Chengdu

Chengdu, located in southwest People's Republic of China, is the capital of Sichuan province and a sub-provincial city. Chengdu is also one of the most important economic centers and transportation and communication hubs in Southwestern China. According to the 2007 Public Appraisal for Best Chinese Cities for Investment, Chengdu was chosen as one of the top ten cities to invest in, out of a total of 280 urban centers.

More than four thousand years ago, the prehistorical Bronze Age culture of Jinsha established itself in this region. The fertile Chengdu Plain, on which Chengdu is located, is called Tianfuzhi guo in Chinese, which literally means "the country of heaven", or more often seen translated as "the Land of Abundance". It was recently named China's 4th-most livable city

Chengdu is located in the fertile plains of China's Sichuan province. Due to its agricultural wealth Chengdu is sometimes called "Land of Milk and Honey". The Funan river bisects the city although boat traffic, common until the 1960's, has all but disappeared. The greater city area is divided into five districts and 12 counties, altogether home to more than 9.2 million people. Chengdu is known to be a very laid-back city and ranked one of the most livable cities in China in recent years. It is credited with a good nightlife scene and contains many new western style buildings in the large city center. Summer weather is hot and humid, as the city is surrounded by mountains in the Red Basin. It is also home to many significant and interesting temples.

What to see in Chengdu

A statue of Mao in Tianfu Square

Tian Fu Square This square, overlooked by an enormous Chairman Mao statue in the center of the city, has been spruced up. Every evening at dusk, as well as at noontime, an elaborate water show, synchronized to music, bursts out from the square's fountains. Below the square will be shopping and the future hub of Chengdu's subway system.

Sichuan Science and Technology Museum located directly behind the Chairman Mao statue in the city center's Tian Fu Square, this huge 4 storey museum is filled with interactive exhibits about science, aerodynamics, space, mathematics, robotics and physics. Children will love the interactive displays and indoor playground on the 4th floor. Adults will appreciate the descriptions in both English and Chinese. Everyone will love the crowd-pleasers like the robotic orchestra and walk-through maps of Sichuan's waterways. Admission is RMB 35 per adult, free for children. To get there, take a taxi or bus to Tian Fu Square and walk to the large building directly behind the Chairman Mao statue. Note: During weekdays this museum can be overrun by local school groups.

Chengdu Zoo The Zoo, located in the north of the city near the Panda Research Base, offers all the typical animals that one might expect in a zoo (elephant, tigers, giraffes, monkeys, as well as panda bears). While the zoo itself is large and spread out, some of the cages are woefully small and the facility seems understaffed. Might be good for a family to visit. Admission is RMB 12 per adult. The zoo has vendors selling Chinese snacks as well as some carnival type rides.

Sichuan University Museum (Sichuan Daxue Bowuguan) has an excellent display of local artifacts and is worth while way of spending an hour or two. The museum is one of the better in China and there are four floors of well lite, air conditioned displays with decent English translations. Starting in the basement, enter the first room where dozens of stone carvings dating from the Han dynasty to the Tang are on display. The room next door has a moderately interesting display on the museum's history and numerous examples of ancient bronzes and stone age artifacts. The first floor is mostly artifacts from the Ming and Qing dynasty, including furniture, silk clothing, and an interesting display of leather puppets. The second floor has the perhaps the most engaging display: artifacts and daily use items from ethnic minority groups in China's southwest, including Tibetans, Miao, Yi, Qiang, Jianpo and Naxi. The third floor has a decent display of calligraphy scrolls, paintings, and ceramics. The museum is located on Wangjiang Road, about a 15 minute ride from Xinnanmen bus station or a 40 minute walk. Admission is RMB 30 (students RMB 10) and the museum is open from 9:00-5:00 seven days a week. It's telephone number is (028)85412313.

Sichuan Opera Most guest houses and travel agencies offer to arrange visits to these traditional shows. It's more like a burlesque cabaret than an actual opera, sometimes including magicians, traditional musicians, shadow plays, comedy (spoken in Chinese though), and dancers besides the traditional pieces. Of course the most famous is never omitted: quick face-changing and fire spitting performed by dancers clad in colourful traditional costumes. You will follow the story sitting at your table, sipping on your constantly refilled tea cup and nibbling some salted snacks. Note that there are many teahouses in the city that offer the show every night.

Try the local favorite at Shu Feng Ya Yun teahouse located in Chengdu Culture Park on Qintai Road (it's beside Qingyang Temple). You will be seated on a covered open ground (cooled by fan; no A/C), which is actually the center of the traditional teahouse building. You might have to book in advance or just ask the concierge of your hotel to book it for you. The price of the ticket range from RMB 150 (USD 25; back rows) to RMB 220 (USD 35; front rows) per person.

