Discover Shanghai
Fuxing Park
复兴公园
The only surviving French formal garden in Shanghai, laid out in the old concession and still the city's best place to watch early-morning tai chi, ballroom dancing and amateur opera under enormous plane trees. Free, and a five-minute walk from Sinan Mansions.
The story
What makes this place special
Fuxing Park was the French Concession's main park. In 1900 the French municipal council bought 152 mu of farmland at Gujiazhai village, leasing part of it to the French army for barracks; the park was completed in June 1909 and opened on 14 July, Bastille Day. Foreigners called it Gujiazhai Park, Chinese called it the French Park. Chinese visitors were barred at first, except servants accompanying foreign employers, and the ban was lifted from 1 July 1928, when Chinese could buy tickets to enter. A major enlargement under the French designer Shaomo ran from 1917 to about 1926, bringing it to around 136 mu. It was renamed Fuxing - revival - from New Year's Day 1946 to mark the end of the war against Japan.
What you’ll discover
The only park in Shanghai laid out in French formal style: a sunken parterre with geometric flower beds at the north end, radiating gravel allées under plane trees, a large lawn, a rose garden, a children's play area and a monument to the aviator Vallon. The sunken garden is the set piece. Around the lawns, residents play cards and chess, dance, practise instruments and exercise - which is as much the attraction as the planting.
A little local insight
Good to know before you go
- Come early, around 07:00, for the morning scene: ballroom dancing, tai chi, choirs, chess, and people walking birds. That hour is the real Shanghai content and by ten o'clock it has dispersed.
- Find the sunken formal garden at the north end - its symmetrical parterre is the French design that nothing else in Shanghai has, and visitors who enter from the south miss it entirely.
- The Marx and Engels statue and the Vallon memorial are both in the park and record two completely different eras of its history.
- It is the anchor of a French Concession walk: Sinan Mansions is directly adjacent, and Shaanxi South Road, Ruijin Road and the Xintiandi area are all within fifteen minutes on foot.
- The park is free and open long hours, which makes it the right place to rest between paid sights rather than a destination in itself.
- Plane trees mean this is a spring and autumn park. In winter the formal layout is bare and the point is lost.
When to come
Seven in the morning for the social life, or late afternoon under the plane trees. April to May and October to November are when the planting and the trees are both working.
Getting around
One of the better central parks for mobility: broad level paths, gentle gradients, benches throughout and multiple gates so you can enter near wherever you are. The sunken garden is reached by steps on some sides but has ramped access on others - go round rather than down. Gravel sections are firm. Accessible toilets are available. Easy for a bad knee and workable independently in a wheelchair.
Worth knowing before you go
Come between 06:30 and 08:30 - that is the only window when the dancing and tai chi groups are out, and by mid-morning it is just a pleasant empty park.
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