Xixi Wetland: Hangzhou's National Wetland Park

A wetland inside the city

Xixi takes its name from the Xixi river, and was once spoken of with West Lake and Xiling as Hangzhou's "three Xi". It is a secondary wetland — shaped by people as much as by nature — where about 70% of the park is water: six rivers crossing one another, side channels, lakes, marsh and fish ponds laid out like fish scales. More than 100 bridges cross the water within its 11.3 km², and the park is divided into a protected eastern zone, a central zone for visitors and a western zone closed off for landscape recovery.

Three long dykes carry footpaths across it: the Fu Dyke, 2.3 km from south to north across the whole park over six bridges whose names all contain fu, "good fortune"; the Green Dyke, 1.6 km from east to west between fish ponds; and the Shou Dyke, at 3.6 km the longest.

From royal retreat to national park

People have lived around Xixi since the Neolithic; at its widest the historical wetland covered some 60 km². In the Southern Song it was a royal hunting ground and garden, in the Ming and Qing dynasties a place of private gardens, and for centuries its villagers raised silkworms and fish. Late in the 20th century the city spread into it: ponds were filled for houses and fish farms, factories moved in, and the water fell below grade V, the lowest on China's scale.

A protection project began in September 2003. More than 4,000 households were rehoused nearby, and the park opened in stages: the first area on 30 April 2005, the second — with Gaozhuang, the Green Dyke and a wetland botanical garden — in September 2007, and the western area in September 2008. About 300 former residents now work in the park as guides, drivers and boatmen. A city regulation in force since 1 June 2022 fixes the park's boundaries and bans discharging waste water, hunting wild animals and unauthorised tree felling inside it.

Water, plants and birds

Since the restoration the water has improved to grade II, and the park counts 696 kinds of vascular plants — 475 more than before it opened. Five ecological reserve areas are set aside, with bird hides at several of them; a 2024 survey recorded 89 bird species, nearly half of all the species known in Hangzhou.

Village traditions

Xixi keeps customs from its farming past. Each year at the Dragon Boat Festival, village boats from all around gather at Shentankou for a dragon boat meeting; bamboo flower baskets have been woven here for about 150 years; and the park holds persimmon, lotus, dragon boat and Mid-Autumn festivals through the year. Its own ten scenes include reeds like flying snow in autumn and red persimmons reflected in the water.

Visiting

• Getting there: Metro Line 3 to Xixi Wetland South station (exit A, about 300 m to the main Zhoujiacun entrance) or Line 19 to Xixi Wetland North station (about 800 m to the north gate).
• Hours (as published): 8:30–18:30 from April to October and 8:30–17:30 from November to March, with last tickets an hour before closing.
• One ticket, two areas: since 2020 a day ticket admits once to both the eastern and western areas; only the Zhoujiacun entrance has gates for both.
• Getting around: on foot along the dykes, by electric cart or by rowed boat.

Xixi makes a contrast with the open, much-visited West Lake: flat, green and quiet, and at its most striking in autumn when the reeds turn white.