Table of Content
Chengdu, Sichuan | 3-Day Itinerary
Chengdu is a very modern city, most of the attractions are located in the urban area, convenient transportation, the general Chengdu sightseeing itinerary of three days and two nights should be more than enough. A reasonable itinerary can be arranged for two or three days, for example.
- Day 1: Giant Panda Breeding Base
- Day 2: Dujiangyan (add Panda Paradise if you didn't go to Giant Panda Breeding Base), Jiouyan Bridge
- Day 3: Dufu Cao Tang, Broad and Narrow Alley, Wuhou Ancestral Temple, Jinli
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Most of the monuments in Chengdu are now rebuilt, and the attractions are also quite commercialized, so the time spent at each point can be long or short, so the flexibility of the schedule is actually quite large. Transportation in addition to go to Dujiangyan is relatively far, you can arrange a chartered car, other time if you stay in the city to cycle to and from the various attractions can be, attractions near the car is very much, to and from the attractions between the scanning code can be very convenient to ride, the rest of the walk. It is recommended not to schedule too much time between attractions. If you still have time left, you can try more local food.Chengdu Cuisine.
Chengdu Attractions | Broad Narrow Alley
Broad Narrow Alley is an old neighborhood of Chengdu, located in Qingyang District of Chengdu City, which was first called Shao Cheng (少城). It was first called Shao Cheng (少城), and was built in the 57th year of the Kangxi period to house the 1,000 or so Manchu soldiers who stayed there after the pacification of the Jungar Rebellion, making it one of the few hutong-style buildings in Chengdu. After a hundred years, the only remaining hutong was rebuilt in the early years of the Republic of China and renamed Broad and Narrow Alley.
There are three main lanes, namely, Wide Lane, Narrow Lane and Well Lane. The origin of the naming is not learned, is the Republic of China's staff to measure, wide called Broad Alley, narrow called Narrow Alley, more than that there is a well is called Well Alley. Nowadays, the Broad and Narrow Alley has been developed into a cultural and leisure theme area, where various kinds of compound restaurants are stationed. Roughly speaking, Broad Alley is a place for Sichuan cuisine, Narrow Alley is a place for Western-style cafes, and Jing Alley is a place for specialty bars and bazaars.
Walking around the alleys, you can find all kinds of old Chengdu food and snacks. Most of the snacks in Chengdu are doused with spicy oil, and I had Sichuan cold noodles here, which were quite tasty. The famous "three cannons" are glutinous rice balls, which are made by a hawker who skillfully pulls off three piles of balls and throws them to a steel plate with three bangs. When they fall into a bamboo box filled with sesame and soybean powder, they are naturally coated with the powder and then topped with brown sugar to make a serving. Not everyone likes to eat the snacks, but the process of making them is a show that everyone must stop and watch.
The Broad and Narrow Alley is also full of theaters, and there are performances just outside the door, so it's a good way to spend an afternoon browsing the stores and watching the performances.
If you want to experience a bit of Chengdu's culture, go to the theater to watch a Sichuan opera or a face-changing act. Sit down at a table, order a cup of tea, watch the show and chat. When we went to the Shu Yun Yuan, the play was The Legend of the White Snake.
Chengdu Attractions | Wuhou Temple
For those who are interested in the history of the Three Kingdoms period, a visit to the Wuhou Ancestral Hall is a must in Chengdu. The ticket price for entering the Wuhou Ancestral Hall is RMB 50 yuan. The Wuhou Ancestral Hall, as we call it now, consists of the Han Zhaolie Temple, the Wuhou Ancestral Hall, and the Huiling Mausoleum. In other words, it is dedicated to Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang, and the shrine and the mausoleum are one and the same, making it the only temple in China that enshrines both the ruler and the minister.
Han Zhaolie Temple
Han Zhaolie Temple, which is dedicated to Liu Bei, was originally built in 223 AD. The Wuhou Ancestral Hall, dedicated to Zhuge Liang, was built before the Tang Dynasty, and was later combined with the Han Zhaolie Temple in the Ming Dynasty as a place of worship for the emperor and his subjects. Liu Bei sits in the center of the Han Zhaolie Temple.
