Beijing Zoo was built at the very site of the Guangshan Temple under imperial order in 1906, and it was initially composed of a zoo, a botanical garden and an experiment farm of agriculture in the Qing dynasty with an area of ​​1.5 hectares, which boasts the earliest zoo that is open to the public in China.

The zoo was called Wansheng Garden (Ten Thousand Animal Garden) in the Qing dynasty and renamed Beijing Western Park in 1950, where a number of rare animals from all different corners of China were collected, including crossbills, redpolls, brambling, waxwings, eagles, turkeys, gray cranes, deer, wolves and leopards. In addition, 48 animals of 10 species from overseas were arrested in the park in February of 1953, including the white bears, the white foxes, American lions and yellow vultures, and Beijing Western Park was officially renamed Beijing Zoo in 1955.

With more and more cultural exchanges between China and the rest of the world, Beijing Zoo plays an important role in the international cultural exchange, where the number of animals has doubled and redoubled since 1970s, and many animals sent by foreign government are often exhibited in Beijing Zoo, including the serows from Japan, the lions from Africa, the flamingos from Chile, the beavers and rhinos from South America, the tapirs from Central America, the gorillas from Malaysia and the cowfishes from Caribbean. At the same time, a number of Chinese rare animals are presented to the US, Japan, France, the Great Britain, Spanish, Nepal, Australia and Sri Lanka by the Chinese government, including giant pandas, red-crowned cranes, white-lipped deer and white swans.

Now Beijing Zoo occupations an area of ​​90 hectares and boasts more than 10,000 animals of 500 species, which receive over 5 million visitors from all over the world each year. Based on the principle of "Developing Education and Protection simultaneously", Beijing Zoo functions as an inviting cards for introducing Beijing to the foreigners, and it's also one of the Key Culture Relic Units under State Protection, National Bases for Science Education and National AAAA- Level Scenic Areas in China.

As time goes by, the former experiment farm of agriculture is not what it used to be, and a number of attractions in Beijing Zoo brings out the best in one another, including birds, beasts, fishes, rockeries, bridges, pavilion, rivers and attics. Now it has become a comprehensive zoo with scientific research, education & protection, culture communication, scientific knowledge propagation, cultural relics and tourism combined as one perfectly, where the children seek their simplicity and the adults seek their long lost interests. Now Beijing Zoo opens its arms to welcome visitors from all over the world.