Zhabei Park: Opened in One Man's Name
Basic information
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Name | Zhabei Park |
| Address | 1555 Gonghexin Road, Jing'an District, Shanghai |
| Area | 13.35 hectares (another source says 136,900 m²) |
| Completed and opened | 1946 (another source says it was laid out as a park and opened in 1929); it is the oldest park in Jing'an District |
| Former names | Song Park → Jiaoren Park → Zhabei Park |
| Protection status | Both the tomb of Song Jiaoren and the Qian family ancestral hall in the park are Shanghai municipal cultural relic protection units |
| Admission | Free |
| Keywords | the tomb of Song Jiaoren, the Qian family ancestral hall, Duiming Lake, a five-star park |
A park "named after a district"
Zhabei Park has a very particular identity (see materials from the Jing'an District Greenery and Appearance Bureau):
Zhabei Park and Jing'an Park are both five-star parks, named respectively after the former Jing'an District and the former Zhabei District, which makes Jing'an District the only administrative district in Shanghai with two parks "named after a district".
In other words: the administrative district "Zhabei District" is gone, but the name "Zhabei Park" has stayed. For an abolished district name, that is probably the best possible resting place.
Its beginning was a murder
The history of Zhabei Park starts at 10:40 p.m. on 20 March 1913.
That night Song Jiaoren (a core member of the Chinese United League and acting director-general of the Kuomintang) was shot from behind at Shanghai North Railway Station (the old North Station).
He had just delivered an election speech in Shanghai and was preparing to go north to form a cabinet. Two days later, in the small hours of 22 March, Song Jiaoren died of his wounds, aged only 31.
(For Song Jiaoren himself see Part Four)
From burial ground to park
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| 20 Mar 1913 | Song Jiaoren is assassinated at Shanghai North Railway Station |
| 26 Jun 1913 | Song Jiaoren is buried at Xiangyi Lane in Zhabei (the site of today's Zhabei Park) |
| Jun 1914 | The burial ground is completed, covering more than 10 mu (built by Tan Renfeng and others, who first bought land at Xujiahui, then instead bought 103 mu at Xiangyi Port in Baoshan County) |
| Jun 1924 | Tan Renfeng and others build a burial park here, covering 43 mu, called Song Park |
| Sep 1929 | The Shanghai Special Municipal Government decides to fund repairs to Song Park, and lays it out as a park and opens it |
| Jun 1946 | Renamed Jiaoren Park |
| 28 May 1950 | Renamed Zhabei Park |
| During the Cultural Revolution | The tomb of Song Jiaoren is destroyed |
| 1980s | The tomb of Song Jiaoren is rebuilt |
| 2018 | The park is comprehensively redeveloped, strengthening its classical Chinese garden character |
The history of a park is the history of a man remembered, forgotten, and then remembered again.
How the burial ground looks
The form of Song Jiaoren's tomb (according to field visits and historical records):
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
| Footprint | The burial ground covers about 0.6 hectares |
| Form | Roughly square, enclosed by a stone balustrade of 24 round-headed square pillars |
| The tomb chamber | Facing south, cylindrical with a half-vaulted top |
| The tomb's crown | A mighty eagle treading on a venomous snake — "symbolising Mr Song's spirit of stubborn struggle against the feudal forces" |
| Tombstone | "The Tomb of Mr Song Jiaoren" |
| Seated statue | Atop a stone pillar in the middle of the burial ground, a marble statue of Song in a full Western suit, seated |
| Front of the statue's base | The two characters "Yufu" (in Zhang Taiyan's seal-script hand, written in 1931) |
| Back of the statue's base | An inscription written by Yu Youren (see below) |
| Steps | Two stone pillars in the middle of the southern corner form the entrance, with 8 steps |
| Completed | June 1914 |
| Protection status | Shanghai municipal cultural relic protection unit (announced 25 August 1981, no. 2-12) |
Yu Youren's inscription
On the back of the base of the statue in front of the tomb is carved an inscription composed by Yu Youren and written out by Kang Baozhong; it is startling to read:
The gentleman's death, the whole world mourns it. The gentleman's conduct, the whole world knows it. What need is there for me to record it! Shall I write with a straight brush? Then the straight writer is killed by men. Shall I write with a crooked brush? Then the crooked writer is punished by Heaven. Alas! Tears of the nine springs, blood of the whole world, the brush of an old friend, the iron of the villain; carve it on a bare mountain, entrust it to a good historian, engrave it on heart and liver, submit it to Heaven and Earth!
