Sand Dunes and Cherry Blossoms

Chendgu: 10 things not to miss!

Chengdu is the capital city of the province of Sichuan.

With a population of 20 million at the 2020 Census, it is the fourth most populous city in China.

Founded by the Kingdom of Shu in 4th century BC, Chengdu is unique as the only major Chinese settlement that has maintained its name unchanged for more than two thousand years throughout the imperial, republican, and communist eras.

It was the capital of Liu Bei’s Shu Han Empire during the Three Kingdoms Era, period which is widely celebrated throughout the city.

We stayed here: Wenjunlou Courtyard·Food Hotel

A central hotel built in traditional style, good restaurant onsite with Chinese and Western dishes, very close to the opera house and located on the beautifully decorated Qintai street.

The price was great too!

There are plenty of accommodation options in Chengdu to suit every budget.

In our opinion, the best areas to base yourself are : Qintai road (where we were), Kuan alley area or the Wenshu Yuan area. Both areas are quite central, easy reachable and offer plenty of sightseeing, entertainment and food options.

Chengdu is nowadays famous for three particular things:

-Panda

-Opera

-Cuisine

Unmissable, all of them.

Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding

The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding was first set up in 1987 with 6 sick and hungry giant pandas saved from the wild. Today, the Chengdu Panda Base is the sanctuary for more than 150 giant pandas and also the world largest giant panda scientific research base.

The park is huge, so wear comfy shoes.

Also, you need to book your ticket in advance as there is no ticket booth anymore.

You can book here: Sichuan Chengdu research base of giant panda breeding

As a foreigner, always bring your passport with you, you will need to show it at the entrance as the tickets are linked to your passport.

The centre is open every day from 7.30 am to 5 pm. Go as early as possible!

But have breakfast before you go, as the restaurants open at 10am, don’t be like us wishing we had known that!

 We were there at around 8.30 am, less crowds and more active pandas: they were munching happily on their bamboos, mostly ignoring the attention and the “aaaww, so cute” from the public and did their own thing.

Needless to say, the pandas are adorable.

You cannot touch them, you cannot interact with them, you cannot call them or feed them. Look at them, take videos and photos, melt in their cuteness and move on.

There are a lot of giant pandas to see, and red pandas too.

You will need at least two/three hours and still you won’t see the whole park.

We got interrupted by a torrential downpour that lasted two hours and we had to take refuge in one of the restaurants, thankfully now open, sipping endless cups of tea.

Transportation to and from the centre is easy and cheap using a DIDI.

Avoid using the taxi touts at the exit as you will always pay a lot more than if you took a regular taxi.

Cuisine

The Sichuan cuisine is reputedly one the best cuisine in China.

Hot. Expect spicy hot.

If you love your food very spicy, order “mala” (very hot), if you cannot tolerate it, order “weila” (not too spicy).

Chengdu is synonym for hot pot (huǒguō in Chinese), a hellish cauldron of chili peppers and boiling soup in which to cook your noodles, veg and meat, you choose your own ingredients.

The pot is usually divided into two section, one super spicy, one not spicy.

Just dip your ingredients into the broth until cooked.

Beyond the hot pot experience, there is a lot more to enjoy.

Dandan noodles, mapo tofu, chili oil dumplings and much more.

Vegetarian restaurants offer the vegetarian version of them and they were so so good!

For in depth vegetarian Chinese food, and a less known local Chengdu experience, refer to our article here–

No trip to Chengdu is complete without a couple of hours enjoying the Sichuan Opera.

It is  a colorful and hypnotic display of costumes, acrobatics, traditional singing and dancing, shadow puppetry and face changing.

While Western opera follows one single plot, Chinese and Sichuan opera follows five different styles.

This style of opera originated from the end of the Ming Dynasty and these five styles are known as Gaoqiang, Kunqiang, Huqing voice, Tanxi, and Dengdiao or Lantern theatre. Some of them date all the way back to the Three Kingdoms Period (220-280 AD) and represent some of the oldest styles of opera in China.

As their popularity began to decline, a revival movement begun during the early 20th century. 

The art of face-changing is unique to Chinese opera and has been a closely guarded secret for centuries, only passed down to theatrical families.

The act involves one performer changing their face mask within the blink of an eye, with masters of the art switching between a staggering 10 masks in less than 20 seconds. It is truly mesmerizing.

Your hotel can certainly organize tickets or book one online, here: Sichuan Opera in Chengdu

But Chengdu wonders don’t end here:

Wuhou shrine:

The Wuhou Temple, also known as Wuhou Shrine Temple of Marquis, is dedicated to Zhuge Liang of the Kingdom of Shu in the Three Kingdoms Period (220 – 280).

Zhuge Liang was an excellent politician, militarist, diplomat, inventor and astronomer. In addition, the Temple of Liu Bei, the first emperor of Shuhan, and his mausoleum are well-known historical sites inside this big and well worth seeing scenic spot.

Open from 8am to 18.30, ticket price 50 RMB payable on site.

Beside it, it’s Jinli street, a colorful and quite vibrant ancient street lined with food stalls, tea samplings and crafts.

Wenshu Yuan:

Wenshu monastery is an active Buddhist monastery quite popular with tourists and worshippers alike.

A beautiful legend surrounds this temple: initially built in the Tang Dynasty (618-907), Wenshu Monastery was once called Xinxiang Temple. In 1681, during the reign of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Cidu, an accomplished Buddhist monk, came to the temple.

He built a simple hut between two trees and for several years lived an ascetic life there. When Cidu was being cremated, the statue of Wenshu (Bodhisattva Manjusri in Sanskrit) appeared in the flames, staying for a long time.

So people regarded Cidu as the reincarnation of the Bodhisattva Manjusri.

Thereafter, Xinxiang Temple became Wenshu Monastery.

The temple is open from 8am to 5pm, entrance is free.

The whole area outside of the monastery is quite nice, with traditional wooden architecture and worth seeing. There are plenty of hotels, restaurants, shops and food to sample.

Sadly, due to torrential rain, we missed a few sites:

Du Fu cottage– a sprawling green park with lake and historical reconstruction of the simple dwellings of the great poet Du Fu.

People’s park– I really wanted to sip a tea by the lake and people watch. It is the PLACE to be in Chengdu to relax and watch the day go by.

Kuan Alley and Zhai Alley- popular alleys with some traditional style decorations, plenty of restaurants and cafes

Tianfu Square- the symbol of Chengdu, a huge square in the middle of the commercial district. It features with a very odd shape, like an S, musical fountains and a statue of Mao.

Global centre mall– on the outskirts of Chengdu, it is currently one of the biggest shopping centre on Planet Earth! It houses cinemas, water parks, offices, a university complex, hotels, restaurants and more than 200 shops!

We reluctanctly left Chengdu and took a flight to beautiful Yunnan, starting from its capital: Kunming.

Alternatively, you can also book a bullet train to Kunming, but it takes 6 hours.

Read on…