Beijing has built 615 city parks by the end of 2018, of which 576 are ticket-free, according to the Beijing Municipal Forestry and Parks Bureau. Together they receive 300 million visits annually in recent years.

Before the 1980s, parks were a rarity in Beijing, especially excluding historical heritages such as the Summer Palace and Yuyuantan Park. Most of the recently built parks were located in central areas of the city, requiring day trips for visitors from the suburbs. When it came to the 1980s, parks would appear in some residential areas, such as Gucheng Park, Sculpture Park, and Amusement Park in Shijingshan district. 

Since the turn of the century, however, urban parks began springing up more frequently. In 2007, Beijing started the construction of a park belt between Fourth Ring and Fifth Ring Roads. In 2009, the project of 11 new town riverside forest parks was initiated. In 2012, the million-mu afforestation project was launched by the municipal government, and a group of large-scale parks were built. Meanwhile, public facilities such as green lanes have also been built across rivers or forests to help people exercise outdoors. 

Many of the 615 parks were built in Beijing in the past decade. Parks that used to charge admissions also started to gradually abolish the fees. In 2006, 12 parks including Zizhuyuan, Nanguan, Rending Lake, Red Scarf, Ritan, and Tuanjiehu, shut down their ticket counters. Only 39 parks in the city are still charging for tickets, including the Summer Palace, Zhongshan Park, Jingshan Park, Beijing Zoo, and Beijing Botanical Garden. 

With the government's efforts to phase out Beijing's non-capital functions, small and micro green spaces, pocket parks, and Hutong micro gardens have also popped up around the city's central areas. These green spaces built on land vacated by the demolition of illegal structures have not only increased the green area of the city, but also improved the surrounding environment for local residents.

In 2019, more than 30 new ticket-free city parks are set to appear in the districts of Fengtai, Shijingshan, Changping, Tongzhou, Dongcheng, and Chaoyang. It is estimated that the coverage of parks and green spaces within a 500-meter radius of residential areas will be increased from 80% of last year to 83% by the end of this year.

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