Heping Park to Be Closed for 16-month Reconstruction

By Qi Chuanbin

On December 23, it is learned from Hongkou District Afforestation and Urban Appearance Bureau that Heping Park will be closed on December 30 for 16-month reconstruction. After the reconstruction, Heping Park will cancel animal-breeding area. "Going to Heping Park to see tigers and lions", which carries the memory of generations of Shanghainese, will become a history.

Located at No. 891, Tianbao Road, Heping Park, originally named Tilan Park, was built in 1958. It is one of the parks with rich historical heritage in Hongkou. Later it was renamed Heping Park. As early as 2008, Heping Park had experienced an infrastructure reconstruction. However, with the completion of the reconstruction of the old area of Hongzhen Old Street and the completion of Ruihong International Community, the upgrading is a urgent task due to the old environment, the lack of landscape features and the backward recreational facilities of the park, which are hard to meet the citizens' growing demands for leisure, sightseeing, culture and entertainment.

Heping Park will be reconstructed as a whole. The reconstruction will adhere to the policy of protecting the ecology, adjusting the strategy according to local conditions, integrating the spaces and innovating the methods, with an aim to build an important vitality park. Specifically, the main park roads will be modified to connect the five zones, the five exits, and the greenway outside the park, so as to form a fashionable and friendly greenway loop. The buildings in the park will be integrated to show the architectural style of the Jiangnan metropolis by taking rich traditional style as the basis and combing with modern innovative techniques. The park will be divided into 5 function areas: Xingang Vitality Zone, Lakeside Garden Zone, Central Recreation Zone, Forest and Boat Zone and Happy Fitness Zone. Different plants will be distributed in the 5 zones, in bid to build a park with bright colors and scenes in four seasons. The original children's paradise and fitness zone will be integrated with new functions to increase participation and interest. The most attractive fitness and children's activity venues, with the theme of the natural amusement park, will be built.

It is learned that the most concerned change is the cancellation of animal-breeding zone. The tigers, lions and other animals raised on the Animal Island will be handed over to other zoos. Meanwhile, the original facilities will be reasonably used to build the Animal Island into an ecological island with the Chinese style and form an urban mountain forest with green bamboos, lush trees and winding streams.

According to an official of Hongkou District Afforestation and Urban Appearance Bureau, the reconstruction will involve linking the water system to activate the water bank and the source. The aquatic vegetation with purification function will be planted to increase the flexible revetment of the lakeside garden zone, improve the water ecology, and provide a good tourist experience for the hydrophilic space.