Longtousi Park

Longtousi Park

Longtousi Park is a cultural tourism attraction.

Covering an area of 800 acres, Longtousi Park has a core scenic zone of 650 acres and a landscape boulevard spanning 150 acres. The park is surrounded by higher terrain in the middle and lower in the edges, with a height difference of up to 100 meters between its highest and lowest points, making it a valley-type park. Construction began in June 2009, and over time, Longtousi Park has been gradually adjusted and developed into a comprehensive park themed around science, technology, and environmental protection. The park features seven functional zones: the Entrance Landscape Display Area, Science Popularization & Garden Landscape Area, Secluded Valley Wetland Landscape Area, Countryside Floral Sea Landscape Area, Children’s Play Area, Mountain Forest Eco-Recreation Area, and Service & Management Area.

This park, together with the Chongqing Science and Technology Museum, serves as a youth science education base. Under the overall creative concept of “Science Illuminating the Future,” the park ingeniously incorporates multiple science popularization attractions. For instance, at the north entrance, there is a 300-meter-long Science Popularization Art Relief Corridor. The relief images on the corridor are divided into three sections: Epic, Modern, and Future, showcasing China’s remarkable history of scientific and technological development—from the Four Great Inventions to the Shenzhou VII spacecraft. Notably, the construction of Longtousi Park itself fully embodies the themes of science and environmental protection: throwing trash into a bin prompts the bin to thank you with a voice message; an Academician Forest has been planted to promote science and technology culture; lakes and wetlands have been created to form an ecological water circulation system; and park facilities have been made from recycled materials. Longtousi Park is, in itself, a science and technology “museum.” The lake water and irrigation water for greening mainly come from a rainwater collection system. The rainwater is primarily purified naturally by plants, achieving self-cleaning effects through multiple ecological green islands, wetlands, and various aquatic plants within the lake, thereby forming an ecological water circulation system.

Longtousi Park has utilized backfilled high-slope retaining walls to construct a relief corridor over 400 meters long, including a 300-meter-long “Great Is China” Science and Technology Relief Corridor. This corridor focuses on the development of Chinese science and technology, recreating the splendid achievements of Chinese civilization in this field. This winding wall of reliefs depicts the nation’s accomplishments in numerous areas such as agriculture, architecture, medicine, astronomy, calendrics, mathematics, and chemistry—from drilling wood for fire to modern lunar exploration satellites. The sculptures employ a variety of techniques and use changes in light and shadow on the reliefs to create rich layers, delivering an extraordinary visual experience. Despite being “educational,” it is far from boring, often drawing people to stop and comment.

The “Academician Forest” covers 98 acres. At the center of a circular plaza stands a 5-meter-tall natural Three Gorges rock inscribed with the three characters “Academician Forest,” written by Han Qide, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and President of the China Association for Science and Technology. The academicians mostly planted osmanthus trees, and beneath each tree lies a Three Gorges pebble engraved with the name of the academician. You can try to find out which tree was planted by Yang Zhenning and learn about the research focus of the planting academician.

Longtousi Park embodies the essence of “science” everywhere. It features small science, technology, and cultural art installations, along with six sculptures themed around “Clicking on the Future,” “Spring,” “Si Nan,” “Gate of Science,” “Movable Type Printing,” and “Papermaking.” The north gate of the park features a 12.5-meter-long “bamboo slip” carved from white marble, serving as the main entrance sculpture of Longtousi Park. At each entrance of the park, there are stone carvings of the words “Longtousi Park,” inscribed by Fan Daiming, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, vice president of the academy, and a native of Yubei District, Chongqing.

Longtousi Park reflects a simple, graceful, and majestic modern garden style, combining elements of traditional Chinese natural landscape gardens with British pastoral landscaping to create a rich, multi-layered vertical landscape. At the bottom of the valley lies a winding lake, surrounded by floral seas and woods, making it a great spot for citizens to enjoy spring blossoms and autumn foliage. Longtousi Park was preliminarily opened on New Year’s Day 2010 and fully opened in January 2011. Admission is free.