diff --git a/tests/test_tree.py b/tests/test_tree.py
index 43f5fc1..9894d3e 100644
--- a/tests/test_tree.py
+++ b/tests/test_tree.py
@@ -712,9 +712,12 @@ def test_shallow_paste(self):
         n3 = t3.create_node(identifier="C")
 
         t1.paste(n1.identifier, t2)
-        self.assertEqual(t1.to_dict(), {"A": {"children": ["B"]}})
+        self.assertEqual(t1.to_dict(), {"A": {"id": "A", "children": [{"B": {"id": "B"}}]}})
         t1.paste(n1.identifier, t3)
-        self.assertEqual(t1.to_dict(), {"A": {"children": ["B", "C"]}})
+        self.assertEqual(
+            t1.to_dict(),
+            {"A": {"id": "A", "children": [{"B": {"id": "B"}}, {"C": {"id": "C"}}]}},
+        )
 
         self.assertEqual(t1.level(n1.identifier), 0)
         self.assertEqual(t1.level(n2.identifier), 1)
diff --git a/treelib/tree.py b/treelib/tree.py
index c2594f3..2213b09 100644
--- a/treelib/tree.py
+++ b/treelib/tree.py
@@ -237,6 +237,26 @@ def __init__(self, tag, identifier=None):
                 if tree.identifier != self._identifier:
                     new_node.clone_pointers(tree.identifier, self._identifier)
 
+    @classmethod
+    def from_json(cls, raw: Union[str, bytes, bytearray]):
+        """
+        Load tree from exported JSON.
+        """
+        tree = cls()
+        json_parsed = json.loads(raw)
+
+        def _append_node(subtree, parent_id=None):
+            for tag, node_info in subtree.items():
+                node_id = node_info["id"]
+                node_data = node_info.get("data")
+                tree.create_node(tag=tag, identifier=node_id, parent=parent_id, data=node_data)
+
+                for child in node_info.get("children", []):
+                    _append_node(child, parent_id=node_id)
+
+        _append_node(json_parsed)
+        return tree
+
     def _clone(
         self,
         identifier: Optional[str] = None,
@@ -1960,7 +1980,8 @@ def to_dict(
 
         nid = self.root if (nid is None) else nid
         ntag = self[nid].tag
-        tree_dict = {ntag: {"children": []}}
+        tree_dict = {ntag: {"id": nid, "children": []}}
+
         if with_data:
             tree_dict[ntag]["data"] = self[nid].data
 
@@ -1975,7 +1996,8 @@ def to_dict(
                     self.to_dict(elem.identifier, with_data=with_data, sort=sort, reverse=reverse)
                 )
             if len(tree_dict[ntag]["children"]) == 0:
-                tree_dict = self[nid].tag if not with_data else {ntag: {"data": self[nid].data}}
+                tree_dict = {ntag: {"id": nid}} if not with_data else {ntag: {"id": nid, "data": self[nid].data}}
+
             return tree_dict
 
     def to_json(self, with_data: bool = False, sort: bool = True, reverse: bool = False):