"Chengdu, a city you don't want to leave once you come," this sentence was seen on an advertisement board at the exit of Wuhou Temple. The words "an yi" (leisure) and "ba shi" (comfortable) are the most representative evaluations of Chengdu. Due to its leisurely pace, this city known as the "Fourth City of China" always seems half a beat slower, making it easy to overlook its busyness and pursuit of material wealth. What remains in your sight is seemingly always teahouses, mahjong, and hotpot with skewered food... Writer Liu Shahe summarized Chengdu's character as equality and certainty, not proactive, nor lazy; not cold, nor passionate; not high-pitched, nor low-key, with a very strong sense of proportion, everything can be just right.
The Fourth City: Beijing has the beauty of a great city, Shanghai has the beauty of fashion, Guangzhou has the beauty of wealth creation, Chengdu has the beauty of life. Cities can be replicated, fashion can be pursued, wealth can be accumulated, but lifestyle constitutes Chengdu's unique urban competitiveness!
Tianfu City: Since the completion of the Dujiangyan irrigation project in the Qin Dynasty, the Chengdu Plain has been known as "fertile for thousands of miles, called a land sea, drought then water drawn, rain then water gate closed, hence water and drought follow people, people know no famine, times without barren years, the world calls it Tianfu."
National Treasure Panda: The national treasure panda is the pride of the animal kingdom, one of the most loved animals by the world, and also Chengdu's pride. Pandas are also called China's friendly ambassadors, actively promoting friendship and mutual understanding between China and foreign countries.
Sichuan Cuisine: Coming to Chengdu, eating is a great pleasure, a great enjoyment, and a great feature. Different dietary habits blend together, creating Chengdu's long-standing culinary culture. Spicy Sichuan cuisine, steaming hot pot, and a variety of snacks will certainly give your taste buds a baptism.
Speaking of eating in Chengdu, we must mention the hot pot here. The famous Chongqing hot pot is renowned both domestically and internationally. When entering a hot pot restaurant, the boss will enthusiastically ask, "How many? What kind of pot do you want?" Generally, first-time visitors will ask, "What kinds of pots are there?" The boss will tell you, "There's clear soup, red pot, and yin-yang pot. The red pot has beef tallow or vegetable oil. Beef tallow is rich, vegetable oil is refreshing." Thus, after selecting the pot, sitting down, and slowly ordering dishes, next comes the fun part—cooking and eating! In the following days, we ate seven hot pot meals!
Pangma Hot Pot ↓ Eaten twice, so good you feel like cursing!
Huangcheng Laoma Hot Pot ↓
Shizilou Hot Pot
After eating, feeling quite satisfied! Spicy noodles, boiled fish, new platform stone hot pot, Hongji congee hot pot (even mild ones have their place), and of course, delicious hot pots like Wei Dao Jiang Hu, Chuanjiang Haozi, Kong Liang, Lao Matou, Sanzhi'er, cold pot fish, and many more! Definitely satisfying to the core of your soul, paired with Sichuan hot pot's unique cooked beer, even more relaxing! Beer + wolfberry + rock sugar + sweet rice wine + ginger slices + jujube, cooked together tastes great and has the function of regulating the spleen and stomach, winter nourishment.
Spicy rabbit head, Jinli: Since we arrived at 10 PM, I found a set of photos online. As soon as you enter Jinli, you can see all sorts of artisans on the ancient street. Under the big walls, small merchants either make clay figures or sugar paintings, along with iron hoops from childhood, evoking memories of innocent and romantic childhood times. Next is the "snack area," where you'll find famous Sichuan snacks like beef cracker cakes, Zhang Fei beef, Jiuyouya... leaving a lingering aftertaste. Further inside, shops with rich Three Kingdoms characteristics and Sichuan Western folk customs abound, such as leather shadow puppets, Cao Camp Dam, chopstick stores... You can buy exquisite Shu embroidery or try the magical Zhuge crossbow...
Beautiful Women: This is a well-known joke: outsiders marvel at the pictures in magazines about how beautiful Chengdu girls are, but locals say, "Pfft, that counts as beautiful? There are plenty on Chunxi Road." It was four years ago when New Weekly's "The Fourth City" gave Chengdu a heart-stirring nickname: Red Powder City. Because of the beauty, so the rise. The abundance of beautiful women in Chengdu has become an indispensable part of the city's charm. To see beautiful women, go to Chunxi Road, Jinli, Qintai Road, Wenshu Monastery, Nan Yan Line during the day. At night, you can visit bars around Shenxianshu and Jiuyan Bridge. Words cannot fully describe it; you'll understand once you arrive in Chengdu.
Happy Valley Chengdu: Back in Kunming, but still missing Chengdu, its delicious food, beautiful women, leisure, and relaxation. It is precisely this ease, freedom, and passion that coalesce into Chengdu's ambiguous allure. Here, I have no intention of commenting whether such a life is sufficiently wonderful, perhaps lacking some elements. But this is Chengdu's most authentic side, actually very hard to articulate feelings about Chengdu, so it... becomes a kind of "ambiguity," Chengdu's ambiguity. So I am addicted, thoroughly. I love this city, I love this ambiguous Chengdu!
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