Wangjiang pavilion in the Pavilion park of Chengdu, China.Credit: Shutterstock
WANGJIANG PARK
Sitting along the Fu River just beyond the city centre, Wangjiang Park dates from the seventeenth century and provides glimpses of quintessential old China thanks to its venerable Qing Dynasty wooden pavilion, fabulous avenues of giant bamboo and popular outdoor teahouse where locals while away the afternoon sipping green tea, cracking nuts and playing mahjong and Chinese chess. There are 150 species of bamboo in the park. If you arrive early in the morning, you'll see retirees practicing their tai chi and fan dancing. Don't discount visiting on a rainy day, when the park is quiet and atmospheric. See gochengdu.cn
PANDA RESEARCH BASE
Giant Panda Breeding Research Base, Chengdu, China.Credit: Shutterstock
China's top panda-breeding facility showcases the endearing creature that has become conservation's international posterchild and yet remains curiously reluctant to reproduce. You'll see plenty of both giant and red pandas behind moats rather than bars, though you should try and arrive early, when the notoriously indolent animals are at their most active. Newborn cubs arrive in late summer and emerge to play in autumn. The facility is set in a sprawling park with large stands of bamboo and a lake on which black swans paddle. The souvenir shop, with its endless panda kitsch, is hard to resist. See panda.org.cn
WENSHU MONASTERY
Buddhist monks in orange robes walks between columns of Wenshu Monastery in Chengdu, China.Credit: Shutterstock
The God of Wisdom Monastery is one of China's most active Buddhist temples and a centre for training monks. Among its bizarre displays is a picture of the goddess Guanyin embroidered with monks' hair, and books written with a brush dipped in blood from devotees' tongues. You'll also find a lovely set of venerable courtyards and over 400 Buddha statues, but perhaps most enjoyable is the temple's excellent vegetarian restaurant and always humming teahouse. Recreated traditional-style architecture surrounds the temple and is a bit sterile, but you'll find shops selling calligraphy, artworks and Buddhist statues. See gochengdu.cn
SICHUAN CUISINE
Chengdu hot pot served in a sichuan chafing dish. The dish was very popular in the region of sichuan and chongqing before becoming favoured by the whole chinaCredit: Shutterstock
Sichuan cuisine is one of China's four great culinary traditions, famed for its combined use of garlic, chillies and local flower pepper huajiao that numbs the mouth and supplies the bold cuisine its hallmark taste. Restaurants serve famous local dishes such as pockmarked grandmother's tofu, twice-cooked pork, gongbao chicken with peanuts, and delicious wantons in sweet chilli oil and vinegar. Dandan noodles topped with fried mincemeat are a delicious snack. For aficionados or the adventurous, fiery hotpot will test the limits of your chilli tolerance as you cook your own vegetables, lotus root, fish and beef slices. See gochengdu.cn
DU FU THATCHED COTTAGE
Du Fu Thatched Cottage, a large park and historic area in the city centre.Credit: Shutterstock
This park in Chengdu's west is devoted to the memory of eighth-century Tang Dynasty poet Du Fu, and recreates the thatched cottage in which he once lived. The Chinese government approves his poetry about social injustice and the hard life of the people. Mao Zedong (a decent poet himself) once visited and left behind a sample of his calligraphy praising Du Fu. You can also inspect Chinese and English versions of Du Fu's poetry. The large surrounding park has an ancient pagoda, carp ponds, wonderful stands of towering bamboo and meandering walkways, as well as a teahouse. See cddfct.com
JIN RIVER
Greatly cleaned up (though still occasionally whiffy in summer) and now partly lined with promenades and shady trees, the Jin River provides open vistas and pretty reflections of riverside skyscrapers and parks. It's a fine symbol of Chengdu's efforts to become more green and clean. The river's classical-style but only decade-old Anshun Bridge, close to the confluence of the smaller Fu River, is nicely illuminated at night and boasts a mid-river restaurant. The riverbank nearby has a lively strip of evening bars and cafés. The Fu River's Living Water Garden is a lovely ecological park. See gochengdu.cn
Brian Johnston travelled at his own expense.
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