CHINA TRAVEL · trisAino
Shanghai's oldest living tree has a park built around it
In Jiading district, a 1,200-year-old ginkgo anchors a garden designed after Tang Dynasty poetry paintings — and late autumn is the season to see it.
One tree, twelve centuries
Most parks are designed around a view, a lake, or a stretch of open ground. Millennium Ginkgo Park in Shanghai's Jiading district was designed around a single tree. The park is a cultural garden built around what is catalogued as Shanghai's "No 0001" ancient ginkgo — the city's oldest living tree.
The ginkgo is more than 1,200 years old. It stands 24.5 metres tall, its trunk measures 6.5 metres around, and its canopy spreads roughly 20 metres wide. Those numbers are easier to feel than to picture — until you're standing beneath it and the scale registers overhead.
A garden drawn from Tang Dynasty poetry
The park around the tree isn't a simple green buffer. Its design draws on a series of 100 paintings based on the poetry of Tang Dynasty (618–907) poet Du Fu, created by Jiading painter Lu Yanshao. That literary starting point shapes eight Tang-style themed scenes, including Quzhu Garden, Qiushui Pavilion, and Guanyun Terrace.
A walking route threads these classical features together — passing Yanyun Island, Qianfu Corridor, and Duiyue Pavilion — before arriving at the central ginkgo grove. The effect is less botanical garden, more illustrated scroll you happen to be walking through.
If you're interested in classical Chinese garden design, the Tang-era references here are worth noting — many of Shanghai's well-known gardens lean on later Ming and Qing styles, so the aesthetic may feel noticeably different.
Keeping a 1,200-year-old tree alive
The park maintains a dedicated protection zone of 1,329.97 square metres around the ancient ginkgo. A smart monitoring system tracks soil conditions, ambient temperature, and humidity in real time to support the tree's long-term preservation.
It's a quiet reminder that the garden was shaped around the tree, not the other way round — conservation came first, and the park grew outward from it.
Timing the trip and getting there
Late November to early December is listed as the best viewing season — the window when the ginkgo foliage turns its deepest gold.
The park is at No 230 Taihai Road, Guangming village, Anting town, Jiading district — well outside central Shanghai.
By public transport, take Metro Line 11 to Shanghai Circuit Station, then transfer to Bus Jiading 123 and get off at Guyinxing Gongyuan (Ancient Ginkgo Park) Station.
The journey from central Shanghai is substantial, so consider pairing the visit with other stops in Jiading rather than treating it as a quick detour.