Shanghai's largest wetland forest park in the city has opened to the public at Paotaiwan in Wusong area of Baoshan District.

 

With a two-kilometer waterfront along the Yangtze River and about 50 hectares of wetlands, the forest park will be open every day between 5am and 7pm. Entrance costs five yuan (66 US cents).

 

The park is part of ambitious plans to redevelop Baoshan's riverside parks where the Huangpu River meets the Yangtze, officials revealed yesterday.

 

Over the next few years, 285 hectares with a riverside of 8.5 kilometers will be developed into a recreation and entertainment complex, turning historic factories into museums and restaurants.

 

"We want to build the area into an entertainment complex featuring both water and history," Chen Youhua, a senior engineer of Shanghai Urban Planning Administrative Bureau, said yesterday.

 

Bureau officials are selecting candidate designs for the entire area. It is expected that a blueprint will be completed by the end of October.

 

According to a preliminary plan, Linjiang Park will be expanded and a batch of ferry stations will be built to berth pleasure boats. The city also plans to build signature sculptures along the waterfront of the Yangtze River.

 

Most buildings of the century-old Shanghai No. 8 Textile Factory will be kept and redesigned into restaurants a museums, and heritage homes, stores and teahouses will also be saved.

 

(Shanghai Daily September 3, 2007)