“Where are the monkeys? Can you see them, mummy?” asks an excited child visiting Hongshan Zoo in Nanjing, eastern China. The zoo’s unusual design and goals have attracted attention online, and a flood of visitors, who may find spotting the animals harder than they expected.
The zoo tries to mimic the natural environment of its animals. Sometimes, that means they hide in thick undergrowth, or take a nap in a quiet corner, and the tourists go home “empty-handed”, but not necessarily disappointed. “It’s not like you’re visiting a zoo,” says one online commenter. “It’s like visiting the animals at home.”
With public awareness of environmental and conservation issues perceived to be on the rise in China, some of its zoos are transforming. What were once venues for entertaining the public now increasingly work to educate their visitors and conserve nature. Hongshan Zoo’s success may provide others with inspiration. It was the first zoo to stop showing performing animals and feeding experiences, in favour of a focus on animal welfare and education, yet it still draws in the crowds.
The viral zoo
Hongshan Forest Zoo is the only self-funded public zoo in a Chinese provincial capital. Despite being government-owned, it covers all expenses using its own income. That may sound precarious – what if admission revenues fall? – but it also means more freedom for zoo managers. Currently, 85% of the zoo’s income comes from ticket sales, at CNY 40 (USD 5.50) each.
The zoo’s online success started on China’s Yixi platform, which broadcasts educational talks. In 2020, the zoo lost over CNY 30 million (USD 4 million; about 40% of the zoo’s average income). Yixi featured the zoo’s director, Shen Zhijun, who joked: “They said there would be ‘revenge travel’ after the pandemic. Well, I’ve waited three months and hardly anyone’s come to take revenge on me.” His quip went viral, and the internet responded by granting Shen his wish.
When they walked through the gates, visitors were not met with the zoo experience of their childhoods. Performances and feeding opportunities had been replaced by extra information panels. The animals weren’t pacing back and forth in enclosures of steel and concrete. In fact, they seemed to have been granted some privacy.
A girl observes an capybara through a glass window in a zoo
A capybara enclosure at Hongshan Zoo, which works hard to mimic the natural environment of its animals (Image: Niu Yuhan / Dialogue Earth)
In an interview with China Central Television published in 2024, Chen Chuanwu, a life sciences professor at Nanjing University, explained: “At Hongshan, you’ll find the paths for visitors are narrow, while the animals have plenty of living space. It’s more like their natural habitat, so they display more of their natural behaviour.” Shen Zhijun’s viral clip earned Hongshan a rush of attention, but the zoo’s lasting success has been built on a determination to respect and prioritise its animals.
Dialogue Earth consulted the zoo’s deputy head, Bai Yali. She says zoos are typically built around solo exhibits of big animals – elephants, lions, tigers and so on – to draw in visitors. Now, Hongshan’s exhibits are starting to focus on ecosystems or educational themes. In 2021 for example, Hongshan opened a local species conservation zone, educating visitors on the animals found in and around Nanjing.
The most effective form of education is one that starts with caring
Faye Lu, WildBound
The local species exhibit is not big, but it covers a range of ecosystems: fields, lakes, mountain forests, and wetlands. Small areas of crops, such as sponge gourds, have been planted in the fields and fertilised with composted kitchen waste. No pesticides are applied, allowing insects to get busy pollinating. Once mature, the crops are fed to the animals.
The zone is at pains to depict typical wild habitats, as Bai Yali explains: “With the beauty rat snake [Elaphe taeniura], our designers opted to create a stovetop. These snakes often appear on the tops of stoves in villages, as they like the residual heat. We also provide their favourite food, mice. Here, we want to create those links with everyday life, to draw attention to the links between humans and animals and ecosystems.”
From entertainment to education
Between the 1950s and 1970s, zoos were set up in China’s major cities for entertainment purposes. Often, they were little more than fenced-off areas in city parks that came to be known as “park zoos”.
Over time, these animal enclosures would grow to become attractions in their own right. However, there were numerous failings in their design. Animals were typically housed in concrete and steel cages, or behind thick glass, in spaces that were too small and bare. In such environments, animals may display unusual, repetitive behaviours. A video made the news in 2021 of an elephant pacing back and forth, tossing its head and trunk, at northern China’s Taiyuan Zoo.
Animal welfare issues in China’s zoos go beyond poorly designed enclosures. Animal performances are still common, to attract visitors and boost profits. However, the public’s awareness of these issues has been growing. For example, a campaign to rescue an elephant named Molly gained widespread attention online in 2022. For years, Molly had been forced to perform in Henan province by handlers using iron hooks. The campaign ultimately led to the animal’s reunion with her mother.
