In contrast to some other Chinese urban centres, and despite raging redevelopment, Chengdu has managed to preserve the atmosphere how one might imagine China to have once been sometime in the past. Chengdu was already the political, economic, and cultural centre of western Sichuan by 400 B.C. During the Five Dynasties Period (907-960), Meng Chang, a ruler of later Shu, had numerous hibiscus trees planted on the city wall, so the town eventually became known as the City of Hibiscus. Chengdu, also known as the hibiscus city or the brocade city, has been a famous cultural centre with age-old colorful traditions of both religious and civil significance for the past 2,500 years in Chinese history. 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. The annual happy occasions of the traditional lantern festival, flower show, the yearly opening of the sluices at the Dujiangyan, the dragon boat races at Xinjing, and the folk-lore sing song contests at Wang-cong Memorial Temple are also charming and captivating scenes. The old street scene at Huanglongxi township, the gorgeous mansions of the Liu family at Dayi county and a number of picturesque civilian villages are well preserved for people and future generations to appreciate. In Tiexiangsi, there is the College for Buddhist nuns in China, and the Guanyin Temple in Xinjing has preserved the most lively color sculpture and wall-painting of Ming Dynasty, Zhaojue Temple, Wenshu Monastery, Baoguang Temple and Daci Temple in the city are known as “the four famous Buddhist monasteries in western Sichuan”.

Hemingshan at Diyi county is the sacred seat of origin for Taoism, and Qingyang Palace is the best preserved memorial temple for Laotzu, the founder and master of the Taoist faith. 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”. 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.

Wuhou Memorial Temple

Wuhou Temple (Temple of Marquis Wu) in the southern suburbs of Chengdu is dedicated to the memory of both Liu Bei (161-223), Emperor of the Kingdom of Shu in the Three Kingdoms period (220-280), and Zhuge Liang (181-234), Prime Minister of the Kingdom. The board hung above the gate reads “Han Zhaolie Temple” (Zhaolie was a title given to Liu Bei posthumously). But the temple is commonly called Wuhou Memorial Temple (Zhuge Liang was conferred on the title of Wu Xianghou after his death). The memorial temple, dignified and simple in style, houses 47 statues of Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang and other civil officials and senior generals of the Kingdom. The temple is furnished with many inscribed stone tablets, the most famous being the Tablet of Triple Success of the Tang Dynasty (618 -907) with its text by Prime Minister Pei Du, calligraphy by Liu Gongchuo and carvings by Lu Jian. The couplets written on scrolls and hung on the pillars in the temple are well-known for numerous aphorism.

Giant Panda Breeding Research Base

The Giant Panda Breeding Research Base is located on the mountain of Futoushan in the northern suburbs of the city, 18km away from the town center. The Giant Panda Museum is a unique museum set up for Giant Panda’s in the world, it collects and shows fruits of human knowledge, review and research on the Giant Panda. The Museum shows almost 300 rare, fine pictures and scientific , full & accurate charts about Giant Panda, exhibits literatures and monograph on Giant Panda’s at all times and in different places of the world. It shows practical specimens of Giant Panda’s from fossils to every part of dissection, dejection and main types of food bamboo etc. The Museum also built many large zoology scope-boxes with an area of 300m2, such as remote antiquity as Giant Panda zoology environment, Giant Panda danger situation, and Giant Panda zoology environment in Qinling, Liangshan, Xiangling, Minshan, and Qionglai Mountain. The Museum systematically and completely introduces Giant Panda’s evolvement history, ancient and nowadays distribution, general situation, condition and research of human to Giant Panda’s. This lets people roundly know Giant Panda’s, understand efforts made by our government to protect and save the animal which is loved by people all of the world and consciously arose the feeling to love and protect Giant Panda’s and their natural habitat.
We recommend that the best time to visit is in the morning, between 8:30 and 10am, during feeding time. Outside these hours it’s likely the bears will be indulging in their favorite pastime, sleeping!

Fu’s Thatched Cottage

The Thatched Cottage of Dufu, 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.
Dufu’s Thatched Cottage covers an area of 16 hectares. The Gate, the Screen Wall, the Lobby, the Hall of Verse History, and the Gong Bu Temple are lined one by one along the middle axis, flanked by corridors and other auxiliary buildings. The bronze statue of Dufu in the Hall of Verse History is broad-minded. The clay sculpture of Dufu was enshrined in the Gong Bu Temple is very lifelike. Among and between them are trees and bamboo groves, winding brooks and linking small bridges.
All these give the place an atmosphere of solemnity, meanwhile a sense of beauty and grace. Around the hones are bamboo fences and inside the fences are vegetable and herb plots, easily remind people of the scenes described in Dufu’s poems. While taking a quiet walk in such a historical and cultural environment, visitors are apt to be brought back to the ancient times.

As one of the major opera schools in China, the Sichuan Opera has a long history. It originated at the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty. At that time there were several different forms of popular theatre in the Sichuan area which gradually developed and blended with the local culture to finally merge into the present Sichuan Opera.
Sichuan Opera is well-known in China, and is characterized by solo singing, skillful acting, rich percussion and incredibly funny comedies. Special characters use stunts such as quick face changes without makeup, jumping through burning hoops and hiding of swords. The magical face changes are particularly famous.
Face changing is the essence and highlight of Sichuan Opera. It is a kind of stunt which involves the on-stage change of mask or facial makeup, via masks or facial painting, without the audience noticing. It is amazing that, with a magical sweep of a hand, the actors can change their masks successively in an incredibly short time. Face changes first appeared 300 years ago. Initially the opera masters changed their face during a performance by blowing into a bowl of red, black or gold powder, which immediately stuck to their oiled skiny. By the 1920s, actors began to use layers of masks made of oiled paper. During the performance, actors would peel off one after another in a very short time. Now, the masters use painted silk masks, which can be worn in layers. No matter how closely you watch, you don’t see the mask being changed.

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