"Shall I write with a straight brush? Then the straight writer is killed by men. Shall I write with a crooked brush? Then the crooked writer is punished by Heaven." — Tell the truth and you will be killed by men; tell a lie and you will be killed by Heaven. This is the dilemma an old friend of the Republic of China years wrote down in that era.
A park that "does not want to advertise itself"
A visitor who went in person once noted something very interesting in a travel account:
Although Zhabei Park began as Jiaoren Park, the park seems rather unwilling to advertise the fact; the whole park has two Shanghai cultural relic protection units, and for the tomb of Song Jiaoren I saw only one signboard …
This is a phenomenon worth pondering. The park's biggest IP has been played down. But after the 2018 redevelopment the park "brought out its historical depth", and things have improved somewhat.
Another national treasure: the Qian family ancestral hall
The Qian family ancestral hall east of the lake in the park is another Shanghai municipal cultural relic protection unit (announced 4 April 2014, no. 8-40, dated 1927).
Its features: a brick-and-timber structure with whitewashed walls and dark-tiled roofs, decorated with pierced windows and brick carving, at once plain and elegant. It is surrounded by ginkgo, green maple and plane trees, setting off the lake view.
But visitors who have gone several times report that the Qian family ancestral hall has long been closed and can only be seen from the outside.
The garden itself
Zhabei Park is in the typical Jiangnan garden style, with every element — pavilions, covered walkways, waterside houses. It runs roughly rectangular from west to east, in a naturalistic layout:
| Area | Contents |
|---|---|
| West | Mainly the tomb of Song Jiaoren; along the Gonghexin Road side there is a zelkova square |
| Centre (the main scenic area) | Duiming Lake, more than 10,000 m², its water broad in places and narrow in others, its shoreline winding and interlinked; west of the lake are the Twin-Maple Twin-Courtyard and a waterfront square; in the lake are the three islets Jinyou, Cuiyou and Jige, dotted with pavilions; the two bridges Tian'guang and Yunying are particularly distinctive |
| East | Half-mu Pond, a children's playground, a fitness trail, Guixiang Corridor |
The 2018 redevelopment included: rebuilding the west gate, newly building the Twin-Maple Twin-Courtyard, unifying the architectural style, reshaping the central lake landscape, purifying the water, and renewing the play and fitness facilities.
Why it is worth going
If you had to recommend Zhabei Park in one sentence:
In Shanghai's central city area, this is the only place where a single free park lets you see both the tomb of a giant of early-Republic constitutionalism and an ancestral hall of the Republic of China years.
It is not as polished as Jing'an Park, nor as open as Daning Lingshi Park, but it has one thing nowhere else has: it is a "commemorative" park.
Practical tips
- Address: 1555 Gonghexin Road (Gonghexin Road to the west, Luochuan East Road along the south, Pingxingguan Road to the east, Yanchang Road to the north);
- Admission: free;
- Suggested time: 1–1.5 hours;
- Highlights: the tomb of Song Jiaoren (Yu Youren's inscription on the back of the seated statue), the exterior of the Qian family ancestral hall, the three islets of Duiming Lake.
Nearby, to see in the same trip
- Zhabei Park lies in Gonghexin Road sub-district, surrounded by the grain of the old workers' villages (the Luochuan East Road and Tanjiaqiao Road area);
- going north you reach Daning Lingshi Park, making a green-space route "Zhabei Park → Daning".
Sources: the history of the park and the tomb of Song Jiaoren follow the Jing'an District Greenery and Appearance Bureau's So That's How the "Park" Is: Zhabei Park, Keeping the Old and Renewing the New, the Baidu Baike entry "Zhabei Park", the wikis.pro entry "Zhabei Park" and the Dictionary of China's Tourist Scenic Areas; the field observations follow the Ctrip community travel account Zhabei Park, Once Named Jiaoren Park. The full bibliography is in Appendix 4.