Relaxation in Chengdu I: Chengdu Overview

If you are bored with your work, if you are stressed, where do you want to go? What will you do? Come on, we will talk about a leisurely city to you in the article.

                                                       Chapter One


            Chengdu—Leisure Beyond your Imagination

Chengdu is the capital of Sichuan Province which is located in the southeast of the Sichuan basin, and known as the "Heavenly State". It’s magnificent and modern with age-old colorful traditions of both religious and civil significance for the past 2,500 years in Chinese history.

Chunxi Road

Moreover, Chengdu is depicted in a poem as "Chengdu Landscape, as if endowed by the Ninth Heaven, is shared in the creations of many a master artist." --It’s also known as the hibiscus city or the brocade city as with the coming of the spring, peach blossoms abound on the plain and rape-seed flowers tinge the landscape golden while the wafting cooking smoke curls up from the farm huts amidst bamboo groves. All this makes the city and its suburbs truly poetic.

Besides, benefiting from Dujiangyan Irrigation Project which was constructed in 256 B.C., Sichuan Province is reputed as "Tian Fu Zhi Guo", literally a place richly endowed with natural resources. Chengdu, as the capital, is extremely productive. 

--General information about Chengdu as above has mentioned and the following will show you the real way to experience the real Chengdu and as you get close to it, the relax lifestyle of Chengdu people will beyond your imagination. 

If you wander on the streets of Chengdu, you’ll find all the city is filled with the atmosphere of leisure: people are gathering by the street sides, gossiping around the table and playing Mahjong. Old people are playing chess or cards with little children playing games by their sides. Times just pass by in these kinds of harmonious. Their cozy life style will let you forget all the things except eager to be one of them to enjoy those exciting activities. 

                                                        Relaxation in Chengdu

Sichuan Opera Mask

The best way to get a good feel for Chengdu is to find a spot in the shade at a teahouse and relax. Teahouses and the local cuisine vie for the top spot as the defining characteristic of Chengdu. There are few places in China where traditional teahouses can still be found—this is the place to sit back, order a cup of tea and forget about your troubles. Mahjong, a domino-tape game, is played everywhere. The click-clack of the mahjong pieces being shuffled fill the air with the whistles from songbirds that old men carry in bamboo cages. 

As it is known to all, Sichuan opera with the Chengdu brand as representative is one of the principal genres of regional drama. It is particularly famous for its sense of humor and its unique skills in "Changing one's countenance". --In some teahouses you can enjoy your tea with a live performance of Sichuan opera or acrobatics while getting a head massage or your ears cleaned with long metal picks. 

                                                         Food Feast in Chengdu

Sichuan hot pot

Sichuan Cuisine wins universal praise for its hotness, sourness and numbness it produces, which are rare in other regional cuisines. All of these together sum up the unique flavor of Chuan Cuisine, which enjoys a good reputation as a cuisine that is "one dish with one flavor and one hundred dishes with one hundred flavors".

An outstanding facet of Sichuan dishes is the delicate use of pepper or chili. The ingredients used are great in variety, including poultry, pork, beef, fish, vegetables and tofu. If you travel to Chengdu, then you can eat Sichuan dishes at every corner of the city. The most famous dishes are Sichuan hot pot, slices of kidney, chicken breast, beef tripe, goose intestines, spring onion, soy bean sprouts, mushrooms, duck and sea cucumber are the usual meats used in the dish. 

                                                     Sight-seeing in Chengdu

With Chengdu’s profound historical and cultural background, it features historic places of interest such as the Thatched Cottage of Du Fu, Martial Marquis Memorial Temple and Wenshu Monastery, etc. Natural beauty abounds in surrounding areas such as in the Jiuzhaigou Scenic Area and Huanglong Valley (Yellow Dragon Valley). The natural habitat of giant pandas, Chengdu Panda Breeding and Research Center, supports the world's only giant panda breeding and research base.

In addition, what can’t be missed when coming to Chengdu is a visit to see the pandas.--Sichuan Province is the home of these celebrated creatures. These are only an estimated 500-1000pandas left in the wild and most of them live in northwestern Sichuan.

Being the hometown of Giant Pandas, Chengdu is where the Panda Breeding and Research Center is located. There visitors can see the cuddly giant pandas, and learn about giant pandas through displays of panda habitats, pictures and breeding and conservation efforts.

                                                   Chengdu on the Wheels

Jinli Street

Built on flat ground, Chengdu can easily be explored on foot or by bicycle. It has almost a southern aspect, with colorful old streets lined by scores of small restaurants and walkways that remain crowded until late with traders, buyers, and people out for a stroll. 

Nowadays, more and more people choose to experience Chengdu in the way of cycling as it is so convenient for them to take a glimpse of Chengdu and get close to the lifestyle of Chengdu people. If they see something interesting, they can easily park the bike by the road then take part in the activities of local people. 

--If you’re bored with your work, come to play mahjong games over cups of tea with Chengdu people;
--If you’re stressed, come to Chengdu to let the optimistic Chengdu people to give you happy mood;
--Are you ready to relax yourself in the coziest Chengdu city?