There are statues of civil and military officials surrounding the shrine, so if you like the history of the Three Kingdoms, you can spend a lot of time here. The official uniforms are determined by the highest position, and Zhao Yun belongs to the civil service, which is a far cry from the imagined military generals.
the Wuhou ancestral hall
Behind the Han Zhaolie Temple is the Wuhou Ancestral Hall, which is dedicated to Zhuge Liang. Zhuge Liang is probably too famous to sit behind Liu Bei, but the building is a bit more elegant, as he is really a great master.
On the wall outside, there is a table of the former and the latter. Although there is a statue of Zhuge Liang inside the shrine, in fact Zhuge Liang is not really buried here, but in Dingjun Mountain. Behind the Wuhou Ancestral Hall, there is another stone with the name of Xishenfang (喜神方). It is a tradition in Chengdu to visit the Xishenfang during the Chinese New Year to get a head start at the Wuhou Ancestral Temple. The Xishenfang means the direction where the god of happiness is located, and Liu Guanzhang and Zhu Ge Liang represent the spirit of righteousness and loyalty respectively, and are regarded as the gods of happiness by the people.
San Yi Temple
San Yi Temple is dedicated to Liu Guan and Zhang, and the statue here looks a bit more humane than the one in the previous Han Zhaolie Temple.
Behind the San Yi Temple, you can see the Peach Garden, which is actually a garden with a stone statue of Liu Guan Zhang, the leader of the Three Guilds of Justice in the Peach Garden, on a small square.
Huiling county in Fuling suburbs of Chongqing municipality, formerly in Sichuan
The Huiling Mausoleum is the mausoleum of Liu Bei, the Emperor Zhaolie of Han Dynasty. It is worth seeing the beautiful garden and bamboo in front of Huiling Mausoleum. When you arrive at the mausoleum through the beautiful gardens and bamboos, it doesn't have the heavy feeling of a mausoleum.
Chengdu Attractions | Dujiangyan
Dujiangyan in Sichuan, a famous water engineering project and World Heritage SiteThe Dujiangyan was built in 256 A.D. It is located in the upper reaches of the Minjiang River. At that time, when the Minjiang River was in full water, the sediment flowing down from the high mountains in the north would easily overflow and cause disaster when it reached the Chengdu Plain, and the Chengdu Plain was short of water to irrigate during the dry season, which made the residents of Chengdu very disturbed. During the Warring States period, Li Bing, a governor of Qin, led a group of people to control the water and built the Dujiangyan, which solved the problem of chronic flooding, and enabled the good fields of Chengdu Plain to have enough water and be free from flooding, thus creating Sichuan's reputation as the "Land of Heaven". Dujiangyan is a great water conservancy engineering miracle that has been in use since the Warring States period and is one of the world's cultural heritages, making it an absolute must-see in Chengdu.
The main project of Dujiangyan is divided into three parts, the Baobuankou for water diversion, the Feishayan for overflowing floods and discharging sand, and the Fisheiyan for dividing water into the inner and outer rivers. Generally speaking, the inner river is used for irrigation, while the outer river is used for flooding, thus solving the problem of water quantity. The tour starts from the Baobuikou to visit the three major projects, then goes to the Qinyan Building to see the panoramic view of the project, visits the Erwang Temple commemorating Li Bing's father and son, and finally passes through the South Bridge to go back to the entrance at the very beginning.
Baby Bottle Top
After entering Dujiangyan, tourists need to walk for a while, and before crossing the bridge, they will see the Bottle Mouth. A closer look at the mouth of the vase reveals its wide top and narrow bottom, which was manually dug thousands of years ago and has the function of restraining the flow of water and controlling the amount of water entering the Inner River. Through this opening, the river water flows into the Neijiang River and can be used for irrigation in the Chengdu Plain.
The "water rule" on the cliff on the left bank is used to observe the water level.
Fraser's Weir
Originally known as the Squire's Weir, the Flying Sand Weir was used to remove sediment from the inner river and excess river water during the peak season. The top of the weir is 2 meters above the riverbed. When the water volume is too large, the water level above will naturally flow to the outer river, eliminating flooding in the plains. Due to the centrifugal force of the bend, the sediment will also be naturally thrown to the outer river, preventing the river channel used for irrigation from being silted up with sediment.
mouth of a fish
The most important project of Dujiangyan, the Fish Mouth, is in the upper reaches of the Minjiang River. When the Min River flows through the fish mouth, it is divided into two rivers, the Inner River and the Outer River. The width of the fish mouth is calculated so that in the spring when the water volume is small, 60% of the water flows into the inner river for irrigation, while in the flood season when the water level overflows the fish mouth, only 40% of the water flows into the inner river. The location of the fish spout has changed several times, and the spout we see now was decided in 1936 during a major renovation.
