District · Shanghai

Changning District 长宁区

Changning District (长宁区) contains two contrasting green spaces: Zhongshan Park (中山公园), with English, Chinese and Japanese garden influences, and the wooded grounds of Shanghai Zoo (上海动物园). Their histories meet in 1964, when Zhongshan Park’s animal collection moved to the zoo’s predecessor, Xijiao Park (西郊公园).

Location of Shanghai, the surrounding province-level areaView province guide

Get to know Changning District

A lane at Jiangsu Community in Changning District, Shanghai.
A lane at Jiangsu Community in Changning District, Shanghai. Photograph date recorded by the source: 2020-01-04 16:07:00. · MNXANL · CC BY-SA 4.0
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Full frame retained; proportionally resized and converted to WebP. No retouching or changes to the photographed subject. Card displays may crop the view.

Administrative area
District · 市辖区
Part of
Shanghai
Chinese name
长宁区
Local areas
District guide

Area & population

Area in the source
37.19 km²
Population · 2018
694,000

Source: cited geographic source, as of the dates shown.

Zhongshan Park’s garden layers

Established as a park in 1914, the former private garden became Zhongshan Park in 1944. Its crescent-shaped lotus pond faces a lawn, while the marble pavilion has steps, balustrades, columns and two female statues made from marble. The bronze bell displayed near the eastern lawn is a 2013 replica of an earlier fire-alarm bell.

Trees at the zoo

Shanghai Zoo’s planting includes ginkgo, maple, Chinese tallow and plane trees. Beside the Science Education Hall (科学教育馆), three mature plane trees have grown together overhead. Chinese tallow trees stand by Swan Lake (天鹅湖) and on the main path in front of Lion and Tiger Hill (狮虎山).

Sources for this guide

上海市长宁区人民政府-生活-中山公园的百年故事...... · Changning District Government

上海市长宁区人民政府-生活-色彩斑斓十分出片,上海动物园迎来最佳观赏季 · Changning District Government

Original English written from the listed sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer. Updated 2026-09-27.

Explore Changning District

Core places to explore, with English and Chinese names.

Places to explore around Changning District

Plan your visit

Build your route

Shanghai Zoo and Zhongshan Park are about 6 km apart in a straight line. The linked place guides have entrance and visit details.

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Sources & geographic information

Administrative names and parent areas: Official geographic directory · Reference date 2026-09-06.

Photo: Shanghai Zoo · Ctny · Ctny — Shanghai_Zoo_ticket_office.JPG — CC BY-SA 3.0 · CC BY-SA 3.0. Full frame retained; proportionally resized and converted to WebP. No retouching or changes to the photographed subject. Card displays may crop the view.

Photo: Zhongshan Park · Jpbowen · Jpbowen — Zhongshan_Park,_Shanghai.JPG — CC BY-SA 4.0 · CC BY-SA 4.0. Full frame retained; proportionally resized and converted to WebP. No retouching or changes to the photographed subject. Card displays may crop the view.

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