Jin Li Ancient Street. This neighborhood is part of the old city of Chengdu, it features hotels and small stores in and old-fashioned style. Antiques are sold in a variety of different stores. It is very popular among both tourists and locals, especially at night, with many bars, restaurants, and nightclubs. You will find a lot of famous local snack food over there, price ranging from RMB 1 - 10. Restaurants and bars in Jin Li are more expensive than outside. There are also antique hotels in there. But Jin Li is a must visit place for foreigners.

Jin Sha Excavation Site is a recently discovered site featuring various tools and art pieces from around 3000 years ago. The amount of unearthed items is just massive. They include pottery, blades, jade items, building foundations and various golden art pieces.

Wenshu Temple,15 Wenshu Yuan Jie, (off Renmin Zhong Lu). This Tang Dynasty Buddhist temple is the most impressive, and perhaps also the most used, temple in Chengdu. It is dedicated to the Buddhist representation of Wisdom, Wenshu Pusa (Manjusri Bodhisatva), and contains more than 450 Buddha statues and other precious relics. In addition to the halls and gardens, the temple also has a charming tea house that offers an insightful window of Chengdu life as it is frequented by locals who engage in games of chess, reading, knitting and just chatting with family and friends. The temple also has a delightful vegetarian restaurant with seats offering views over the gardens.

Qingyang Temple (Qing Yang Gong), No.9 Xi Er Duan, Yihuan Lu. RMB 5 (i.e. 70 U.S. cents) to enter the "Palace of Green Ram" (its literal translation). This Taoist temple is the oldest and biggest of its kind in the area located just west of the city. An impressive and still-active temple that takes into consideration Taoist philosophy in its construction. It is rich in treasures, history, as well as legends. It's said that it was here where Laozi (the founder of Taoism) attained his immortality. Discover it more on your own. A teahouse and a vegetarian restaurant can also be found within the temple complex.

Around Chengdu to see:

Floraland. This amusement park is outside of Chengdu. Expect an expensive taxi ride out to the suburbs, or take one of the buses that will guide you to the park. The park includes a moderate selection of rides (water, relaxing and thrill), and various recreation activities. Weekends can get packed, so try to go during a weekday if possible. Tickets are about RMB 60.

Chengdu's Panda Base, located just outside the city, is a favorite of visitors

Panda Research Base - 028-83510033 - This is the biggest facility of this kind in the world. Due to habitat destruction and other reasons, the Giant Panda is maybe the most famous endangered animal. The Research Base is home to some 60 giant Pandas, but also has some Red Pandas and a colony of black-necked cranes. The Research Center affords views of the pandas from much closer than is possible at many Western zoos. Be sure to bring your camera. The Research Base also has a small museum and a cinema screening related documentaries. A restaurant and souvenir-stalls top off the tourist installations. Admission fee is RMB 30. The best time to visit is in the morning, when pandas are most active. It is possible to take your picture while holding a Red Panda for a fee of RMB 50; occasionally during the morning you can take a pictures alongside a giant panda for a fee of RMB 1100 per person. Knowledgable English-speaking tour guides can be hired at the office by the Base entrance. The cost for a guide for a small group is RMB 100. There are several ways to get there:

By Taxi (recommended) the cost is about RMB 35 from downtown Chengdu.
By Bus (if you are on an ultra-low budget) Catch a northbound bus Nr.1 (RMB 1) and stay with it until the local bus-terminal. Leave the local bus-terminal through the exit leading to the long distance-terminal (LDT), but do not enter the latter. Instead, wait for the suburbian public bus Nr.532 or 107 to come by and stop at the left corner of the LDT. For another RMB 1 it will take you to the Panda research center within 20 min. Get off when you see a big white Panda-Statue in the middle of the street.

What to do in Chengdu:

Chunxi Road. Take an afternoon or evening to walk down this shopping street, located in the center of the city. Makes for a good change of pace. Various clothing stores, bookstores, restaurants, arcades, and cinemas. Good place to find something to eat; including a hotpot buffet, Japanese restaurants, western food, and much more. However, the major disadvantage with this area is that each brand has many stores in this location. For instance, Nike, Adidas, and Li-Ning, each have about 4-5 stores in Chunxi Road alone which reduces the variety of things to buy. If you are looking for stores in the same vein as Louis Vuitton and Ermenegildo Zegna, these stores are located outside of the Chunxi Road area and near the Tianfu Square district.

