7 Songjiang tourist sites reopen as lockdown lifted

Left: Tourists enter the Chenshan Botanical Garden; Above: Children ride scooters at the Shanghai Yuehu Sculpture Park.

A black swan attracts a group of tourists at the Chenshan Botanical Garden.

Wang Yingfei and Yang Yang

THE first batch of seven tourist sites in Songjiang District reopened in an orderly manner from June 1 following the lifting of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. They are: Guangfulin Rel-ics Park, Chenshan Botanical Garden, Sheshan National Forest Park, Shanghai Yuehu Sculpture Park, Fangta Park, Zuibai Pond Park and Pujiang River Source Scenic Spot.

At 8:45am on June 1, about 40 tourists, mostly parents with children, queued up outside the No. 1 Gate of Chenshan Botanical Garden.

“Today is International Children’s Day, so I thought of taking my child closer to nature,” said Ding Yuehong, one of the visitors.

Inside the botanical garden, Chinese roses were in full bloom, attracting tourists who got busy taking photographs with their mobiles.

“Currently, the indoor greenhouse and the pit corridor are still closed as are the sightseeing ve-hicles, boats, and some indoor businesses,” said Zhang Zhe, a senior engineer at the garden.

At Yuehu Sculpture Park, some visitors brought along their children or pets as they took a tour.

“Until the end of August, the sculpture park is offering free entry to children under the age of 14,” Zhang Wei, a market manager with the park, revealed.

The park’s entrance is equipped with a digital sentry — a digital device able to check tourists’ health codes, identity cards and polymerase chain reaction test results simultaneously. Visi-tors are advised to avoid crowds and book tickets in advance online.