Mission Hills Bridge
Aman Suo Bridge is one of the five famous ancient bridges and a major transportation route between the inner and outer rivers.
Qin Yan Building
After actually visiting the three major projects, you can climb up to the Qinyan Building to see the entire Dujiangyan project, which is quite spectacular. Back when the Dujiangyan was being built, Li Bing and his son were supervising the construction from this location.
Erwang Temple
The Erwang Temple is a temple honoring Li Bing and his son, located on Yulei Mountain next to Dujiangyan. Continue down the trail back to the exit, passing a cluster of buildings that are now small stores.
South Bridge
The South Bridge was originally a wooden bridge built by the county magistrate with the balance of silver taels after the major repair of Dujiangyan in the Qing Dynasty, and was honored as the first bridge at the source of Tianfu.
Chengdu Attractions | Panda Paradise | Dujiangyan China Panda Park
Of course, you can't visit Sichuan without seeing the giant pandas. The largest panda base in Chengdu, and also the one most visited by tourists, is the Giant Panda Breeding Base. However, if you have limited time and don't want to be crowded with tourists, you can also go to the Panda Paradise (now renamed Dujiangyan Chinese Giant Panda Park) next to Dujiangyan. There are very few tourists in this park, so it is very easy to see the pandas up close and personal, and you can watch them for as long as you like. If you want to try a panda tour, you can do so for a price of RMB 5,000 and advance reservations are required.
The garden looks like a nice place to feed the pandas, surrounded by forest, with plenty of room for them to move around, and of course, there is also an endless supply of bamboo to eat. In addition to the black and white giant pandas, there are also a small number of small pandas, which look more like raccoons but are reddish-brown in color.
Chengdu Attractions | Jinli
Jinli is next door to the Wuhou Ancestral Temple, an ancient commercial street that was famous as early as the Qin, Han and Three Kingdoms periods. Nowadays, Jinli is actually an antique commercial street, the L-shaped street is very easy to walk, even if you don't eat, don't play to walk around to see the ancient stores is also not bad, is also a place to buy souvenirs or snacks. Jinli is very busy both in the daytime and at night, but at night it has a better atmosphere.
At the entrance of Jinli, there are mostly specialty stores, and after walking all the way to the Grand Theater and then to the left, there is a snack street. There are many teahouses and pubs in Jinli, which are even more popular when there is food.
When we talk about specialties in Sichuan, of course we think of spicy food. This one is calledSansheng Chuan Chili ShopThe storefront of the store is easily attracted by the abundance of dried chili peppers. They sell all kinds of chili products, so you can buy some Sichuan hot pot base to take home. (China has a lot of good food, but not much of it makes it through customs.)
This side of the snack street is very much like a night market, so I tried some traditional Sichuan snacks here, and this one sells Bachi Chicken, which is kind of like spicy braised chicken mash, served on a skewer.
Chengdu Attractions | Jiuye Bridge
Nine Eyes Bridge was originally built in the twenty-first year of the Wanli reign of the Ming Dynasty, because there are nine holes under the bridge, so it is called the Nine Eyes Bridge, of course, we are now seeing the new bridge, the night lights hit on the look very beautiful. You don't just come to see the bridge, the legendary bar street is here. If you want to try Chengdu's nightlife, you can't miss Jiuye Bridge. If you've been to other Chinese bars, this place is similar to a Chinese bar, so you can hang out here for a long time if you like.
Chengdu Attractions | Dufu Cao Tang
Du Fu's Cao Tang is located in the western suburbs of Chengdu. During the An Shi Rebellion of the Tang Dynasty, the great poet Dufu lived in exile in Chengdu and built a thatched cottage here for four years. These four years were the peak of Du Fu's creativity, and he composed more than 240 poems, making the Cao Tang an important memorial place for Du Fu.
