Gucun Park's lotus festival starts Monday

GUCUN Park in Shanghai’s northern Baoshan District will hold a lotus festival, to run from Monday until August 28.

The park has 200,000 square meters of lotus cultivation areas with 28 varieties of lotus, some of them rare, making it one of the top destinations to appreciate lotus flowers in the city, according to Zhang Zhong, the park’s director.

Some lotus can reach 2 meters in diameter, while others can be as small as a child’s fist, and the flowers appear in various colors, Zhang said.

A full blossom of the lotus is expected in late July and will last for at least a month. “As a highlight, the park operator has introduced over 40 rare species that are planted in large jars near the No.2 entrance of the park,” Zhang told Shanghai Daily.

The Lotus Pavilion and a wooden causeway are considered the best viewing spots. Lotus is a symbol of purity and peace in Chinese culture.

A record number of over 430,000 visitors flocked to the park for its cherry blossom festival during the three-day holiday for the Qingming Festival from April 2 to 4.