Changshu is a city in Jiangsu Province, China. The important wetlands of Shajiabang National Wetland Park, Shanghu Lake National Urban Wetland Park and Nanhu Lake Provincial Wetland Park are part of Changshu City. Shajiabang National Wetland Park is located in Yangcheng District in the south of Changshu City, southeast of Kuncheng Lake and north of Yangcheng Lake. Shajiabang National Wetland Park. After years of restoration from 2009, it has achieved excellent results in wetland conservation. Birds have increased from 89 to 105 species. Wetland water quality is better than class III.

Shanghu National Urban Wetland Park is located on the south side of Yushan Mountain in southwest of Changshu urban area, connecting Yushan Mountain in the north, meeting the Third Ring Road in the south and west, and reaching Taiping Port in the east. The lakes and islands form a unique landscape. There are nearly a hundred bird species inhabiting the island lake. With the protection and restoration of Shanghu Lake, its climate regulation function is increasingly apparent, Changshu summer temperature is lower than the surrounding cities by 1-2 degrees Celsius, for Shanghu Lake plays an important role in regulating regional climate and water conservation, etc. It also plays an important role in maintaining regional ecological balance.

Changshu Nanhu Lake Provincial Wetland Park is located in Yangcheng District in the southwest of Changshu urban area. Nanhu Lake is narrow, meeting Qikong Bridge in the west, the lake inlet of Nanzhuang River in the east, and the ridge of Xianzhuang fish pond in the north and south, with flat terrain and scattered fish ponds in the area and Suzhou-Changshu-Zhangjiagang expressway traversing the area. Main land use types of the park are lakes and ponds, which cover about 59.78% of the entire area. After the completion of the Nanhu Lake Provincial Wetland Park, the typical river wetlands, lake wetlands and marshes have been created, providing a different habitat, and attracting a large number of wetland flora and fauna as habitat, including state-level key protection birds such as milvus migrants and kestrel.

Changshu City takes the lead nationwide to execute five-level wetland conservation system, i.e. National Wetland Park-the provincial wetland park-wetland reserve-municipal important wetland (wetland town)-wetland village (wetland community), explore the characteristic rural wetland construction mode, and have built 123 wetland villages including Zhongjing Village and Xieshui Village. Rural wetland construction model is highly recognized by domestic and foreign experts.

In order to strengthen the leadership of the city’s wetland conservation work, in May 2017, Changshu City established the Wetland Management Committee, to specifically bear the daily work of wetland management. In 2019, due to institutional reform, Changshu Natural Resources and Planning Bureau/Changshu Forestry Bureau was established. Changshu Forestry Bureau is now specifically responsible for wetland-related matters, including wetland conservation, monitoring and management, so as to further protect wetland resources and promote the work of wetland city.

Changshu has a thousand years of Jiangnan water town culture, giving birth to unique classical artistic schools such as Yushan school of painting, Qinchuan schools of poetry and zither, and intangible cultural heritage such as Xupu Fishing Song, Hudian Dragon Boating and Watertown Marriage Customs. For this purpose, Changshu has built the tourism industry into the leading industry, and taken the wetland culture as an important composition of the Plan for Development and Improvement of Cultural Industry.

For many years, Changshu has attached great importance to the popularization and education of wetlands and raised public awareness in wetland conservation. It has vigorously responded to the call from the Ramsar Convention, related to the annual theme for World Wetlands Day, by organizing wetland parks and community residents to carry out colourful and diverse activities for wetland publicity. So far, Changshu has constructed a variety of wetland science publicity and education facilities such as the Changshu Wetland Science Museum, Changshu Wetland Monitoring Center, Shajiabang Wetland Nature School, related research institutes and training bases, which has laid a good foundation for the improvement of the wetland science atmosphere.