Qingdao’s Zhongshan Park has offered green respite from the urban jungle for over a century. According to the Zhongshan Park Association in China, there are 75 Zhongshan Parks in the world: 51 in mainland China, 16 in Taiwan, 2 in Hong Kong, 1 in Macao, 2 each in Hawaii and Canada and 1 in Japan.
All images by Qingdao photographer Michael Zhu.
Zhongshan Park and The Sakura Road
Qingdao’s Zhongshan Park has a history of more than 100 years. The park’s long history and deep culture makes it a special place in the city, and qualifies it as one of the best recreational options in Qingdao for both visitors and locals.
Zhongshan Park is located in the middle of the green belt to the east of Qingdao’s old town adjacent to Zhanshan Temple.
The annual Cherry Blossom (Sakura) Festival lasts for about 20 days around May Day in Zhongshan Park. The Sakura Road is lined with cherry trees. In May this long lane becomes a pink world because of the cherry blossoms.
Along this route, there are also other flowers like tulip, forsythia, China’s indigenous wintersweet, and more.
Gardens in Zhongshan Park
The top three most visited gardens in Zhongshan Park are Peach Garden, Peony Garden and Osmanthus Garden. In the Peach Garden, there’s no doubt that the starring role belongs to the peach trees.
In the Osmanthus Garden, there is a curtain of purple wisterias. Branches intersects with each other, green leaves and purple flowers smile to each other.
In the Peony Garden, many kinds of peonies gather close to one another, with various colors and shapes. In China, the peony is an elegant flower, the king of flowers, a symbol of peace, happiness, prosperity and affluence. The peony is China’s national flower.
Sun-Wen Lotus Pond
Sun-Wen Lotus Pond symbolizes a friendly relationship between China and Japan. It is said that in the late Qing Dynasty, when Sun Zhongshan (孙中山) was in Japan, he was helped by a Japanese friend named Tian Zhonglong (田中隆).
Sun gave Tian four lotus seeds as a gift to represent pure friendship. Tian Zhonglong asked a botanist friend to plant them and he later named their seeds “Sun-Wen Lotus”.
In 1995, the chairman of the China-Japan Friendship Association came to Zhongshan Park and personally planted the ”Sun-Wen Lotus” seeds to celebrate 15 years’ of friendly city status between Xiaguan and Qingdao.
The Qingdao Zoo
The zoo is located in the northwest part of Zhongshan Park, with a separate entrance on Yanan Yi Lu. There are almost 100 kinds of animals, including big pandas, little pandas, golden monkeys, lions, tigers, parrots, brown bears, and red-crowned cranes.
Relevant Links:
Qingdao Parks
China Zhongshan Parks Seek World Heritage Status
Image Credit @ Michael Zhu
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