Hangzhou Bay National Wetland Park

Hangzhou Bay National Wetland Park

Hangzhou Bay National Wetland Park is a national-level wetland park.

Hangzhou Bay Wetland is situated in the northwest of Hangzhou Bay New Area, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, on the west side of the Hangzhou Bay Cross-sea Bridge, with a total area of 43.5 square kilometers. It is one of China’s eight major saline-alkali wetlands and a world-class bird-watching destination. It is the first project supported by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the World Bank, serving as a wetland eco-tourism area that integrates wetland restoration, research, and environmental education. The wetland features a variety of types, including coastal tidal flats, offshore sandbars, and enclosed reclaimed wetlands, among which the coastal Andong Tidal Flat has been listed in China’s Important Wetlands Directory. The Wetland Center covers an area of 5,000 mu, with a total investment of approximately 133.6 million RMB, including a GEF grant of 4 million USD. The center officially opened to the public on June 19, 2010.

The Hangzhou Bay Wetland Center is divided into five functional areas: the Wetland Education and Exhibition Center, wading and swimming bird activity area, wetland treatment area, waterfowl habitat area, and egrets’ breeding and forested wetland area. It also features ten scenic spots: “Long Corridor Meandering,” “Stream Shadows and Floral Whispers,” “Swans Playing in the Sunshine,” “Black Canoe in the Breeze,” “Egrets Resting on White Sand,” “Reeds in Autumn Snow,” “Elks Roaming Freely,” “Flowers in the Mirror and Moon on the Water,” “Forest Light and Painted Scenes,” and “Birds Returning to Nesting Woods.”

The Education Center building has become the landmark structure of the entire Wetland Center. Designed to the highest national standards for green buildings, it extensively utilizes renewable energy sources such as solar, bio, wind, and geothermal energy. Comprehensive considerations were given to materials, energy, and material cycles, making the building both contemporary and seamlessly integrated into the wetland environment. As the core component of the entire wetland project, the Environmental Education Center undertakes multiple roles including education and public exhibitions, scientific research, ecological engineering demonstrations, fostering and organizing local eco-tourism development, and promoting sustainable economic growth, thus holding significant social educational value.

The Eco-exhibition Area forms a section primarily focused on educational displays and leisure activities, based on the preservation of the original terrain and vegetation. According to the site’s current conditions, relevant display and service facilities for the Environmental Education Center have been reasonably arranged to establish a uniquely scenic and beautifully landscaped wetland eco-tourism destination. This enhances the Wetland Center’s influence both domestically and internationally, effectively improving its ecological tourism and educational outreach functions. It serves as the main hub for visitor flow within the Wetland Center.

The wetland boasts abundant bird resources, with 131 recorded bird species belonging to 12 orders and 33 families. These include near-threatened species such as the falcated duck, black-tailed godwit, Eurasian curlew, Far Eastern curlew, and Reed Parrotbill; vulnerable species such as the Dalmatian pelican, Saunders’s gull, and yellow-breasted bunting; as well as species listed in the National Key Protected Wildlife Catalogue, such as the common buzzard, common kestrel, ring-necked pheasant, and little stint. Egrets are the most numerous, with little egrets, grey herons, and night herons flying together, offering visitors a truly spectacular view of a “paradise of egrets.” Additionally, there are Kentish plovers and little ringed plovers gathering on shallow beaches; black-headed gulls and common greenshanks soaring through the sky, creating a harmonious and tranquil natural scene. Why is there such a rich diversity of birds in the wetland? It is because the wetland serves as a crucial stopover for migratory birds traveling from Siberia to Australia. The area is rich in plant life, with numerous aquatic plants such as pickerelweed, yellow flag iris, thalia, cattail, bulrush, dwarf papyrus, and water lilies. The favorable living environment provides food for birds during the winter, attracting them to stay and rest here.

Due to ecological improvements, Hangzhou Bay Wetland is now home to a large population of birds and plays a vital role in the regional environment and climate. Through the establishment of the Wetland Center and the planning and construction of an international environmental education center, along with the moderate development of eco-tourism projects in the surrounding areas, the region is moving towards a path of sustainable development. Meanwhile, the purification of polluted water bodies represents a new type of sewage treatment technology that is gaining attention and widespread adoption around the world.

Since the Ten Scenic Spots of Hangzhou Bay are located within the Environmental Education and Visitor Exhibition Area, visitors can follow the sequence below to see all ten landscapes.

1. Elks Roaming Freely: As the boat approaches the dock, you will see the waterfowl habitat area on the right. The wetland has set up a approximately two-kilometer-long waterside plank walk in this area. In the northwest corner of this zone, there are 10 elks that visitors can observe living leisurely.

2. Egrets Resting on White Sand: This area features large expanses of water surface and land islands, which from a plan view resemble an egret standing on the water, foraging.

3. Flowers in the Mirror and Moon on the Water: In the wetland treatment area, after walking along a waterside plank walk, you can see plants used for biological purification, mainly including water lilies, cattails, thalia, and yellow flag iris.

4. Black Canoe in the Breeze: To enter the wetland, you take a black canoe, gliding through winding waterways and open waters, offering a unique experience described as “a lone black canoe riding the timber wind.”

5. Forest Light and Painted Scenes: Located in the egrets’ breeding and forested wetland area. This zone currently has 67 tree species, including valuable varieties such as willowleaf yellowhorn, coral tree, mulberry, ginkgo, euonymus fortunei, and weeping golden-leaved willow. Surrounded by water systems, the forested islands, sunset clouds, and seasonal blossoms form a painted scene of forest light.

6. Reeds in Autumn Snow: Continuing forward, you’ll encounter lush reed forests. In late autumn, the fields are covered with cotton-like reed catkins atop slightly withered reeds—close up they resemble white-haired elders, while from afar they look like snow.

7. Long Corridor Meandering: Located in the wetland botanical garden, which features transparent, winding glass corridors that lead you through the garden. Walking along them offers underwater views of the wetland.

8. Swans Playing in the Sunshine: Next, you’ll see groups of swans swimming and playing by the water’s edge. With luck, you might even witness their courtship rituals.

9. Stream Shadows and Floral Whispers: A turtle-shell-shaped rain garden. The garden is symmetrically arranged along the central axis of the building. The entire rain garden adopts a regular terraced planting pattern, combining various moisture-loving and aquatic plants into an interesting spiral layout.

10. Birds Returning to Nesting Woods: This is a forested wetland area inhabited by 131 bird species. Every evening at sunset, sandpipers return to their nests amidst the shaded woods, with birds chirping above and below. As visitors leave, the birds rejoice—a true paradise where birds live in harmony.