Beijing Zoo, situated to the west of Beijing Exhibition Center, was firstly built in 1908 as the Garden of Ten Thousand Animals (Wanshengyuan). After the collapse of the Qing Dynasty, it was reconstructed and was as the Western Suburbs Park (Xijiao Gongyuan). The name was changed to Beijing Zoo officially in 1955.

   

The zoo covers a total area of 90 hectares. The buildings in the Zoo cover an area of more than 50,000 square meters, including the monkey hill, the panda hall, the lion and tiger hill, the elephant hall, the see beast hall, and many others. Altogether there are more than 30 large halls. It has a collection of more than 600 types of animal species and more than 7, 000 populations of animals.

In 1955, the Chinese pandas were exhibited in the zoo, and from then on the pandas became of the highlight of the zoo. It's also a research and breeding center for pandas in the zoo. Scientific research and study work are carried out in the zoo.

For those who don't have a chance to visit Chinese pandas in Chengdu or Chongqing, Beijing Zoo is the best alternative for their visit to pandas.