what the wildlife tourism experience is currently like in 西双版纳 or wherever.

Xishuangbanna did have some wildlife tourism that allowed one to visit overnight and interact with elephants. Most of these were "rescued" elephants who had been injured by poachers or trapped by villagers after damaging crops. I no longer have details, and it was over 5 years ago. 

I also recall hearing about a sanctuary up above Lijiang (towards Tibet) for an endangered species of monkeys and another of small apes. They had a visitor center and would arrange guided eco-tours. Again, sorry to have to be so vague, since my information is not current. 

For something easy to organize, consider a visit to one of the panda facilities near Chengdu. The one in town is the one I visited, but another, an hour or so outside the city, offers a more rustic experience. 

Shennongjia is another choice, I think the sanctuary there is for golden tamarinds. Mostly sightseeing there though, the real wildlife reserves are only accessible to researchers 

You might find some good ideas via the Wild Beijing website, though perhaps a trip to Tibet for snow leopards might be a bit much: “The Valley of the Cats”: Experience the Unique Tibetan Plateau, its Special People and its Special Wildlife – Wild Beijing 北京自然 Worth poking around the rest of the site, some good bird watching tips for Beijing. 

He mentions this local NGO partner, and I see they take kids on nature watch trips: Visiting Leopard Farmland （豹乡田） | Shan Shui Conservation Center Might get some ideas there too.

北京野生动物园 - can drive through with car, I'll be going soon will let you know how it goes

Thanks for all of these ideas - a few of them may indeed be more ambitious than we have the time / patience for, but it seems like if nothing else we have a good chance of finding a wildlife reserve type setup with tours.