This holiday, night cherry blossoms and giraffes have become the new top trends. Dominican tourists visiting Shanghai parks are exclaiming that they want to "copy" the experience.

After a stretch of continuous rainy weather, the first day of the Qingming holiday turned bright and beautiful, “activating” residents and tourists’ enthusiasm for outing to see spring scenery and flowers.

Today (April 4), visitor volume at multiple parks across Shanghai exceeded 400,000 people. Among them, Shanghai Qinqi Forest Park had 60k, Chen Shan Botanical Garden had 46k, Expo Cultural Park had 41k, Shanghai Zoo had 26k, Shanghai Botanical Garden had 23k, Shanghai Binjiang Forest Park had 13k, and Guyi Garden had 8,000.

As spring returns to the land, the ancients combined ancestor worship and tomb-sweeping with getting close to nature, giving rise to the custom of going on outings to admire spring. Among these, climbing to higher ground is an important form—people use it to enjoy the scenery of spring hills and wilds and to feel the vibrant, full-of-life atmosphere.

Today, at Expo Cultural Park, 11k residents and tourists climbed to the top of the Twin Peak mountains, taking advantage of the good weather to lean on the railing and look into the distance; from left to right, they captured everything in one sweep, including the Shanghai Grand Theatre, the Shanghai Conservatory and Rose Garden, the Central Lake, the Eleven-Arch Bridge, Shen Garden, the “Four Treasures” of the Shanghai World Expo (“the former Russian Pavilion, the former Luxembourg Pavilion, the former Italian Pavilion, and the former French Pavilion”), the Lupu Bridge, and other buildings or landmarks.

Liu, a woman from Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, said that in her hometown, people have a custom of climbing mountains to pray during the Qingming Festival period. This time she came to Shanghai to travel, and she specifically picked “Shanghai’s No. 1 Mountain” from Xiaohongshu to climb. She was especially impressed by the “meme-worthy” view platform at the mountaintop: “There’s a sign you can use to check in and take photos. At first glance, you think it’s an elevation of 4,800 meters. Look closely and you’ll see there’s a ‘cm’ marker next to it, plus a fun message—‘Meet at the summit, watch out for high-altitude intolerance.’”

Scenery at the summit of the Twin Peak mountains. Photo by Chen Xi Han

April 4, Chen Shan Botanical Garden’s large lawn. Provided by Chen Shan Botanical Garden

Because overall temperatures in March this year were lower than usual, while the Yoshino cherry (Somei Yoshino), which had typically already stepped off the stage during the Qingming holiday in previous years, is currently in full bloom. On top of that, this type of cherry is famously “straightforward”—it withers quickly after blooming. Rather than linger until it’s past its best, it chooses to depart at its most beautiful moment. As a result, the Yoshino cherry has become one of the focal points of residents and tourists’ attention during this year’s Qingming holiday.

To guide residents and tourists to enjoy the cherries at staggered times and get a better viewing experience, parks including Chen Shan Botanical Garden and Gucun Park have launched “night cherry” sessions. Among them, Chen Shan Botanical Garden, starting from March 28, extends its closure time every day until 21:00.

At 16:30 today, Chen Shan Botanical Garden’s “night cherry” session began ticketing. As of 19:00, nearly 2,000 residents and tourists had come specifically for the night cherries, and residents and tourists were continuing to enter the park.

A student from Shanghai University of International Business and Economics who is studying there from Russia, Mai Dongni, said that she has lived in the Songjiang university town for half a year and has been seeing the beautiful cherry-blossom scenery on mobile apps all along. “I didn’t expect the cherry blossoms at night to be even prettier than what people post online! Looks like making an itinerary was the right move—when there are fewer people, the scenery is beautiful, and it feels even more special at this time.”

April 4, Chen Shan Botanical Garden welcomed 46k visitors. Provided by Chen Shan Botanical Garden

Night cherries at Chen Shan Botanical Garden. Photo by Chen Xi Han

Night cherries at Chen Shan Botanical Garden.

Shanghai Zoo is one of the earliest zoos in China to introduce, keep, and breed giraffes. As of 2024, Shanghai Zoo has bred more than 70 juvenile giraffes. Today, many visitors have come specifically for a single little giraffe.

It was born on the night of March 28. The next morning, its height was measured, and it already measured 193 centimeters. But standing alongside its dad, mom, and aunt, it still stood out from the crowd—this kind of “contrast cuteness” quickly made it go viral on social platforms.

In recent years, careful nurturing and successful promotion have helped Shanghai Zoo produce a batch of “animal internet celebrities,” such as the brown bear “Junjun,” nicknamed “Xijiao Daffy,” and the top-tier Bengal tiger “Hongtang.”

When a group of animals became popular, residents and tourists’ expectations for related creative souvenirs soared. In response, Shanghai Zoo opened a creative souvenir store. As of last year, Shanghai Zoo and three partner companies had opened four creative souvenir stores. The best-selling items were the “Junjun” plush toy and the “Hongtang” refrigerator magnet sticker, with cumulative sales of over 10,000 units.

A little giraffe’s smile “instantly tops” social platforms.

It went for a walk with its mother on the second day after being born. Photo source: Shanghai Zoo

“Sloppy Bear” creative souvenirs—this deliberately unpolished “sloppy” vibe struck the hearts of many people. Photo source: Shanghai Zoo

The rising popularity of green park spaces in Shanghai helped promote the integration of projects in cultural, commercial, travel, and sports exhibition events, achieving a win-win for both residents and tourists and related industries.

Today, on the second day of opening its flagship store “Shangzhi Impression” inside Shanghai Botanical Garden, customers poured in. In particular, the seasonal limited-edition products—two embroidered refrigerator magnet stickers, “Baohua Yulan” and “Global Ding Xin Lan” (Chunlan)—are especially popular.

Martin is the finance supervisor of a botanical garden in the Dominican Republic. Seeing the wide variety of plant-themed creative souvenirs, he was very surprised: “I love visiting botanical gardens in every place. I think there are many methods here that are worth learning from. Can you open this store in the botanical garden in the Dominican Republic as well?”

After leaving his business card with the staff, Martin repeatedly confirmed: “You must send me an email! Looking forward to future cooperation!”

Global ecological deterioration is intensifying the crisis facing plant survival. About 10% to 20% of China’s plant species are under threat. As a “plant ark” within the process of urbanization, Shanghai Botanical Garden has relocated and preserved more than 300 species of rare and endangered plants. However, public awareness still has a clear shortcoming—fewer than one quarter of people can accurately name a threatened plant species.

“To both know how to protect and how to tell stories.” Zhang Shoufeng, deputy director of Shanghai Botanical Garden, said that the creative souvenir store has built a brand-new ecosystem science popularization platform. It extends ecosystem science popularization from on-site viewing into cultural products that people can touch, take home, and share, broadening the coverage and influence of education on ecological civilization. In the future, the benefits generated by this creative souvenir store will also feed back into work such as the park’s scientific research and protection, plant conservation, and science public-welfare initiatives—turning the enjoyment of a visit into both traffic and “retained attention,” and helping thrive consumption and the economy in Shanghai.

Customers pour into the “Shangzhi Impression” flagship store located in Building 1 of the North Area of Shanghai Botanical Garden. Photo by Chen Xi Han

After leaving his business card with the staff, Martin repeatedly confirmed: “You must send me an email! Looking forward to future cooperation!” Photo by Chen Xi Han

Customers pour into the “Shangzhi Impression” flagship store located in Building 1 of the North Area of Shanghai Botanical Garden. Provided by Shanghai Botanical Garden