Tea before the city
In Chengdu, the first useful thing to learn is how to sit down: a bamboo chair, a lidded bowl and an afternoon that is not rushed.
Chengdu.
Chengdu is the usual first stop in Sichuan, but it is not only a gateway. The Min River plain, the teahouse chair and the gold objects of Jinsha give three different ways into the city.
Chengdu
Four birds around a sun
The Jinsha gold ornament is 0.2 millimetres thick, almost pure gold, and now the emblem of China's cultural heritage.
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The river that is split, not stopped
Dujiangyan has no dam. For more than two thousand years it has divided the Min River, shed sediment and watered the Chengdu plain.
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The face changes; the opera does not
Face-changing is one technique in Sichuan opera, not its whole story. The form has five vocal styles, five roles and thousands of plays.
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The gate that is also a park
Wuhou Shrine holds the tomb of Liu Bei and a hall to Zhuge Liang, and it is also where the neighbourhood walks in the morning.
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A roof of grass, replaced many times
Du Fu built a cottage by the Huanhua River in 759. The house that stands now is a reconstruction, and the rebuilding is the history.
Read The collection without the building
Jinsha Site Museum is closed for renewal until 2027. The gate is shut, the objects are in storage or on loan, and the Sun Bird is still the city's sign.
ReadPlaces
Heming Teahouse
A 1920s tea house in People's Park, still using bamboo chairs and lidded bowls.
Jinsha Site
The ancient Shu site in west Chengdu where the gold sun bird was found in 2001.
Dujiangyan
A 256 BCE diversion works on the Min River that still irrigates the Chengdu plain.
Wuhou Shrine
A joint shrine to Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang, with a red wall, bamboo and a public park.
Du Fu Thatched Cottage
The poet's Chengdu house, rebuilt fourteen times and now a museum and garden.
Photo credits and rights
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Teahouse chairs in People's Park, ChengduDaderot / CC0 · CC0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Orientation normalised, proportionally resized and encoded as WebP; no crop or retouch.
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The gold sun bird ornament on display at JinshaYumeto / CC BY-SA 4.0 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Orientation normalised, proportionally resized and encoded as WebP; no crop or retouch.
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The Dujiangyan weir across the Min River星星 / CC BY-SA 4.0 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Orientation normalised, proportionally resized and encoded as WebP; no crop or retouch.
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The face changes; the opera does notPauloleong2002 / CC BY-SA 4.0 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Orientation normalised, proportionally resized and encoded as WebP; no crop or retouch.
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Wuhou Shrine, Chengdu螺钉 / CC BY-SA 4.0 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Orientation normalised, proportionally resized and encoded as WebP; no crop or retouch.
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Du Fu Thatched Cottage, ChengduCEphoto, Uwe Aranas / CC BY-SA 3.0 · CC BY-SA 3.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Orientation normalised, proportionally resized and encoded as WebP; no crop or retouch.
