Chengdu is a central China mega-city (16,000,000 in the metro area) and a gateway to the Tibetan Plateau. The city's wide boulevards, public spaces and parks, and good dining make it rank among China's most livable cities. While the famous Sichuan Hot Pot dish originated slightly east in the Chongqing area, spicy hot pot restaurants are found all over the city. At most of these hot pot restaurants the food is on sticks in a refrigerator - you pick out what you like and head back to a table where a boiling pot of sauce is waiting to cook the food. A recently opened metro system makes it easy to reach areas of interest and points farther away. While Chengdu is a starting point for people heading for Tibet, the Silk Road, or to Chongqing for a Yangtze Cruise, the city and surrounding area has two of the top attractions in China: the Leshan Giant Buddha and the Giant Panda Research Center.
LESHAN GIANT BUDDHA
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After seeing many sites and attractions I've realized that I'm usually more impressed by size over intricate details, I'd rather visit a big building than an art museum loaded with the best paintings. Thus Leshan's Giant Buddha, at over 200 feet in height, is the best Buddha I've seen in my travels...and the largest sitting Buddha in the world (for comparison's sake, the Statue of Liberty is 154 feet tall, with another 151 feet base).
Leshan's Buddha was completed in 803 and remained the tallest statue in the world for over a millennium until Russia built the Rodina-Mat Zovyot in 1967 (mental note, schedule a future trip to Volgograd). At 502 feet, Lushan's (that's a "u" and not an "e") Spring Garden Temple Buddha is now the tallest Buddha in world - but that Buddha was completed in 2008 and is a modern tourist attraction. Come to Lushan for the original. The Buddha is carved into the side of a riverside cliff - you approach the Buddha from the top ridge of the cliff and the first thing you see is a giant head sticking out from an opening and then boom he's right in front of you - less than fifteen feet away. |
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After a few walks around the Buddha's head (and lots of photos) I joined the long line to walk down and around the Buddha. From the top it takes about two hours to for the viewing line to proceed down the stairs and pass the base of the Buddha. Along the descent you can get close to the Buddha but it’s still difficult to describe the full size of the Buddha - it's fingernails are almost six feet in length. Alternatively you could take a boat ride to view the Buddha and capture the full panorama effect of the Buddha and the river below.
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Views from the base.
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A few more head shots. I could never take enough head shot photos.
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I visited the Leshan Giant Buddha as part of a combo tour that included a stop at the Chengdu Panda Breeding and Research Center. The Buddha is nearly a two hour drive from central Chengdu, so if you do opt to visit the Buddha on your own, I'd recommend hiring a driver than relying on public transportation. In an odd coincidence an American who was studying abroad in China that I met while hiking in India happened to be on the same Leshan Giant Buddha trip. Small world.
GIANT PANDA RESERVE
It was a bit rainy at the Chengdu Panda Breeding and Research Center - the Panda's didn't seem to mind but the rain meant I was constantly poked with umbrellas. Every few minutes the Pandas would shake their fur to get the water off and wind up as a giant puff ball of fur sticking out. The Research Center had large habitats and was laid out like a panda only zoo.
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One of the Center's primary projects is panda breeding (pandas supposedly have a notoriously low sex drive) and I saw two new born pandas that were less than two weeks old. Baby pandas are born pre-mature and no larger than a human hand. The baby panda was not distinguishable as a panda and was far from the cute, furry animal you’d expect - it looked more like a rat than anything else. Once mom panda give birth, the babies need to be immediately separated because it's common for the mom panda to accidental flick or throw the baby. Apparently, I'm not the only one that thinks they look like a rat.
The Research Center also had a few Red Pandas who's face and tree sitting made them seem closer to a raccoon than their black and white cousins.
The Research Center also had a few Red Pandas who's face and tree sitting made them seem closer to a raccoon than their black and white cousins.
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EXPLORING THE REST OF CHENGDU
As of June 2020, the New Century Global Center is the world's largest building in terms of floor area. I'm not sure but I think it's the largest building by an area measurement term - the Boeing factory in Washington supposedly has more volume area. I've been to the Boeing factory and I'm not buying those measurements. The New Century Global Center looked and felt larger. The building is over 300 feet tall and a quarter mile in length and width. The building takes being largest to a whole other level. It is more than three times the size of the Pentagon.
The building is home to everything - multiple hotels, a mall, a water park, concert hall, and a university.
The building is home to everything - multiple hotels, a mall, a water park, concert hall, and a university.
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Several Western companies have established offices and a few countries have embassy outposts located here. This has created a few upmarket areas, such as Tongzilin, with patio-style, Western restaurants and a lively bar and nightclub scene.
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I've always thought that if American politicians and businesses could go back in time forty years, to when Deng Xiaoping began opening China to the rest of the world, and had a better understanding of China that the relations between our two countries would be stronger today and that the world as a whole would be better off with our countries working in tandem rather than as competitors. It was inevitable that China was going to be become a manufacturing center. It was inevitable that China was going to steal technology and intellectual property. I've discussed this behavior in other sections. For worse, it's the way the Chinese are but they've been this way for over 2,000 years. I'm not sure how American politicians and businesses went blind to their Chinese relationships.
I bring this up, because I think for the most part, the Chinese really, really like Americans. I think they like paying up for American brands. Eating American food. Watching American movies. Whereas the South Koreans and Japanese have the fancy Italian and French flair, the Chinese dress and act like they live in American suburbs.
The Chinese seem genuinely curious about Americans and interested in being friendly to Americans. Again, something that I think the South Koreans and Japanese don't seem to put an emphasis on. Americans joke about how the French look down on us; I got that vibe from the South Koreans and Japanese. I did not get that vibe from the Chinese. The Chinese were interested in being friends. Interested in knowing about you (and not in the creepy Indian way). This is all a long way of saying that I didn't pay for any second beers when I went out drinking in Chengdu. I'd order a beer at the bar, start talking to a local, and they'd pay for my next beer. And this is all a longer way of saying, that if forty years ago, we truly understood the Chinese, maybe we'd be working together to dominate in the world instead of heading for a potential collision.
I bring this up, because I think for the most part, the Chinese really, really like Americans. I think they like paying up for American brands. Eating American food. Watching American movies. Whereas the South Koreans and Japanese have the fancy Italian and French flair, the Chinese dress and act like they live in American suburbs.
The Chinese seem genuinely curious about Americans and interested in being friendly to Americans. Again, something that I think the South Koreans and Japanese don't seem to put an emphasis on. Americans joke about how the French look down on us; I got that vibe from the South Koreans and Japanese. I did not get that vibe from the Chinese. The Chinese were interested in being friends. Interested in knowing about you (and not in the creepy Indian way). This is all a long way of saying that I didn't pay for any second beers when I went out drinking in Chengdu. I'd order a beer at the bar, start talking to a local, and they'd pay for my next beer. And this is all a longer way of saying, that if forty years ago, we truly understood the Chinese, maybe we'd be working together to dominate in the world instead of heading for a potential collision.
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People's Park and Tianfu Square in the center of the city offer good people watching - major boulevards radiate out to other areas of the city. There's a few malls and a shopping district around the Chunxi Pedestrian Road area.
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For additional Chengdu photos see FLICKR ALBUM.