About Chengdu
Chengdu Local Culture
Chengdu Teahouse: Going to the teahouse is a special hobby of the Chengdu people. In Chengdu, there are teahouses in the busiest streets, tea stands in the shabby lanes, open-air tea rooms in the parks and tea gardens in colleges. In a word, teahouses are everywhere, especially in the old streets and lanes where teahouses come to your vision one after another. What’s more, the teahouses are all packed with streams of customers. The business of the teahouses is way too good to believe!
The teahouses in Chengdu are rich in history and come in a large number with its unique style. No matter which teahouse you go to, you will experience the strong Chengdu local lifestyle by yourself. The bamboo arm-chairs, small rectangular tables, special teapots, traditional kitchen stoves, purplish coppery pots as well as the skillful waiters who are responsible for serving the guests with tea will definitely impress you a lot.
The teahouses are also the important recreational places for the local people. Nearly all the Sichuan folk arts can be found here: Chinese storytelling, the Sichuan opera, the Sichuan cymbal, the Sichuan rap songs with the sound of bamboo clappers, etc.
Apart from the foresaid roles, the teahouses are important places for socializing as well. People of all walks of life gather here and people of all sorts of occupations regard the teahouses as ideal places for them to hang out with both new and old friends. They sit around, gossip and talk about the social events. The teahouse, indeed, is a mirror that reflects the social life of the local people.
Chengdu Pandas: Chongzhou, Dujiangyan, Dayi, Pengzhou and Qionglai in the domain of Chengdu are the places where pandas haunt about and one of the main regions where pandas live in compact communities. Visitors from home and abroad come to Chengdu in the hope of seeing the pandas.
The Pandas Breeding and Research Base of Chengdu is located on the peak of Futou Mountain in the northern suburb of Chengdu with a broad road connected to the downtown area. It’s the most popular place for seeing pandas. Such rare animals that are on the verge of extinction as giant pandas, infant pandas and black-necked cranes live here leisurely without being bothered by the outside world. In the halls and on the grasses, the giant pandas sit or sleep, drink or play with each other, come or go back and forth. Each of them has some fun. What a compelling picture!
There is no panda exhibition hall in the Chengdu Zoo that’s situated in the northern suburb of Chengdu. There are altogether over ten pandas here on display. The artificial propagation technology exclusively owned by the zoo has come up to an international advanced level, drawing great attention from all around the world.
Sichuan Opera: Sichuan opera is one of the features of Sichuan and Chengdu is home to various operas. As early as in the Tang Dynasty, there spread the saying “the Sichuan operas top those elsewhere”. During the period of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty, based on the local lantern operas, Sichuan opera that is performed in the local dialect with a combination of such various rhythm schemes as high-pitched tune, the sound of Chinese fiddle, the melodies of the Kun opera and martial arts was created. The words of the Sichuan opera are vivid and humorous, featuring striking local styles. Since most of the stories of the operas stem from people’s daily life, they are quite popular amongst the people.
There are a myriad of theatrical plays of the Sichuan opera. A saying has widely spread in the folk, “The theatrical pieces of the Sichuan opera are way too many to enumerate.” The most prevailing plays are The Tale of Madam White Snake and Jinshan Pagoda, The Stories under the Shade of Willow Trees, The Stories behind the Jade Hairpin and The Romance in the Colorful Mansion. When it comes to Sichuan opera, there are a number of stunts that you can’t miss: lifting, eyes magic show, face changing, fire throwing (from the mouth) and knife-hiding magic show. How impressive they are! Amongst them, the most famous stunt is face changing. You can watch face changing performances in Sichuan Theater, which is located in Zhuangyuan Street 20. You can also watch them in Shunxing Teahouse in the Exhibition Center, Shufeng Square in the People’s Park and Shufeng Liyun Opera House in the Cultural Park.