Beijing Dongwu Yuan, the Beijing Zoo, is the oldest and largest zoo in the Asia Pacific area and the world-famous home of the giant pandas. It contains more than 7000 animals, including golden monkeys from Sichuan, yaks from Tibet, sea turtles from the Chinese sea, Manchurian tigers, and snow leopards. The Beijing Zoo is also famous for being the home of zoological research and for housing many rare birds and animals.



Like everything in Beijing, the zoo has a complicated history:

• Originally an imperial manor during the Ming Dynasty (1368 � 1644).
• Plants were cultivated and animals were raised here during the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911).
• It became the Ten Thousand Animal Garden (Wanshengyuan) zoological park in 1908.
• It was destroyed during the Japanese occupation of Beijing (1937-1945).
• After the revolution, it was rebuilt as the West Suburb Park.
• The name was changed to Beijing Zoo in 1955.

Lingling at the Beijing Zoo