Thanks again everybody who helped me with the info about this zoo!
Finding the place, and then getting back from it to Chengdu was a little difficult. Currently the zoo is in Shifang, about 1 h north of Chengdu, and on the Didi app it is called Zanhuayuan (Guoxue Boutique Zoo). Entrance is through a larger theme park or recreation area to the west of the zoo proper.
It is, indeed, a mediocre zoo or animal shelter (but is it really worse than some shelters in Europe?). Worth visiting only for several local species not found in European zoos. It contains large cages for carnivores and primates, small cages for rodents, herps and domestic animals, a waterfowl pond, and some small paddocks / stables for local ungulates, ratites and domestic animals.I put photos in the gallery.
Partial species list (I forgot some domestics and common species):
Herps:
Chinese giant salamander (2, in a darkened concrete tank)
Toad sp.
Corn snake
Birds:
Ostrich
Emu
Double-wattled cassowary
Greylag goose
Bean goose (presumably Middendorf's)
Common shoveler
Falcated duck
Eurasian wigeon
Ferruginous duck
Common pochard
Chinese bamboo partridge
Great cormorant (about 3)
White pelican
Common crane
White-naped crane
East Siberian gull (presumably this form, one pinioned individual)
Eurasian eagle-owl (1, presumably local Bubo bubo kiautschensis)
Great hornbill (one)
Wreathed hornbill
Crested myna (one)
East Asian grey heron (one)
Little egret (one)
Spotted dove (at least 2 pairs)
Grey parrot
A number of common parrot species in a shared aviary
Eurasian jay Garrulus glandarius sinensis (one, this I could assign to a race from photo)
Collared crow (pair)
Oriental magpie
Red-billed blue magpie
Red-billed chough (several)
Red-billed leiothrix
Black-collared starling
Crested Myna
Primates:
Northern Pig-tailed Macaque (at least 2)
Rhesus macaque (at least 2)
Tibetan Macaque (about 2)
Squirrel monkey sp/ssp.
Common marmoset
Ungulates:
North China wild boar (pair)
Siberian Roe Deer (pair)
Eastern red deer (pair)
Sika deer (pair)
Chinese muntjac (about 5)
Rodents:
Hoary Bamboo Rat Rhizomys pruinosus (?)
Indomalayan Bamboo Rat Rhizomys sumatrensis (?)
Common Muskrat
Asiatic brush-tailed porcupine (several)
Malayan porcupine
Lowland Paca
Red-and-white flying squirrel (several)
Himalayan marmot (several)
Siberian chipmunk (several)
Other small mammals:
Plateau Pika Ochotona curzoniae (? One individual in a small cage. I almost overlooked it in a row of cages containing domestic rabbits. See photo. It fits this species best, eg. dark nose, shortened curved skull, dark inside ears, long claws).
Sugar glider
Carnivores:
Chinese red panda (one)
Chinese golden cat Catopuma temminckii tristis (single)
Binturong (Presumed ssp. albifrons, 3 individuals)
Small-toothed palm civet (presumably subspecies Arctogalidia trivirgata leucotis. 3 individuals. My new favorite carnivore, very agile, behaves more like a lemur than a carnivore).
Himalayan palm civet (several)
Common palm civet (several)
Owston's palm civet (single)
Small Indian civet (pair)
Large Indian civet (pair)
Crab-eating mongoose (one)
Chinese golden jackal (one, visibly limping individual).
Red fox (red and silver morph)
Northern hog badger (1 or 2 pairs)
Yellow-throated marten (pair)
Asian short-clawed otter
Asian Badger (pair)
Siberian weasel (pair)
American mink (piebald morph)
Chinese ferret badger was signed, but the cage was open and unoccupied. Small Indian mongoose was signed, but the cage contained a Siberian weasel. No sign of spotted linsang or slow lori.
Domestics:
Bactrian camel
Domestic yak
Domestic pony
Alpaca
Domestic goat
Domestic rabbit
Domestic cat
Domestic mouse
Domestic goose
Domestic duck
Domestic pigeon
House mouse