Purple Horse Hill Park is located in the south of Zhongshan 3rd Road, covering an area of 88.5 hectares. The Municipality of Zhongshan invested 160 thousand RMB yuan in the building of this park in 1992 and it was open to tourists on the National Day of 1993.
Purple Horse Hill is very time-honored and the once famous “Lotuses and Water Caltrops of Celestial Lake,” one of the “Xiangshan Eight Scenic Spots” was situated here. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, many descendants of the rich and noble families used it as a haunt for horse race and entertainment. It is said that a very famous horse was buried here then, from which the name of the hill comes.
Purple Horse Hill Park is characterized by its combination of natural and artificial scenes, providing a place of pleasure for visitors while remaining friendly to ecology. There are altogether 13 gardens and a big zone for birds. During the vacations, holidays, and exhibitions, performances are put on show. Just inside the gate greeting your eyes is the bronze statue of “Galloping Purple Horse,” symbolizing the economic take-off of Zhongshan City, before which is an artificial fountain of 70 meters in length. The fountain takes different colorful forms when evening falls, splashy water columns are in change for various shapes. The giant stainless steel ball shaped like a lotus flower is a good place to take pictures, and the best sight in the whole park.
Walking in the park, you may be led into a different scene by each step. The well-rounded design of this park makes every scene take different form of attraction, keeping your eyes fully occupied. The artificial hills, stone scenes, and stone walls of various forms have been inscribed famous verses and maxims by distinguished poets in the Garden of Inscriptions. In the Garden of Flowers, fragrant scents are drifting in the sky in the four seasons, and the flowers and plants rival to show their beauty to the travelers. In the Chinese New-Year time, a Garden of Peach Blossoms add more touch of verdant spring to the park. Besides the Garden of Peach Blossoms, we have the Garden of Bamboo Grove, the Garden of Pleasant Interests, the Garden of Sculptures and Statues, the Garden for Summer, the Garden for Fall, and the Garden for Winter. You may go sightseeing to the lotus flowers in the Land of Avalokitesvara, take a stroll on the curved bridges, or linger by the ripples of the lake to take in the fragrance of the lotus flowers to refresh yourself. The Children’s Fun Fair of over 40 mu provides a variety of fun facilities for kids. The Viewing Pavilion on the top of the hill enables you to command the whole scenes of the park and even to see the entirety of Zhongshan City.
The Jade garden is a paradise for the ombrophytes, gathering over 200 Chinese and foreign plants, of which many are China’s first-class protected plants such as spinulose tree ferns, begonias, agaves, winebottle lily magnolias, and other precious plants.
The Chirping Valley is a place you have good reason to go to. Chirping Valley is a big bird zone developed by experts who took advantage of the natural environment. Here nearly 8,000 birds of over 100 varieties are kept, including red-crowned cranes, white-necked cranes, white cranes, gray cranes, white swans, white storks, black storks, silver pheasants, peacocks, mandarin ducks, pelicans, and yellow-stomached tragopans. Books of Poems says, “A bird chirps for friends.” The name of this valley originates from this line. Covering 5.1 hectares, the valley is located in the south of Purple Horse Park, composed of “Little Tourist Garden” and “Garden for Human-Bird Pleasures.”
“Little Tourist Garden” is in front of ” Garden for Human-Bird Pleasures”, covering 2 hectares. The garden boasts rivaling flowers and verdant green lands, constituting a background to “Garden for Human-Bird Pleasures” and a good place for a rest.
In the corridor of birds of the garden, you may be lucky enough to watch the natural performances by the rare raptors, and birds with special skills. The mandarin ducks are frolicking, the pheasants strolling, the white storks stretching their wings, the yellow birds singing to one another, the unique stones demonstrating to the passengers, and the clusters of flowers are in vibrant bloom. On the performance stage, the birds are rivaling to perform. The peacocks are opening their beautifully giant wings, the thrushes perching in tress, and the maynahs and the parrots imitating human speeches to demonstrate their skills.
Past “Little Tourist Garden” is “Garden for Human-Bird Pleasures”. This garden is 120 by 70 meters, supported by 19 steel pillars ranging from 15 meters to 20 meters high. Its structure is made up of suspended cables with its top and sides covered with stainless steel networks. In the zone, besides the tourist walks, there are also trestles for tourists to view the birds from different perspectives, high and low.