KTV, various locations. Spend an evening singing with friends, enjoy popcorn, beer and other refreshments. Songs available in English, Chinese, and more.

Foot and body Massage Chengdu is famous for its relax and layback lifestyle. Foot and body massage is very popular in Chengdu with a lot of varieties. Generally, these places cater to groups of people who come in together, relax in a private room, perhaps eating fruit or sipping tea, while receiving a fully-clothed massage or foot washing. Prices are very reasonable, often well under RMB 80 per person. Some places offer RMB 25 per hour for a very nice foot massage, including washing, soaking and massaging feet, free hot/cold drink (tea, coke or juice), fresh fruit. A great way to relax with friends.

Read a Book The Chengdu Bookworm (see listing under Eat) has a membership-based lending library of English language books, as well as travel guides for sale. Peter's Tex Mex, as well as some of the other restaurants that cater to foreigners, have book exchanges.

For up-to-date information on activities, places and attractions you should check out the CHENGDU citylife magazine's listings. You'll find copies in most bars, restaurants, cafes, hostels and hotels.

Play Weiqi(the game of go) A weiqi tutor lives in Chengdu(KGS 8d),who can teach weiqi in english. his webpage http://blog.tom.com/cdweiqi/

Cosmetics and Hairs. Local woman love to get their nails and hairs done at the mall. You can get your nails done beautifully(filed,buffered,polished and hand painted with beautiful patent) between RMB 10 - 20 at most shopping centre. There are quite a few very popular ones located on the ground floor of Beijing Hualian(Yanshikou. You can also get your hair temporarily straighten or curled at RMB 10-15. They do very nice style and it will last until you wash your hair.

What else to do in Sichuan

Chengdu is the gateway to Sichuan. Daytrips and trek can be organized to any major attraction is the province. The Giant Budda, Mount Qincheng, Stone Elephant Lake and Jian Chuan Museum can all be reached by regular bus or tour bus (ask your hotel for guidance). Families and those short of time might consider hiring a car with driver (RMB 300-900 per day, depending upon type of car and experience of driver, with cars booked at the luxury hotels the most expensive and highest quality).

The Giant Buddha in Leshan is probably the most popular nearby destination. A day trip to this ancient man-made wonder should be about RMB 100-150. Two day tours are available which combine the Buddha with a visit to the nearby Buddhist holy mountain Emei Shan.

Mount Qingcheng and the Dujiangyan irrigation system (built 250 BC) Dujiangyan Irrigation System are easy day trips about 40km from Chengdu and make for a fascinating visit. You can do both sites in one long day, or better yet, plan to spend a day at each. Qingcheng is a beautiful mountain with an extensive and well kept network of steps and pathways; it includes many pagodas, a small lake, and a chair-lift for those who don't want to walk. Qingcheng is an important site in the Taoist religion. Dujiangyan has a fascinating history and a marvelous swinging pedestrian bridge. Both trips involve lots of walking. The entrance fees for both sites are not cheap. The mountain is RMB 90. The cable car up is RMB 35 one way or RMB 60 round trip. There is a boat one needs to take to cross a natural pond for RMB 5. The irrigation system costs an additional RMB 90 to enter.

Stone Elephant Lake
Stone Elephant Lake Ecological Resort is a fantastic park with acres upon acres of live tulips and tiger lily flowers as well as nature walks and boat rides, and stone carved animals. The best time to go is during the Tulip Festival in early Spring and when the Tiger Lillies bloom in late summer, however, various flowers are usually in bloom from March through August and the nature walks are open year round. Bring your camera. Also bring a picnic lunch or eat in one of the several Chinese restaurants and noodle shops there. The park is about an hour and 15 minutes drive of pure highway driving south of Chengdu. Arrange a car to take you there or ask about bus service. Admission is RMB 50.

Jian Chuan Museum Cluster Industrialist Fan Jian Chuan built this campus of museums to explain the history of 20th Century China. This is the first privately owned museum in Sichuan (privately operated museums in China have only been permitted since the year 2001). The Museum campus contains four buildings about World War II in China - one explaining the Communist Party role, one the Kuomington, one about the American volunteer group "Flying Tigers", and one about Sichuan volunteers. There is also a the modestly named "New China Porcelian Museum", which actually tells the story of the Cultural Revolution through porcelians of that era. A museum that more directly addresses that era is under construction. You will also see buildings explaining the practice of foot-binding and one about prisoners of war. Nearby, you can also walk through a landlord's manor. Make a day trip out of it; the Museum is in the nearby county of Dayi about an hour's drive from Chengdu. Admission is RMB 60. Get around the museum cluster by walking or rent a bicycle built for two; a tea-house is located on site.

