Liulang Wenying Park – A Theme Park with Willows and Orioles

Liulang Wenying Park or Orioles Singing Park in the Willows located in the eastern side of West Lake in Hangzhou. Hangzhou is the capital town of Zhejiang province in the People's Republic of China. The park is ranked to fifth position among the top ten wonderful locations in West Lake area. Sprawling an area of 20 square kilometers, it is located very close to the city and to the lake and is one of the largest integrated garden with variety of entertainment facilities. The beautiful sceneries in the Liulang Wenying Park are divided in to Friendship, Ju Jing, Wen Ying and South Park four parts. Along with the Willows, lots of other type tress such as magnolia, plum, purple nanmu, cedar and various other types of trees and flowers can be seen here. The largest imperial garden, Ju Jinng Garden of South Song Dynasty is located in this area. During the South Song Dynasty, there were Huifang Hall and three houses, nine pavilions, Liu Lang Bridge and Bachelor Bridge located in this area. During spring, numerous willows dancing in tune with the breeze were a wonderful experience and they produce the beautiful sound of orioles. It was because of this, named Orioles Singing in the Willows for oriole flying and crowing in the willows.



History

Scanning through the history of Southern Song Dynasty, you can find so many historically important locations such as bachelor harbor, Liu Zhou Pavilion, Wen Shui Pavilion, Ju Jing Garden, and Qianwan Ancestral T emple etc. The Jujing Garden was renamed as Scattered Garden or Sajing Garden during the period of Yuan Dynasty. On the south side of the park, you can see a cemetery. This cemetery belonged to a wealthy Muslim trader, A Loading, who had built a Muslim Mosque in Hangzhou and after his death his body was buried here. During Qing Dynasty, Emperor Kangxi explored further south side of the city and created the ten view of the West Lake and enhanced its glory.



Continuous development for forty years

The park had continuous development for forty years and the former imperial garden converted in to a big public park and declared opened for public use. After this, the general public started to throng in to the park for leisure and entertainment. But the basic identity of the park is still based on green willows and orioles singing. The main road leading the park is beautified with the plantation of willow tree on both side of the road. The weeping sounds of the willows are the identity of the park. These trees are of special and rare types and are brought from Tianjin.



Different type of Willow trees

The Liulang Wenying Park as we can see today was brought in to the present form 1951 and included Wenying Garden, Friendship Garden, Jujing Garden and part of Yongjin Garden and Changqiao Garden. We can consider this as a theme park with willow and orioles. There are different types of willows such as Lion Willow, Drunk Willow and Voile Washing Willow can be seen in the park. The park is a busy area for morning exercise and relaxation. People also use this park for ceremonial functions. In summer time there are lots of activities such as amateur dancing parties, night parties and singing parties. Over all it is the finest location for entertainment and you can get mingled one or other activities as per your interest.