Giraffes in a zoo
Giraffes at Hongshan Forest Zoo. Since 2011, many public zoos in cities such as Nanjing, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, and Fuzhou have successively cancelled animal performances (Image: Niu Yuhan/Dialogue Earth)
In 2010, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development published guidance on better zoo management. It criticised animal performances and said these practices harmed conservation efforts and could result in animal deaths or injuries to humans. The guidance ordered an immediate halt to all such performances. In 2013, the ministry doubled down in a new document regarding the development of the zoo sector, again forbidding animal performances.
Hongshan Zoo was reportedly the first to cancel such performances, in 2011. Zoos in many other cities, including Shanghai, Hangzhou, Guangzhou and Fuzhou, have since followed suit. Three years later, Hongshan also stopped offering animal-feeding experiences.
The ministry’s instructions apply only to the public city zoos it oversees; aquariums and wildlife parks are not covered. Moreover, the ministry has no power of enforcement. This is why the perception persists that some zoos in China exploit animals for profit.
Whether or not zoos should exist is an eternal debate. Historically, the four pillars of modern zoos are conservation, education, research and recreation. Some researchers believe animal wellbeing should become the fifth.
Bai Yali says improving enclosures and stopping animal performances have the same aim: to rethink the role of a zoo, by putting the animals first. She thinks a zoo should be a venue for educating people, creating a link between people and the natural world.
a flamingo preens its feathers by the pool in a zoo
A flamingo preens its feathers by the pool. These birds mainly feed on algae, shrimps, clams and insect larvae in the water. Many areas in Hongshan Zoo are centred around ecosystems and nature education (Image: Niu Yuhan/Dialogue Earth)
The rise of education
In China, zoos began assuming an educational role relatively late.
In June 2006, Chengdu Zoo held the first Academy for Conservation Training event in China. Over 40 workers from 28 Chinese zoos and conservation bodies received professional training, led by the Zoo Atlanta Conservation Education Division from the US. By 2008, this academy programme had produced 161 graduates across 42 different Chinese zoos and wildlife parks, jointly representing over 40 million annual visitors.
The education takes place in a range of ways. For example, information panels, live explanations from zookeepers during feeding time, or themed events such as the annual Orangutan Caring Week, which Hongshan Zoo takes part in. The sustainability education group WildBound has worked with the zoo to provide information on sustainable palm oil during these events.
“Zoos are becoming more interesting, more lively and more immersive, with greater opportunities for learning and exchange,” says Faye Lu, WildBound’s chief impact officer. She tells Dialogue Earth that visitors are more likely to feel a connection with orangutans – and potentially take action to protect them – if they see one playing happily: “The most effective form of education is one that starts with caring.”
“Zoo education work isn’t just about increasing total knowledge,” says Bai Yali. “More important is bringing about behaviour change. A zoo’s fundamental aim is to make visitors interested in animals, fond of animals, and concerned about their plight in the wild and the challenges they face.”
a young visitor reads about the leopard cat in a zoo
A young visitor reads about the leopard cat. Adults have also shown interest in learning, with Hongshan Zoo opening courses in its nature school tailored to them (Image: Niu Yuhan / Dialogue Earth)
Gauging the value of this work is difficult. The effectiveness of education seems to depend on how the zoo designs its events and exhibits, and how often someone visits a zoo.
So far, there has not been much research into this for Chinese zoos. Based on her years of experience, Bai Yali thinks longer-term educational courses are more likely to help people make the necessary shift (from an emotional response, to understanding, to action) than strolling around a zoo. In 2021, Hongshan created the first nature education school to be set up inside a zoo: Natural Land. Designed to bring about behaviour change, the courses on offer range from one day to a week.
Recommended
The zoo’s 2023 self-evaluation put customer satisfaction for its research and study activities at 99%. Bai Yali has also received plenty of positive feedback: high school students have said they were inspired to apply to study conservation or environmental subjects at university; parents have reported their children returning from summer camp and tearing their paper napkins in half at dinnertime, to reduce waste.
There has also been a gradual uptick in the number of nature school attendees aged 18-26. This cohort accounted for 39% of attendees in 2023, up from 15% in 2022. Hongshan Zoo has responded by opening more classes designed for adults.
Alongside conservation education, the zoo is also introducing climate-change-related initiatives. Solar-powered phone chargers are available at rest points. The coffee is low carbon, made from local beans to reduce transportation emissions, and dispensed from solar-powered machines. The spent coffee grounds are then used as fertiliser.
These are all small things, but they give Bai Yali hope. “Education like this doesn’t happen overnight, nor is it something a single zoo can do alone. Protecting animals and nature will require more widespread changes in values.”