Visit to Guilin Seven Star Park

It was a clear spring day. The soft breeze, warm sunshine and aroma of flowers seemed to invite people to go out for a break or just a feel of spring.

I followed the stream of the spring-outing people and arrived at Seven Star Park, which is the largest and most popular park in this city, and which is always crowded with both locals and travelers. And this was particular true that day, when each corner of the park was filled with people. Chinese tourist groups led by tour guides dashed through the park, old people entertained themselves by playing cards in sunshine, parents played with their kids, and lovers sought privacy in the recessed corners.

Flowers in the park were in full blossoms, and the air was filled with an intoxicating frangrance.

The melodious flow of a stream inside the park came soothingly upon my ears. Following the sound, I caught sight of a group of people washing their feet in the stream, at which I felt very disappointed at. The Chinese government had taken a series of measures before the 2008 Olympics in an effort to raise Chinese tourists’ concerns for their appearances, and those measures yielded results in changing people’s bad habits of spitting and littering before Olympics when it was being carried out strictly, however, the outcomes gone soon after the Olympic when the government loosed its policy at this aspect. It seems that Chinese government has a long way to go to teach its people how to behavior properly.

Walking further along the tree-lined path, I reached the rear part of the park, where there is a zoo. My goal was the two giant pandas who settled here last year. Because the panda hall is located at the end of the zoo, so I need to travel through the houses for the other animals. What I saw in the next few minutes in the zoo left me upset for the next few days. I wish I had not visited it at all and I would come to the zoo no more. The living condition of the animals was very poor. They were kept in dirty, small and smelly houses or cages, which is not acceptable to me as an animal lover. Ironically, the zoo serves as an education site for young children. How can they teach kids to love animals while at the same time they are persecuting them at the spot?

I reached the Panda Hall after around 2 hours’ wandering around the park. To my great disappointment, the two pandas were sleeping in their halls, so I missed them.