Jinshan Petrochemical Huicui Garden

Jinshan Petrochemical Huicui Garden

Huicui Garden is located at No. 208 Dadi Road, Jinshan Petrochemical Area. It connects to the Children’s Park on Xincheng Road to the east, adjoins the Suitang River Public Green Space to the west, borders Dadi Road to the south, and faces the Suitang River Pedestrian Street to the north.

The site was once part of the old course of the Suitang River. In 1992, the Jinshan Petrochemical District Office initially decided to build a park here, with funding and materials raised by various units. The project was designed by the Shanghai Municipal Landscape Architecture Design Institute. The main construction was undertaken by the Petrochemical Construction Company and Wuxi Classical Landscape Architecture Company, while the utility works were handled by the Petrochemical Landscape Affairs Team. Construction began in April 1992, and the garden opened to the public on the Double Ninth Festival (October 23) in 1993. It was named Huicui Garden, also known as the "Elderly Garden."

Covering an area of 1.2 hectares, the park features a Jiangnan-style garden design with winding corridors, secluded chambers, rockeries, and lotus ponds, offering a serene and tranquil environment. At the entrance stands a screen wall inscribed with the three large characters “Huicui Garden” (Gathering Garden) written by Chen Congzhou. In the center of the garden lies a large rockery covering about 600 square meters and standing 6 meters high, constructed from 120 tons of Taihu rocks, featuring two cascading waterfalls. On the secondary peak of the rockery is carved a 1.2-meter-high, 0.5-meter-wide character “Shou” (longevity), composed of the four characters “Sheng” (life), “Mu” (mother), “Qi” (seven), and “Shi” (ten), which was written by Hai Rui for his mother's birthday. It is a rubbing taken from the Hai Rui Temple in Chun’an County, Zhejiang Province. On the north side of Jiufeng (Nine Peaks), there is a stone-carved statue of the Laughing Buddha, modeled after the rock carvings at Feilai Peak in Hangzhou’s Lingyin Temple. In front of the Buddha, one stone resembles a frog and another a playful monkey. Beside the Buddha, an inscribed phrase on a lake rock reads “Always smiling with a big belly that can tolerate all.” To the south of the garden is a combined corridor and pavilion structure named Yide Corridor, stretching 85 meters in length and 1.7 meters in width, built with brick-concrete and featuring a hip-and-gable roof with small blue tiles. The corridor walls are inlaid with 65 ceramic paintings: 30 depicting youthful anecdotes of historical figures from ancient to modern times, 30 showcasing Chinese scenic spots, and 5 presenting calligraphy works by Wu Changshuo, Kong Lingming, Xie Zhiliu, and Su Juxian. In the northwest corner of the garden stands Meishan (Plum Mountain) and Sanyou Pavilion, where pine, bamboo, and plum—known as the “Three Friends of Winter”—are widely planted. To the north of the garden is a lotus pond covering about 2,000 square meters. A small island in the pond features a conical bamboo hat-shaped pavilion, and a three-curved flat bridge spans the north side of the pond. The plants within and around the pond are arranged according to the seasons of spring, summer, and autumn. To the north of the pond stands Haitian Tower, a mixed-structure building with a floor area of 290 square meters. The tower’s front terrace is surrounded by water on three sides, edged with stone railings, and furnished with stone tables and benches on a 147-square-meter platform. In the small garden within the larger garden, located in the southwest, there is a study called Qingxin Shuwu (Pure Heart Study), fronted by a magnolia peak stone and shaded by dense greenery.

The main tree species in the garden include pine, plum, osmanthus, ligustrum, metasequoia, camphor, azalea, pittosporum, pyracantha, and ficus microcarpa. To the east side of Meishan, there is a large bamboo grove with over 20 varieties such as phyllostachys bambusoides, fargesia nitida, indocalamus tessellatus, phoenix bamboo, houzeau bamboo, jade bamboo, black bamboo, mottled bamboo, and filial piety bamboo.

Transportation Options

Address: No. 208 Dadi Road, Jinshan Petrochemical Area, Shanghai

Transport Guide: Take Metro Line 1 to Jinjiang Amusement Park Station, then transfer to either Weimei Line or Shimeline to directly reach Jinshan Petrochemical. Alternatively, take Metro Line 1 to Lianhua Road Station, then transfer to either Lianshi Line or Lianwei Line to directly reach Jinshan Petrochemical. The journey takes just over an hour.

Self-driving Route: From Xinzhuang, take S4 Shanghai–Jinshan Expressway (exit at Shanyang Interchange), then follow Tingwei Highway, Weiling Road, Xincheng Road. The garden is located about 200 meters west of the intersection of Xincheng Road and Dadi Road.