Shuixia Park

Shuixia Park

Shuixia Park is bordered by Xianxia Road to the south, Shuicheng Road to the east, and residential areas to the west and north. In 1995, the park covered an area of 11,800 square meters.

The site was originally farmland and creeks. At the end of 1987, to support the development of the Xianxia residential community, the municipal government invested 850,000 yuan to transform the area into a park. The park construction project was managed by the Shanghai Municipal Gardens Design Institute, which was responsible for the overall planning and landscaping design, while the Shanghai Jingtai Decoration Engineering Company carried out the construction. The park’s name was derived from one character each of the nearby Shuicheng Road and Xianxia Road, resulting in “Shuixia Park,” and it officially opened to the public on New Year's Day in 1992.

The park is rectangular in shape, with the Zhoujiabang creek running through it, dividing the park into eastern and western sections. The overall design makes use of the existing water features and centers around the theme of "water and rosy light." The eastern side of the creek is densely wooded, while the western side features lush green lawns. Riverside pavilions and platforms add a unique charm to the scenery. Near the park entrance, there is a kidney-shaped thicket covering about 90 square meters, planted with summer azaleas, weeping crabapples, mahonia, bayberry balls, and the rare white crabapple. To the south of the park, a 9.3-meter-long and 1.86-meter-wide stone arch bridge spans the Zhoujiabang, offering views of both sides of the creek from the bridge. In the middle of the park stands the 96-square-meter Tongxin Pavilion, a reinforced concrete structure shaped like a Western-style castle. The pavilion’s platform, which covers 33 square meters and is surrounded by water on three sides, features three small square pyramidal pavilions inside, each with an area of 6 square meters and heights of 3.5 meters, 4 meters, and 4.5 meters respectively. The entire ensemble of pavilion, platform, and small structures features a novel and distinctive design, making it one of the highlights of the park. To the north of the park lies a 124-square-meter waterside platform, which offers panoramic views of the entire park. A set of iron stairs on the northern side of the platform leads to a small island in the creek, where a large expanse of velvet-like lawn has been planted. On the platform, there are three fiberglass umbrella-shaped small pavilions, each 2 meters high, equipped with stone benches and stone tables.

The park is lower in the east and higher in the west, with plantings mainly consisting of native tree species arranged according to elevation and seasonal changes. To the east of the creek, there is a tree belt over 200 meters long and 40 meters wide, with stone-paved paths winding through the woods. In the western part of the park, from the southern main gate to the northern back gate, there is a rolling slope about 3–4 meters wide, 0.5–3 meters high, and 150 meters long, formed from excavated creek mud. This slope creates a long greenbelt featuring plant communities representing the four seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter.