Hongshan Forest Zoo

Hongshan Forest Zoo
32°05′39″N 118°47′54″E / 32.0941024°N 118.7982634°E / 32.0941024; 118.7982634
Date opened	1998
Location	Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
Land area	168.03 acres (68.00 ha)
No. of animals	3,000+
No. of species	260
Annual visitors	6 million+ (2023)
Memberships	Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens
Director	Shen Zhijun
Public transit access	Nanjing Metro
Website	www.njhszoo.com

Hongshan Forest Zoo (Chinese: 红山森林动物园; pinyin: Hóngshān sēnlín dòngwùyuán) is a zoological park in Nanjing, the capital city of Jiangsu province, China. The zoo is the member of the Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens. Located on 168 Heyan Road in the Xuanwu District of Nanjing, it is a 168.03 acres (68.00 ha) park and forest with 85% green coverage rate.^[1] The zoo houses over 3,000 animals of more than 260 species.^[2][3] Its predecessor was Xuanwu Lake Zoo, which was then relocated and combined with Hongshan Park in 1998.^[4][5] It is the first zoo in China to end animal performances in 2011.^[6][7] Subsequently, in 2014, it also stopped visitors from feeding the animals.^[6][8]

On January 30, 2013, Hongshan Forest Zoo was officially designated as a national 4A-level tourism attraction by the Chinese National Tourism Scenic Quality Grading Committee.^[9]

In 1928, Xuanwu Lake Park was established, and it was then called "Wuzhou Park." Chang Zonghui ,the director of the Xuanwu Lake Management Bureau at the time, proposed the idea of establishing an "Animal Garden" to the Nanjing government. This suggestion was approved by both Jiangsu Province government and Nanjing City government.^{[10] [11]} However, there were no animals yet for the "Animal Garden".

On September 22, 1928, a group of macaques were transferred from Changzhou First Park to the "Animal Garden." As a result, this group of macaques became the first animals in the history of Hongshan Zoo.^[12]

On May 14, 1934, Shanghai's "Da Mei Wanbao" published a report titled "The Xuanwu Lake Oddities". It described three "odd individuals": one with a large head, one with a small head, and the last one called the "Half-Body Beauty". Lu Xun commented to a friend, after seeing this report, that two of the three odd individuals were deformed, while the one with the large head was a patient with cerebral edema, which was quite pitiful to be placed in the zoo.^[11]

In the end, the “Animal Garden" was destroyed during the Second Sino-Japanese War.^[11]

In July 1947, the Nanjing Municipal Government approved the "Organizational Constitution of the Preparatory Committee for the Nanjing Zoological and Botanical Gardens". An 11-member preparatory committee was formed, led by Mei Chengzhang, the director of the Municipal Landscape Management Office. The committee included Zhu Zhangeng, the director of the Central Health Laboratory, Zhang Shouyu, the head of the Horticulture Department at National Central University, Zheng Wanjun, the head of the Forestry Department at National Central University, and Chen Bangjie, a professor of botany at National Central University, among others.^[11]

On June 8, 1948, The Nanjing National Government approved the draft of the "Organizational Constitution of the Preparatory Committee for the Nanjing Zoological and Botanical Gardens".^[11]

In January 1954, Xuanwu Lake Zoo was completed at Lingzhou within Xuanwu Lake Park and officially welcomed visitors on May 18 of that same year.^[12]

Between 1955 and 1980, Xuanwu Lake Zoo underwent significant expansion, resulting in the construction of various new facilities. These included monkey mountain, an aquarium, small animal enclosures, a crocodile pool, a carnivore house, a bird house, bear mountain, a panda house, a giraffe house, a gorilla house, and a peace pavilion.^[10]

By the end of 1993, Xuanwu Lake Zoo had become one of the breeding bases for Siberian tigers and gray and red kangaroos.^[13]

On September 28, 1998, Xuanwu Lake Zoo relocated to Hongshan Park and was renamed Nanjing Hongshan Forest Zoo.^[12]

In October 2009, the Australia Zone was completed, covering an area of 4,000 square meters, and the concept design of this exhibition area was led by Dr. Carin Harrington from the Hong Kong Golden Bird Foundation.^[14]

In 2011, the zoo became the first zoo in China to cancel animal performances.^[6][7] The motivation behind this decision arose in 2011, when the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the People's Republic of China (MOHURD) issued “Document No. 172,” which, for the first time, mandated the safeguarding of animal welfare and the cessation of all animal performance programs.^[5][15] In 2013, the MOHURD issued Document No. 138, “National Zoo Development Outline,” which included the hosting of animal performances among the important criteria for evaluating National Garden Cities and again emphasized the complete elimination of animal performances.^[16]

In 2014, the zoo discontinued the sale of animal feed for visitors to feed the animals.^[6][8]

In January 2018, the zoo added exhibition areas Gondwana and Africa. A new south entrance was built facing the Xiaohongshan Passenger Station. At the same time, bear valleys, tiger gardens, and leopard houses were renovated based on the zoo's existing terrain. In the same year, the zoo successfully introduced koalas.^[17]

The zoo consists of Xiaohongshan bird region, Dahongshan beast region, Fangniushan herbivore and Primate animal region, and an amphibian and reptile hall. There are 260 species among the 3000 animals in the zoo. There are protected animals such as Asian elephant, giraffe, zebra, kangaroo, white tiger, panther, orangutan, mandrill, flamingo, macaw parrots, gold python and so on. The first degree protected species from China at the zoo include giant panda, golden monkey, gibbon, red-crowned crane, northeast tiger, and Yangtze alligator.

North Gate (Heyan Road Gate): Take Metro Line 1 and get off at the Hongshan Zoo Station or take bus routes 8, 54, 64, 72, 76, 77, 575.^[1]

East Gate (Hongshan Road Gate): Take bus routes 40, 74, 501.^[1]

Parking: 4 yuan/hour^[1]

Official website