Sporadic virus breakouts of China in various regions hover darkly over our hopes to be able to get out and travel. The "staycation," therefore, becomes a viable solution.

Shanghai Expo Culture Park

And the newly opened Shanghai Expo Culture Park is a novel alternative at which to spend the three-day New Year holiday break.

The 2-square-kilometer park, in the heart of Pudong's waterfront, eclipses any other riverside greenery area in downtown Shanghai, almost equaling suburban Chenshan Botanical Garden in size.

What's more, it's a real "Shangri-La" in the midst of the city's urban sprawl, offering urban residents a close getaway with verdant pathways, natural landscapes and classical gardens.

Urban Balcony in the Culture Park.

Waterfront spaces are a precious resource. After the iconic Museum of Art Pudong, officials turned the much sought-after strip to communal facilities. It seemed a pity to let its commercial value, estimated to be at least 100 billion yuan (US$15.6 billion), go to waste. But officials believed it was worth it.

"The area had been planned as the second Lujiazui financial hub, but at last the government decided to return this best resource back to the people. And hence a world-class park comparable to Central Park in New York and Hyde Park in London is taking shape in Shanghai," said Xu Dongxin, director of the greenery department of Shanghai Greenery and Public Sanitation Bureau.

"Shanghai needs not only tower blocks and booming commerce, but also parks and lawns, blue skies and clear waters."

Music Manor in the Culture Park.

As its name suggests, the park is located where World Expo was held in Shanghai in 2010, northwest to Huangpu River, east to Lupu Bridge and Changqing Road N., and south to Tongyao Road and Longbin Road.

It is designed to become a popular rendezvous, an ecological nature forest park incorporating new cultural landmarks, which, according to Xu, precisely echoes the 2010 Expo theme of "Better City, Better Life."

Under the blueprint, the park will feature a dazzling array of attractions, highlighted by two 48-meter artificial hills, former Expo pavilions, an opera house, a conservatory garden, a classical Chinese garden and an international equestrian center.

Construction began in September 2017. All work is set to finish by the end of 2023, and be fully open by 2024. To meet people's demands, authorities have decided to open the park's north section, nearly half of its size, to the public first.

The site has been transformed from being dominated by ironworks many years ago.

Greenery areas were a luxury for urban dwellers in Shanghai about 70 years ago when they only enjoyed a per capita space of 0.132 square meters, barely enough for a pair of shoes. After years of efforts to get greener, today's Shanghai has become an ecological city.

By the end of 2025, Shanghai plans to have at least 1,000 parks around the city, more than twice the current number, with per capita greenery space up from the current level of 8.5 square meters to at least 9.5 square meters.

In an inspection tour in June, Shanghai Party Secretary Li Qiang called for more open, colorful and accessible ecological spaces. Believing green is "the warmest bright color," he said a city with parks lifts people's sense of belonging happiness and security.

Map of the park

Shanghai Garden in the Culture Park

Source: SHINE

Editor: Dai Qian