Urban forests — a unique resource for crea
The sudden appearance of a bearded goat gave me a start as I was exploring a rural forest path in a lake area in west Shanghai on a winter afternoon last week.
I hadn’t expected to encounter a lone goat a stray goat indeed as I learned later along the metaled path flanked by big trees, small shrubs and wild grass. After all, the path is part of an accessible forest which has taken shape only recently to give people more recreational space in the bosom of nature. It is not a farm path.
The goat stared me straight in the eye, a long piece of grass hanging from its shut mouth. Before I could get closer, it darted away at a leisurely gait to keep a safe distance from me.
Out of curiosity, I backstepped and hid myself behind a small office building before I quickly and quietly emerged on the far side to confront the animal again. Seeing that I was making faces at it, the goat apparently “thought” for a second and then turned around and pattered away from me again.
We repeated the hide-and-seek game for several rounds, and the goat got an upper hand each time by dodging me effectively while grazing on the grassland at ease.
In the past, I had met and fed sheep on my field tours in different villages. They all came toward me in earnest to see if I had food for them. One sheep, I remember, ate many leaves from my hands, not a bit afraid of me.
When I was wondering why this lone goat was different, a man’s high-pitched voice broke the silence at a distance and caught me off guard. I turned around and saw a middle-aged man driving a moped toward the goat, yelling and waving at it all the way. In no time, the goat fled and disappeared into the dense forest.
“Is it your goat? Why did you drive it away?” I asked the man, who was panting from speed driving.
“It’s not mine, it’s from a neighboring farmer,” the man replied with a grin. “It comes every day, and I have to drive it away each time I see it, otherwise it may even bump into the window of our office building.”
Now I understood in the eyes of the goat, the grass was indeed greener on the other side. The man, who helps maintain the scenic spot in the now accessible forest, explained that many types of grass had been planted recently to create a biodiverse environment, which naturally attracted nearby sheep.
When I visited the lake area a few months ago, the forest was not yet accessible, as there was no pedestrian path to cut through the grand groves. Grass was not yet plentiful or varied, either. But this time I found that more pedestrian paths were being built deeper into the forest.
The story of a stray goat in search of lush grass in a scenic spot attests to Shanghai’s efforts over the past three years to reinvigorate an erstwhile lackluster landscape on its western outskirts. The place where I met the goat is inside a 6.2-kilometer-long lakeside area, many parts of which used to be segregated, dilapidated and closed to the public.
After a three-year effort, this area in suburban Qingpu District, around Yuandang Lake, which borders Wujiang District of Suzhou City in Jiangsu Province, became basically accessible by August.
A recent report by The Paper, a leading Shanghai-based news portal, said about 7 kilometers of pedestrian paths had been added by the end of last year, while the forest area had been expanded or otherwise improved.
Doses of sunlight
At the same time, the 16.8-kilometer-long lakeside area on the Wujiang side has also been spruced up to become an accessible forest land. When I explored the Wujiang part of the lakeside area in October, I met a group of senior cyclists who had ridden all the way from Shanghai’s Songjiang District. They said they started from Songjiang early in the morning and would pass through the forest in Wujiang before returning home at dusk.
One cyclist was in his 70s but looked much younger, with a suntanned face and a nimble readiness in mind and body. He said he had won several top prizes in Shanghai’s triathlons, including those held in Jinshan District.
“You’re younger but you have more gray hair than us. But don’t worry, expose yourself more to nature and you will be better. This is one of the best urban cycling routes I’ve ever seen, and you could walk or ride here for a day to get the maximum benefit of sunlight and fresh air,” he told me.
His candid advice to a stranger reminded me of an article published in March on ScienceDirect, a world-leading website for scientific literature. The article by scholars from Shanghai Jiao To University of Hong Ko forests afford opport connect and interact in multiple ways, whic to a positive physiolog populations.
“Many empirical stu ducted to test the ph different activities per est settings, ranging fr (such as taking a walk sport games), social in laxing, meeting or cha nature-related activiti plants/animals, exper article said.
In short, it conclude action with nature inh has been widely recog component of visitor being, and the positive contact with urban for ological performance h to a considerable exten
That brings us to Sh to “introduce forests in ficial statistics showed expand its forest area hectares) last year, fol about 50,000 mu in 20 forests are being made lic. A forest will “walk people can walk into it
Not just the forests a but those near my subu opened to the public. unveiled the first batch with Fangxia Village at of them. In the village, which I could not ent ago is accessible now, w paths taking shape.
Also near my hom home to an archeolog ing Shanghai’s histor years ago. Now the
ong University and the ong noted that urban tunities for people to t with diverse nature ch consequently leads gical impact on urban
... expose yourself more to nature and you will be better. This is one of the best urban cycling routes I’ve ever seen, and you could walk or ride here for a day to get the maximum benefit of sunlight and fresh air.
udies have been conhysiological effects of rformed in urban forrom physical exercises k, performing various nteractions (such as reatting with friends) to ies (such as watching riencing nature),” the
ed: “Contact and interhabiting urban forests gnized as a beneficial rs’ physiological welle relationship between orests and good physihas been demonstrated nt.” hanghai’s master plan nto the city.” Earlier ofd that Shanghai would a by 40,000 mu (2,666 llowing an increase of 022. Meanwhile, more e accessible to the publk into” the city when t. along Yuandang Lake, burban home are being . Last week, Shanghai h of 47 “forest villages,” my doorstep being one , a vast riverside forest ter just a few months with zigzag pedestrian
me is Songze Village, gical museum recordry from about 6,000 ancient village has opened its dense forest of firs.
“It was inaccessible before,” a middle-aged woman in the village told me. “Now I come here for half an hour’s exercise almost every day.”
An accessible forest has more to offer beyond just sunlight, fresh air and social communication. It may revive your childhood memories long lost in the hustle and bustle of urban life.
When I ambled in a newly opened rural forest in Dongshe Village, located near Zhejiang Province, a vendor’s vehicle and voice immediately took me back to my childhood days in the 1970s when life was simpler. The wares she was hawking were so familiar to me, like pillow sheets and vermicelli, which often spiced up my simpler life when I was a child.
In many ways, rural open forests are a unique resource Shanghai can tap into when it comes to creating a better city for the people.
Last week, local media in Shanghai reported that Qingpu District’s 6.2-kilometer-long biodiverse belt along Yuandang Lake has been selected as a model of the people’s city.