Annual cherry blossom festival kicks off later this month
Early cherry flowers are already blooming in Gucun Park.
Shanghai's annual Cherry Blossom Festival kicks off on March 15 at Gucun Park in Baoshan District, with online reservations, health codes, masks and temperature checks required for all visitors. The event, which debuted in 2011, runs through April 15.
Visitors are required to register their names and identity card or passport numbers and purchase tickets beforehand via the park's official WeChat account (gucunpark_fwh).
Some cherry flowers have already fully bloomed in the park, which has more than 16,000 cherry trees from 110 different species – the most in the city.
Tickets for adults are 20 yuan (US$3), 10 yuan for students and 16 yuan for people between the ages of 60 and 64. There's no charge for those 65 and over, the physically disabled and medical workers.
Other flowers in the park, such as tulips, orchids, rape flowers and narcissuses, bloom at different times throughout the festival, according to Baoshan officials.
Measures have been put in place to keep the number of visitors within the park's maximum capacity, and authorities have allocated extra parking spaces to accommodate about 6,000 vehicles.
A visitor takes photos of the cherry flowers.
If you go:
Dates: March 15 to April 15
Standard ticket price: 20 yuan
Site: Gucun Park
Address: 4788 Hutai Road
Transportation: Metro Line 7 and 15 (Gucun Park Station)
A visitor soaks in the sun beneath a cherry blossom tree at Gucun Park.
