Yaojiang Park

Yaojiang Park

Yaojiang Park is located at the west end of Yaojiang Bridge in Ningbo, on the north side of North Huancheng Road. Covering an area of 9.2 hectares, it is a large-scale recreational facility with a modern touch, primarily featuring plant landscaping, supplemented by sightseeing and entertainment.

In 1992, the municipal government invested 5 million yuan to transform part of the original Yaojiang Nursery into the park, with a total area of 9.2 hectares. The park utilizes the existing trees from the nursery, focusing on plant landscaping. It features an entrance square, Hundred Flowers Hill, a large lawn, and riverside scenic areas. Over the years, it introduced amusement facilities such as bumper cars, a paintball shooting center, water yachts, a water park, a log flume ride, and a space city, all of which were dismantled starting in 2004. In 2005, a swimming and recreation venue was built on the site of the former water park to provide visitors with a place to cool off in the summer.

The park boasts a clean and beautiful environment. Since 1993, it has hosted numerous large-scale garden events, including flower arrangement exhibitions, camellia shows, Dutch tulip displays, autumn chrysanthemum exhibitions, Sichuan Zigong lantern shows, and ice sculpture art exhibitions, enriching the leisure lives of local residents. With the transformation of the city’s park system, Yaojiang Park was opened to the public free of charge. In July 2009, the upgraded “Yaojiang Flower Expo Garden” officially opened to visitors. The Yaojiang Flower Expo Garden had a total investment of 15 million yuan and an exhibition area of 12,000 square meters. Leveraging the beautiful environment of Yaojiang Park, it integrates seamlessly with the existing park and supporting facilities. In addition to new attractions such as the Bird Singing Garden, ornamental fish display area, and parrot performance venue,

the Flower Expo Garden also introduced three new science-focused highlights. Moreover, a flower promotion center was specially established to create a platform for floral art exchanges. The once outdated and poorly equipped Yaojiang Park was transformed into a public-themed urban park that combines sightseeing, leisure and fitness, science education, training, and flower appreciation and sales.

For a long time, the Yaojiang Park built in 1992 suffered from aging facilities, inadequate amenities, and low visitor traffic. As new parks and green spaces were continuously developed, foot traffic at Yaojiang Park continued to decline, resulting in the underutilization of valuable green space. To address this, the Municipal Urban Management Bureau, based on the existing amusement offerings such as bumper cars, roller skating rinks, playgrounds, and log flume rides, demolished some dilapidated buildings and repurposed them into a flower sales center and horticultural product exhibition area. At the same time, supporting projects such as the park’s gatehouse, entrances, parking lots, lighting, and entrance landscapes also began construction.

According to officials from the Municipal Urban Management Bureau, the renovation and upgrade of Yaojiang Park is an important initiative under the bureau’s goal of “introducing private capital and innovating urban operation and management mechanisms.” The project aims to engage private capital in the management of public facilities, guide changes in citizens’ leisure and consumption habits, improve quality of life, and provide Ningbo residents with a novel and refreshing park environment for leisure and recreation.

Once the renovation is complete, the “Yaojiang Flower Expo Garden” will embody the characteristics of being public-serving, scenic, educational, and recreational, while still retaining the name Yaojiang Park. At that time, citizens will be able to stroll through the park, admire and purchase a variety of flowers, and learn a great deal about floral art.