City’s Largest Park to Open Fully for Free Starting Next Week
The open-air tennis center in the Chaoyang section of Wenyu River Park complements the artificial lake scenery.
Creating lakes, piling hills, connecting water systems—mountains, water, forests, fields, lakes, grass, and sand are perfectly integrated… Wenyu River Park, Beijing’s « urban green lung, » has been fully completed. The park’s second phase will open on September 29, which also means this largest park in Beijing will be fully free and open to the public, with no reservation required for entry.
An afternoon visit found that the park’s construction is essentially finished, with final preparations underway before the opening. The park will deliver comprehensive benefits in ecological conservation, flood control safety, recreation, cultural displays, low-carbon smart features, and international exchange.
Creating a « Back Garden for Millions of Citizens »
Currently, in the Rose Garden of the park’s second phase, many roses are still in full bloom within 12 circular spaces, each with a unique theme. « During the peak blooming season, varieties like Pink Fan, Peace, Red Knock Out, Red Leonardo da Vinci, and Grace will compete in beauty, forming a sea of roses and becoming a popular spot. »
The park’s beautiful scenery is everywhere. Entering from Gate 41, visitors find the Forest Stream and Flower Shadow area. Forest Stream Butterfly Dance is the largest waterfront attraction in the zone, where streams converge into an open water surface surrounded by dense woods and dotted with flowers. The Forest Stream Classroom on the south side of the water will become a center for integrated indoor and outdoor education, with the building surrounded by water on three sides. In the future, visitors can participate in indoor crafts and courses, or enjoy outdoor activities like chasing butterflies, watching fish, and riding butterfly-shaped swings.
Wenyu River Park is the largest ecological space in Beijing spanning the most administrative districts, forming a pattern of « harmony in diversity, each with its own beauty. » The Chaoyang section focuses on seamless integration with surrounding urban functions, introducing innovative formats, creating job opportunities, and fostering a learning and exchange atmosphere. The Changping section emphasizes the deep integration of technology and ecology, widely using low-carbon, energy-saving, and eco-friendly technologies, showcasing cutting-edge concepts like smart gardens and new energy utilization, with interactive experience facilities to spread green development knowledge. The Shunyi section carries cultural heritage and nostalgic memories, becoming an important space for continuing historical context through landscape nodes, cultural features, and activities like intangible heritage paper-cutting.
« The second phase of Wenyu River Park aims to create ‘Beijing’s largest urban park for millions of citizens’ and ‘a back garden for tens of millions of citizens.' » From quiet forest trails, bird-watching wetlands, and campsites to vibrant lawn music festivals, creative markets, sports events like marathons and cycling, and educational activities like science popularization and cultural exhibitions, the park will become a vibrant stage for the integrated development of culture, commerce, tourism, and sports.
Flood Storage Capacity of 12 Million Cubic Meters
Wenyu River Park is also the city’s largest and most diverse natural zone and the largest flood storage area in the urban area. After the completion of the second phase, its strategic significance extends far beyond recreation, being assigned a key urban safety function with a flood storage capacity of up to 12 million cubic meters. It is an important node in improving the flood control system of the central urban area and the flood control project for the sub-center.
Through scientific watershed planning and advanced water conservancy facilities, the park cleverly achieves « dual use for normal and emergency times. » During regular rainfall, the park acts as a « big sponge » for the northeastern part of the city, storing rainwater and effectively supplementing green and municipal water use, saving 4 million cubic meters of water annually and significantly enhancing the city’s comprehensive resilience to flood disasters.
The park has built 5 ecological water corridors and 10 wetlands, totaling 350 hectares of permanent water surface, all using reclaimed water. The water corridors flow slowly daily, deeply purifying the reclaimed water and providing no less than 350,000 cubic meters per day of clean ecological water for the downstream sub-center. By restoring natural shorelines, constructing multi-level wetland systems, cultivating aquatic plant communities, and enhancing water self-purification capacity, the goals of clear water, green banks, beautiful scenery, and biodiversity have been successfully achieved.
Wenyu River Park by the Numbers
Area Nearly 3 Times That of Olympic Forest Park
Over 100 Gates
How big is Wenyu
