Zoo & Aquarium, Beijing

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Initially named The Ten Thousand Animal Garden, the zoo was built in 1908, making it 100 years old. It is located in Xicheng District of Beijing City, beside Beijing Exhibition Hall, facing Beijing Astronomical Observatory. The Zoo was originally an imperial manor during the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644). Plants were cultivated and animals were raised here during the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911), Prince Foot Kang ann Mansion. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, it was reconstructed and renamed the West Suburb Park. In 1955, the name was changed to the Beijing Zoo.

The zoo has developed rapidly and by 1987 covered an area of over 40,000 square meters. Bears, elephants, pandas, lions, tigers, songbirds, hippopotami, rhinoceroses, antelopes and giraffes were brought in the late 1950s, and a gorilla cage, leaf-monkey cage and aquarium house, was opened, containing specimens of over 100 species of reptiles from all over the world, including crocodiles and pythons.

The Beijing Zoo now houses over 7,000 creatures of 600 different species from all over the world.

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Lazy panda's eating bamboo all day- yep it's not so exciting, but it's super cute.

We saw about 4 panda's which is not the largest, but you can see them chomping away and waddling around.

You can buy panda shirts and beijing olympic 2008 shirts.

We didn't get to spend much time around the garden or the zoo, but we're told that it's a great treat!

The TIP

Do not take a tour to the Garden/Zoo, you'll just be rushed through the panda garden and that's all! So take the day or at least 3 hours to see around the zoo.

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Nice way to spend a few hours of free time in Beijing. Blue Zoo Beijing was the first walk-through aquarium established in Beijing, the capital of China. Blue Zoo Beijing is the largest aquarium of its type in Asia. The main attraction is the central tank holding 3.5 million litres of artificially produced salt water. A complete eco-system has been created in this tank to allow thousands of fish to live in as natural an environment as possible.

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Nice way to spend a few hours of free time in Beijing. Blue Zoo Beijing was the first walk-through aquarium established in Beijing, the capital of China. Blue Zoo Beijing is the largest aquarium of its type in Asia. The main attraction is the central tank holding 3.5 million litres of artificially produced salt water. A complete eco-system has been created in this tank to allow thousands of fish to live in as natural an environment as possible.

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The zoo is located outside Xizhimen Beijing. During Ming Dynasty, the Beijing zoo as the site of an imperial park. In the late Qing times, it was an experimental field for farming arts and zoo was put up there. In 1908, Empress Dowager Cixi did another rebuilding job and used it to house a collection of 700 animals imported from Germany, was therefore called Wanshengyuan (the ten thousand animals garden). After 1949, it was officially given name “ Beijing Zoo”.

A lot of constructions have been built ever since for monkeys, elephants, bears, tigers and lions, deer, hippos, reptiles, pandas, aquatic fowls and small animals. The collection of animals here has been growing both in species and Quantity. One can see here animals peculiar to China such as giant pandas, golden hair monkeys, tufted deer, wild horses, white-lipped deer, and also exotic animals from other parts of the world such as gorillas, polar bears, giraffes, African elephants and penguins

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I didn't spend much time at the zoo as I found the whole experience quite upsetting. The animals were in horrible cages with little comfort and stimulating activities or surroundings. I did however want to see the Panda's so that was my only reason for visiting here.

The zoo is in the same place as the aquarium so you can buy a combined ticket.

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The Beijing Zoo is China’s largest and purportedly its best. I had heard horror stories regarding the condition of the Shanghai Zoo and the behavior of the people, but observing similar conditions and behavior first hand still came as a bit of shock. With few exceptions, the animals were kept in small cages that contained little more than concrete floors, food trays, and a branch or two or an elevated platform on which to lie. Many of the animals appeared malnourished and sickly, and nearly all of them looked stressed. Given the number of people banging on glass and shouting at and throwing things at the animals, it’s little wonder why. Some such behavior can be expected from kids, but these were adults. I would suggest boycotting these zoos until this behavior changes, but, if you are desperate to see Giant Pandas, you will see them and more than 500 other neglected species for Y35.

I must say it was something that i really wanted to see... the Pandas... even though i know i should not expect too much.

I should say I was right.. the ONLY thing that you should even spend time on should be the Pandas.. the rest, i felt more sad looking at them then excited...

Not sure if it's coz of the sand storms there that make the place look permanently sandly/dusty/dirty or it's really so

Beijing Zoo is the second zoo that I went in China. Great to see the pandas this time not behind cage but a glass wall. As usual, the pandas are either snoozing or eating their favorite and only food - bamboo leaves.

There are other rare animals in the zoo like the Golden Monkey, lesser pandas, endangered cranes but we only had limited time to explore the zoo. So most of the time was spent with the pandas and Golden Monkey of the southern China.

Wary of zoos, I chose to go to the Beijing Zoo nonetheless since it was on the way to Summer Palace and it was my only chance to see pandas on this trip.
I found the poor old pandas in probably the worst enclosures in the zoo,which is odd considering they are probably the big attraction. The zoo seems rooted in 1960's.A lot of money and effort was being put into upgrading the parks side of the zoo. I hope the pandas are in line for their share too.