8 May 2014

Hello everyone,

Visit to Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province

As part of our contracts, the university organises one 'away' trip a year. It normally takes place over the Labour Day holidays in early May (also a good time to travel in China).  This year we went to Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province in South-West China. The group comprised: Paul (American); Ben (British); Nelly (Filipino); Anatolii (Ukrainian); Lidiya (Russian); Steve (American) and his wife Amy (Chinese); Vera and myself (Aussies).

 Wednesday 30 April 2014: we flew from Qingdao to Chengdu, a 2.5 hour flight. The map below shows Chengdu in relation to Shanghai - Qingdao is up the coast from Shanghai, on the Shandong peninsular which juts out towards Korea.

We were met at the airport by James, our local guide, who looked after us during our visit.  He seemed in some discomfort and explained that, for medical reasons, he had recently been circumcised - which became the subject of much ribald commentary over subsequent days.

James introduced Chengdu as a place of "spicy food, hot girls, and teahouses".  He said that other Chinese envied the laid-back lifestyle with its focus on drinking tea and playing mahjong.  There is a saying something like: "Don't come to Sichuan when you are young (because there is not much happening); don't leave Sichuan when you are old (because of the relaxed lifestyle)".

Chengdu Spice Girl.

He also explained that as Chengdu is situated in a basin surrounded by mountains, it is often overcast and foggy.  It's true - we only saw the sun a couple of times during our stay.

Sichuan food is renowned for its use of chillies and peppers.  There is another saying: "China is the place for food, but Sichuan is the place for flavor".  Vera and I like spicy food, but real Sichuan cuisine uses a lot of the little black peppers which numb the mouth - an acquired taste.

Sichuan's favorite son is Deng Xiao Ping (1904 - 1997), the architect of  China's "reform and opening" 35 years ago, which heralded the most prosperous era in China's long history.  The World Bank says that Deng's policies lifted more than 500 million Chinese out of poverty.  Wouldn't that be a nice claim on your CV?  I believe history will recognise him as one of the 20th Century's "greats".

What else is Sichuan famous for? Pandas, of course.  First 'discovered' by the Western world in 1869, there are now an estimated 1,000 pandas in the wild, about 80% in Sichuan and the remainder in neighbouring provinces of Gansu and Shaanxi.

99% of a wild panda's diet is bamboo.  But bamboo is low in nutrients so pandas need lots (up to 40kg a day) to stay healthy, and spend spend 15 or 16 hours a day feeding.

Sichuan experienced a devastating earthquake on 12 May 2008. The epi-centre was Wenchuan, about 80 km northwest of Chengdu.  The main tremor lasted almost 2 minutes and was catastrophic: in round figures 88,000 killed, 375,000 injured,  11 million homeless. Can you imagine ... about half the population of Australia suddenly without shelter?  The scale of this disaster was mind-boggling, and the whole country got behind the re-building effort which was completed in record time.

Chengdu is a big, bustling city with a population nearing 14 million.  Many nice tree-lined streets and parks.  We had an enjoyable, but all-too-short, visit.

On the afternoon of our arrival we visited two places in Chengdu City: the Jin Li Ancient Street (see photo below), and then the Chun Xi Lu pedestrian shopping area in the centre of Chengdu. That night we had dinner in a typical Sichuan restaurant - the food was spicy, with lots of Sichuan pepper.  My mouth became quite numb.

Jin Li, one of several newly-built "Ancient alleys" we visited in Chengdu. Attractive, and popular with locals and visitors.

Thursday, 1 May (Labour Day).  The main activity today was visiting the Giant Buddha (known locally as 'Dafo') near the town of Leshan.  Buddhist monk Hai Tong started the project in 713AD; it wasn't finished until 803AD, 90 years later. This statue is BIG: 71 metres from head to toe; each ear is 8 metres!

Given its age, the statue appeared to be in remarkably good shape.  Apparently it has a built-in drainage system, and it also featured a protective canopy which was destroyed by Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution. Luckily they left the statue itself intact.

The main entrance to the park is level with the Buddha's head.  There is a narrow stairway down to the river where one can gain a better appreciation for the immense size of this statue (see photo below, stairway is on the left).  Unfortunately there were many visitors and the queue was 4 hours long! So we only saw the statue from the top.