Bi Feng Xia Bi Feng Xia is a large ecological park in the mountains about a two and a half hour drive from Chengdu. It centers around a huge gorge with waterfalls. One can hike down into the gorge on well marked paths and take an elevator back up. The park also has special panda bear habitats, as well as a more traditional "zoo". The main reason to go here is for the walks and hikes into the gorge. The zoo, although filled with animals such as tigers, lions, bears, monkeys, and even a drive-through section, has woefully inadequate and sometimes smelly enclosures. (The enormous bird aviary is one exception). Admission is about RMB 80, with additional charges for bus rides between different sections of the park. There is a hotel and basic restaurants on site. Given the distance from Chengdu, probably best to make an overnight trip if you wish to stay here.

Huang Long Xi is worth a day trip. Buses start from Xinnanmen station and take two hours. The little town features a lot of original dwellings and old temples.

Luodai is an ancient village inhabited by the Hakkas minority. Buses start form and take about an hour.

Sanxingdui (sanxingdui) - This is an ancient Chinese city where archaeologists discovered remarkable artifacts that radiocarbon dated circa 12th-11th centuries BCE, and Sanxingdui (Three star mound) is the name given to this previously unknown Bronze Age culture. The Sanxingdui archaeological museum is located about 40 kilometers northeast of Chengdu in Sichuan Province and 10 kilometers east of the city of Guanghan. From Zhaojue Temple Bus Station catch a bus to Guanghan (RMB 14) and from there use public bus No. 6 to reach the museum (RMB 2). Entrance is RMB 82 (RMB 42 for students). 0838-5651550.

Further afield, you can also trek out to the Tibetan areas of Sichuan. Buses leave everyday for Moxi and other towns. These long bus trips from Xinnanmen-bus station (it's about seven hours to Moxi, and the heating systems on buses in the winter are painfully inadequate) pass through incredibly steep mountain valleys wandering through the Gongga Mountain range. This all terminates at the Hailuogo Glacier, a massive park nearly nine hours from Chengdu. A good two or three day trip.

The Jiuzhaigou Valley to the north of Chengdu is famous for its stunning nature and the cyan water terasses.

Siguniang Scenic Park. Located to the northwest of Chengdu, these mountains are sometimes called "China Alps" but are also known as the "four girls" or "four maidens". Prior to the May 12 2008 earthquake, buses could be caught between 6:30AM and 12:00 from Chadianzi tourism bus station (6-9 hours). As a result of the quake there is now a single bus at 6:40AM that takes up to 12 hours. Catch the bus to Xiaojin and let the driver know your destination is Rilong village.

E'MEI MOUNTAIN
Noted by the UN as one of the greatest legacies of ancient culture and natural landscape, Emei Mountain is situated 160 kilometers away from the southwest Chengdu.

The Thatched Cottage of Dofu
Located by the side of the Huanhua Stream in Chengdu's western suburb. It was the residence of Dufu, the great poet of the Tang Dynasty when he took refuge in Chengdu. Du Fu (712-70 AD),one of China's most famous poets, left home at the tender age of 20, becoming a court official at the former capital in Chang'an (near Xi'an). Du Fu's civil service duties did not last long however, and he was captured by rebels and forced to flee the city for Chengdu after only a few years. It was in Chengdu, at this small and simple house, that Du Fu was inspired to write more than 200 poems which are regarded today as masterpieces of realist poetry.

Weather in Chengdu:

Best time to visit Chengdu is from March to June and from September to November.

July and August are the hottest months in Chengdu. Mt.Qingcheng, Xiling Snow Mountain, Mt. Tiantai and Longchi Forest Park are ideal places close to Chengdu for escaping the summer heat.

The subtropical monsoon climate influenced by Sichuan Basin brings the annual average temperature in Chengdu to about 16 C (61 F). Another distinctive feature is humidity with clouds and mist and little sunlight.

Chengdu's summer is sultry with low temperature morning and evening, but high after noon. To avoid strong ultraviolet radiation and to stay dry, take a raincoat.

The average temperature in winter is about 5 C. However, due to the clouds and moist weather, it feels very cold.

January                  10 C to 2 C

February                11 C to 4 C

March                   16 C to 8 C

April                      22 C to 13 C

May                       26 C to 17 C

June                      28 C to 20 C

July                        30 C to 22 C

August                  30 C to 22 C

September           25 C to 18 C

October                 21 C to 15 C

November              16 C to 9 C

December             11 C to 4 C

Airport in Chengdu

Visa

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