Inside the museum, Du Fu's life is introduced in detail, and after walking around the museum, you will have a deeper understanding of the great poet Du Fu. Dufu's life was one of the most difficult among poets. Not only was he poor, but he also lived in exile all his life, and it seems that he never had enough to eat. His youngest son was starved to death when he was less than a year old, and Du Fu himself died of indigestion after eating too much beef and white wine in one go because he hadn't eaten for a few days.
The area outside the exhibition hall is like a park with more places to walk around. The real Cao Tang was a thatched cottage, but of course it's impossible to leave it now. Most of the existing buildings were built during the Ming and Qing dynasties. The Gongbu Ancestral Hall is the last part of the main body of the Hall and houses a statue of Du Fu.
The most crowded house in the past was reconstructed from the hut Du Fu lived in, and the table and chairs, simple living room, and kitchen where Du Fu wrote were set up according to the imagination of the descendants, depicting the scene of Du Fu's living in the hut.
In one corner of the park is the Wanfo Building, which is part of the former Fan'an Temple complex, displaying large color-glazed lacquer murals and sculptures of poets. From there, you can view the Dufu Cao Tang Garden and Chengdu cityscape.
Chengdu Attractions | Qingyang Palace
Qingyang Temple is the oldest and largest Taoist temple in Southwest China, not far from Jinli. It is the holy place of Quanzhen Taoism, known as the "No. 1 Taoist Temple in Western Sichuan" and the "No. 1 Jungle in Southwest China", and is said to be the place where Lao Zi once taught the Tao Te Ching. The history of Qingyang Palace can be traced back to the Zhou Dynasty, and it was originally called Qingyang Temple. It is said that the fairy boy under the Qing Emperor transformed into a green goat and manifested his spirit here, hence the name Qingyang. During the Huang Chao Rebellion, Emperor Xizong of the Tang Dynasty used this place as a palace to escape from the disaster and gave it the name of Qingyang Palace after he returned to Chang'an. Most of the original buildings were destroyed during the wars of the Ming Dynasty, and most of the existing buildings were rebuilt during the Qing Dynasty.
Temple of the Mixed World (Suzhou, Jiangsu)
The Hall of Mixed Elements is one of the main structures of Qingyang Palace, covering an area of 600 square meters and dedicated to the Master of Mixed Elements (Tai Shang Lao Jun) and Ci Hang Zhen Zhen (慈航真人), one of the twelve Golden Immortals of Taoism.
gossip pavilion
The Bagua Pavilion is designed according to the Taoist doctrine of the Eight Trigrams of Yin and Yang, with a rounded top, octagonal body and square base, symbolizing the ancient concept of the circle of heaven and the circle of earth. Inside and outside the pavilion, there are eighty-one dragons carved, and the outer dragon pillars are the essence of the art. Inside the pavilion is an image of Laozi riding a green ox out of Hangu Pass in the west.
Tripitaka (602-664) Tang dynasty Buddhist temple in Xi'an
Sanqing Hall, also known as Wuji Hall, is the main hall of Qingyang Palace. It enshrines the highest deity of Taoism, the Three Ching, with the Jade Clear Heavenly Father in the center, the Taoist Father of Tai Ching on the right, and the Lingbao Heavenly Father of Shang Ching on the left. The one-horned bronze goat in the temple is a precious cultural relic. It is said that touching the green goat in front of the temple can bring blessings and dispel disasters.
Jade Emperor Hall
The Jade Emperor Hall, built during the Daoguang period, is dedicated to the Jade Emperor. It is said that the Dharma Platform on the left side of the temple was once the place where Laozi preached.
Luzu Hall
The Lu Zu Hall is dedicated to Lu Dongbin and Han Xiangzi, the Eight Immortals. There are many Taoist cultural relics inside. However, for visitors, the most conspicuous thing is the bagua on the ground, which is said to be the strongest magnetic field in Qingyang Palace.
Erxian Temple (Tw)
Originally a garden, Erxianan was built during the Kangxi period. On one side hangs the imperial gift of the Kangxi Emperor, "Dantai BidongThe plaque, look closely at Bizi, written with a little more mistakes, but the emperor wrote it and no one dared to point out his mistakes, so it was hung up like this. The other side is called the Mountain Gate, and there is a big stone tablet with the character Dao.
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