Caozhou Ancient & Modern Garden

Opening Hours: 8:00 – 17:00 Ticket Price: 10 RMB Contact Number: 0530-5520500 Address: No.1000 Renmin Road, Mudan District, Heze City Best Visiting Period: The ideal travel season for Ancient & Modern Garden runs from late March to early May every year. Due to climate warming over the past two years, peonies generally bloom earlier, with the best viewing window falling in early to mid-April. Visitors fond of herbaceous peonies may come from late April to around May to admire them. Complaint Hotline: 0530-5310803

Take Bus No.3 or No.19 to reach Caozhou Ancient & Modern Garden.

Located in Wanglizhuang Village, Mudan Sub-district of Heze City, Caozhou Ancient & Modern Garden evolved from the garden of Wanhua Village dating back to the Ming Dynasty. It was officially established in 1958 and reconstructed with government funding in 1982, hence the name "Ancient & Modern Garden".

The garden mainly cultivates tree peonies, alongside a variety of flowering shrubs, and is especially famous for its artfully pruned pine and cypress topiaries, locally known as pine sculptures. Pine sculpture is a traditional craft of local farmers, whereby pine and cypress branches are woven and shaped into artistic forms such as city gate towers, memorial archways, lions and tigers. The grand pine-sculpted memorial archway Zisong Arch inside the garden boasts a history of over 200 years, still retaining distinct outlines and vibrant vitality.

Spanning more than 50 mu, the garden houses over 300 varieties of tree peonies, plus a hundred rare flowering shrubs including herbaceous peonies, wintersweet and rosa xanthina. Wanglizhuang Village has maintained a long-standing tradition of flower cultivation since ancient times. The garden’s signature highlight remains its pine and cypress topiary craft. Skilled weaving creates vivid, lifelike sculptures of towers, archways, lions and tigers.

The iconic Zisong Arch, crafted entirely from pine, stands over 200 years old. It features exquisite craftsmanship and a magnificent, elegant silhouette, making it an unparalleled landscape feature. Other notable specimens include century-old Chinese pagoda trees with twisted, gnarled branches that form a unique natural scene. The butterfly-like tree blossoms in spring; its receptacles transform into butterfly-shaped structures in autumn, with countless thread-like branches resembling dangling butterflies — a truly extraordinary sight. Over 100 years of age, lush green blue spruces create soft mist-like canopies. There is also a thread cypress more than 200 years old, the only one of its kind north of the Yangtze River.