Beijing Zoo

Overview
 

During the Qing Dynasty, Beijing Zoo was called Wan Sheng Garden, which literally means the Garden of 10,000 animals. In 1912, under the Republic of China, this royal garden became an experimental station for farming and animal husbandry. Six years later, after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, as the city zoo of Beijing, Beijing Zoo was officially opened to visitors. Now it is the largest zoo in China, where inhabits more species of animals than any other zoo in China. Animals live in different halls or zones of the huge zoo as follows:

The Beijing Ocean Hall is located in the northeast section of the zoo, covering an area of 35,000 square meters. Seen from afar, the architecture of the hall looks like a gigantic trumpet shell. The spacious hall is divided into several zones: the Hall of Tropical Rain Forest, the Hall of Sharks, the Ocean Theater, and the Ocean Library and Reading Hall and so on. Here displays the ocean’s various inhabitants in their natural environment. In the ocean theater, performances by dolphins and other sea animals appeal to young and old visitors.

The Lion and Tiger Mountain is another popular section in the zoo. It was built in 1955, standing in the eastern part of the zoo. The exhibition hall is inside the hill. The movable clerestories promote ventilation and lighting of the "mountain", which enables visitors to safely observe the kings of the animal kingdom.

The hall of the giant panda is the most famous attraction of the Beijing Zoo. The giant pandas are only found in China, thus they enjoy the reputation“China’s national treasure”. Inside the hall, lush bushes and bamboo are planted to replicate the Panda’s wild habitat in southwest China. Visitors can tell who live here by the unique shape of the hall- bamboo, the favorite food of the giant pandas. In the zoo, there are gardens where planted that are popular in China, such as Chinese rose and peony (peony is the national flower of China, signifying wealth and prosperity).

 The China Animal Research Center has a series of research bases in the zoo, aiming to protect endangered animals. A protection project for the Northeast Tiger as well as a program for artificial propagation of giant panda is recent successful examples.

Location
- Located in Xicheng District, Beijing

Features
To see the Giant panda Having many plants like Chinese rose and peony