Fuxing Park: The only French classical style garden in Shanghai
Fuxing Park, located at No. 105 Yandang Road, Huangpu District, Shanghai, is adjacent to Chongqing South Road to the east, Fuxing Middle Road to the south, Sinan Road to the west, and the boundary with the Science Hall to the north. Fuxing Park is the only garden in Shanghai that retains the French classical style, and it is also a masterpiece of the blend of Chinese and Western garden culture in modern Shanghai.
In the 1880s, the original site of Fuxing Park was a fertile field with a small village named Gujiazha. At that time, a family named Gu built a private small garden here, which people called "Gujiazha Garden", which was the initial form of Fuxing Park. In October 1844, after the Qing government signed the "Huangpu Treaty" with France, this place was included in the scope of the French concession. In 1908, the French Concession Public Directors decided to rebuild the Gujiazha Garden into a park, designed by French horticulturist Papot according to French garden features. On July 14, 1909, the French National Day, the park was opened to the public, known as Gujiazha Park, commonly known as French Park. The overall style and many layouts of the park have a European flavor. The most prominent feature is that the park layout is symmetrical, grid-like, patterned, and excels in flowers, trees, pavilions, and mountain ponds. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War (New Year's Day in 1946), the park was renamed Fuxing Park, meaning "national rejuvenation".
The gardening style of Fuxing Park is a combination of regular and natural layouts. The north and middle parts are mainly regular layouts, with felt flower beds, central fountains, rose flower beds, and main roads in the north-south and east-west directions. The southwest part is mainly natural layout, with rockery area, lotus pond, stream, winding path, and large lawn. It integrates Chinese and Western styles, highlighting the French regular gardening style. The flower beds here use a sunken style, which is now affectionately called the sunken bed garden. Using the height difference of the ground to raise people's viewpoint, you can better overlook the overall effect of the flower bed, which is a major feature of the park.
Fuxing Park
Friends who have not seen for a long time have informed, in the afternoon to Yandang Road Nanchang Road to meet, decisively in Fuxing Middle Road, from the renovated Fuxing Park soon passed. The pond on the left side of the park is still slanting trees, and the large lawn on the right is being maintained, but the carousel of the year is gone, and only a small rotating train is set up in the children's playground near the roadside door of the park. Lucky, walking through the middle of the park, coincided with the opening of the water spray view, and the two Man on the north side silently watched all this. However, the current Man image is not the original version I saw back then, and the time passes quickly. Behind the two, a green promenade was built, and the rose garden of the little love god. I remember that the last time I came to Fuxing Park was in 2017. Now it is better to renovate. Many of the big trees are over a hundred years old, and the noisy dance crowd did not meet this time.
Fuxing Park is one of the earliest parks opened in Shanghai, and the only garden in Shanghai that retains French classical style. It is a masterpiece of modern Shanghai's Chinese and Western garden culture. The park has four gates to enter and exit.
In early summer, strolling in the park, a cluster of honeysuckle flowers catching eyes, in the dark green leaves, gold flowers and silver flowers are small and slender, beautiful and cute, becoming a small scenic line... Ninja, semi-evergreen vines, because of the winter and not wither and name. Flower period 4-6 month, petals ovate or oval, flower crown white, gradient yellow, sometimes sunny face pink. Lingxiong flowers can be used in Chinese medicine, function clear heat and detoxification, medicine name the famous honeysuckle.
Although it was a relatively bleak early spring, in addition to the Chinese garden, the tea room and the large lawn were also very pleasant. I accidentally walked into the rose 🌹 Garden and met a few magnolias with flowering periods, white like jade, purple like a wooden pen (oh yes! She does have this nickname), And then like thousands of little pigeons hula-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-
Fuxing Park is the only garden in Shanghai that retains the French classical style, and is also a masterpiece of the blending of Chinese and Western garden culture in modern Shanghai.