The giant Buddha statue (Dafo) at the confluence of the Dadu and Min Rivers near Leshan.

Each ear is 8 metres long, which gives an idea of the size of this impressive statue.

Friday, 2 May 2014.  In the morning we visited the Du Jiang Yan irrigation project which was completed by engineer Li Bing (Chinese: 李冰; pinyin: Lǐ Bīng) in about 250 BC!  It is now a UNESCO World Heritage site.  In the afternoon we visited Qing Chen Mountain, which has been a centre of the Taoist religion for more than 2,000 years.  The lovely forest trails and ancient monasteries are conducive to meditation - just don't come on a holiday weekend, when tens of thousands visit!

Li Bing was able to tame the Min River and divert some of the flow to the central Sichuan plain, irrigating about 1 million hectares of fertile land (since expanded to 5 million hectares).

Saturday, 3 May 2014.  In the morning we visited the Panda Research Station on the outskirts of Chengdu.  Lovely park, and the pandas are well-housed.  We saw several pandas - they don't move much: basically sleep when they are not feeding.  The 'donation' to hold / cuddle / photograph a panda is $300, so we gave that a miss. 

In the afternoon we visited the impressive San Xing Dui museum (Chinese: 三星堆; pinyin: Sānxīngduī; literally: "three stars mound")   near Guanghan about 40 km north of Chengdu, which has artifacts of the Shu Kingdom, some 3,300 years ago.  Our museum guide was more interested in talking about Freemasons and Jews and Lizard People taking over the world. Stunning displays, especially the bronze masks.  Some of the motifs reminded us of Aztec art - see below - what do you think?

One of dozens of bronze masks beautifully displayed at the San Xin Dui Museum.  

A bronze 'bird's head' on display.

The upper half of a tall bronze figure of a High Priest in the San Xing Dui museum.

That night we saw a cultural show at the Shu Feng Ya Yun teahouse (more like a theatre): opera; music; puppetry; shadow hands; and the amazing 'face-changing'.   Excellent performances, and a great way to finish our visit.  

Sunday morning 4 May 2014 we flew back to Qingdao.  Sad that our holiday was over, but glad to be 'home' and to see the sun again.

The following are some photos of the various attractions we visited in and around Chengdu.

Vera, Liu Li Na (our leader from UPC's International Office), and Qi Mei Juan (Amy)

Vera loved the greenery around Qing Chen mountain.

From left: Paul, Ben, Alex, Amy and Steve.

Alex in the 'Calligraphy Park' near the Giant Buddha at Leshan, next to a message from Mao Ze Dong.  The Chairman wrote: "China has many nice places, but here is special."

James (our local guide), Anatolii, Vera, and Nelly.

A new 'ancient' bridge near the entrance to the Du Jian Yan irrigation site.

A bridge inside the Du Jian Yan park.  Everywhere was very crowded.

Lidiya, Nelly, Paul and Ben enjoying famous Sichuan Hot-Pot.

One of the inhabitants of the Panda Research Station; everyone's favorite animal.

Well, that's the story of our short visit to Sichuan Province.

It was an enjoyable few days, away from our normal routine.  Everywhere was very crowded.  Chinese don't have many holidays (paid annual leave as we know it is rare), so they take full advantage of the public holidays: one week in October for National Day, one week end-January for Spring Festival, and 3 days now for the May Day holidays, plus a couple of single days.

All the attractions we visited had entry charges, usually about $15 per person (half for students and seniors).  That's not inexpensive in a country where $100 a week is a common salary and I was impressed so many people obviously had the money to pay.  Good to see the locals enjoying themselves.

The other thing that impressed us was the sense of history which is so pervasive in China.  Many of the attractions we visited were centuries or even millennia old.  And the thing is, it seems to be 'live history' in the sense that most people know all about this Emperor or that General or the other Engineer.

...

I'll give the blog a rest for a week or so.

Best wishes, and keep smiling.

Alex & Vera Olah
English teachers at the China University of Petroleum, Qingdao
www.upc.edu.cn
Thursday, 8 May 2014.