Beijing Zoo

Founded in 1906 during the late Qing dynasty, Beijing Zoo is the oldest zoo in China and the oldest public park in the north of the country. It is protected as a Major Historical and Cultural Site at the National Level, and more than five million people visit each year.

The grounds cover 89 hectares in Xicheng District, including several hectares of lakes and ponds. They are laid out much like a classical Chinese garden, with flower beds, dense groves, meadows, streams, lotus pools and hills dotted with pavilions and historical buildings. The park suits visitors who come for the landscape as well as those who come for the animals.

The collection is one of the largest in China. In 2015 the zoo and its aquarium held more than 450 species of land animals and more than 500 marine species, around 14,500 animals in all. The zoo is also a center of zoological research, studying and breeding rare animals from several continents.