I took an easy walk at the Guiwan Park of Shenzhen’s Qianhai district today and found it to be surprisingly pleasant.

The Guiwan Park of Qianhai

The Guiwan Park is a slender strip of land allocated as a public park space. The park “wraps around” the Guiwan River (a canal), all the way to its mouth to the Qianhai Bay.

As a long stretch of park space, it features a pleasant walk 1.9 kilometers in length one way.

Water is the central theme for the park. It is the first water corridor park developed in the Qianhai Cooperation Zone. According to descriptions on site:

The park’s green spaces extend along the canal in a three-tiered design that accommodates varying elevations while creating diverse waterfront experience. The lowest terrace features mangrove islands that soften the shoreline and showcase tidal fluctuations… the middle terrace houses freshwater wetland gardens where various aquatic plants purify reclaimed water and collect rainwater. At the highest level, where the park meets the urban area, rain gardens, sunken green spaces… manage rainwater and surface runoff, creating a sustainable and resilient urban park ecosystem.

This description suggests high hopes for the park as envisioned by the urban planning authorities. As a visitor, it was certainly good enough that we had a nice waterfront walk. What got me interested in this park was that in springtime, the flowers that are carefully curated in the flower beds bloom. They create beautiful “rainbow fields.” I did not catch the right season to view the peak of its beauty, but the park had some natural highlights.

There are rows of bald cypress that have turned somewhat red.

The relatively sparse flowers in bushes do present the opportunities for some closeup shots too.

I loved the decorative trees in the lawn.

There was also an instagrammable Curtain Bead Pergola with suspending aerial roots, and that was fun.

Be sure to visit both sides of the canal to enjoy the whole park space. We crossed two bridges to see both shores of the Guiwan River.

A Wonderful Meal after the Guiwan Park

I highly recommend readers to visit the business district of Qianhai to get a feeling of a key developmental project in China’s grand plan for economic growth. Qianhai is an area infused with upper end business vibes. It is meant to be heavy in technology firms and there is a strong finance presence.

Just a brief walk-around shows you plenty of sparkling storefronts. The area is populated with more upscale chains, or the more upscale brands of the common chains. My friend and I sat down for a wonderful “business lunch” at Yizuo Yiwang Yunnan Restaurant (一坐一忘雲南菜) at the Wanxiang Qianhai Mall. I will let the food speak for themselves.

A Few Words about Qianhai

The Qianhai Cooperation Zone is a key strategic development in China’s vision for the Greater Bay Area. With the State Council’s release of the Qianhai Plan (Plan for Comprehensively Deepening the Reform and Opening Up of the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone) in 2021, the Qianhai Cooperation Zone expanded to cover a large area of 120 square kilometers. It is envisioned to develop heavily the services industry in Shenzhen. Needless to say, it aims to leverage the advantages of being close to Hong Kong, which lies southeast of Qianhai Bay across the waters.

Just to note, the Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration is headquartered in Qianhai and it has its own namesake skyscraper (the SCIA Tower) there.

How to Get There

We took the Metro from Lo Wu on Line 1 and then changed to Line 5 to arrive at the Guiwan Station. After exiting the Qianhai Wanxiang Mall, we walked about 15 minutes to the park.

Sources

Descriptions on site at the Guiwan Park.

The Website of the Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration.