Chengdu May 2017

Chengdu is the capital of China’s Sichuan province and is one of the only major places that has maintained its name nearly unchanged and its location from imperial to communist eras.  Chengdu served as capital to Liu Bei’s Shu during the Three Kingdoms Era (220-280 AD).  Nowadays, it is famed for being the home of the giant pandas and wonderful spicy food.  Chengdu also serves as a great base to visit nearby sites such as LeShan Giant Buddha and Sanxingdui archaeological site.  We stayed at The Temple House hotel in central Chengdu for the next 6 days.  This first post will cover the places we visited within the city of Chengdu.

Temple House Hotel

Beautiful entrance to the Temple House Hotel

Passage to the high-rise of Temple House Hotel

Qingyang Palace 青羊宫 is a Taoist temple where the most integrated collection of the study of Taoism, Dao Zang Ji Yao, is stored.  Qingyang Palace dates back to the Zhou Dynasty (1046-256 BC) where the founder of Taoism, Laozi, expounded the texts of Tao Te Ching to an official Guan Yin.  The palace was first built during the Tang Dynasty (618-907) over a thousand years ago and what we see today is mostly built during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).  The structure is made up of six main buildings: the Front Gate, Hunyuan Hall, Hall of Three Purities or Sanqing Hall, Hall of Goddess Doumu, Hall of Jade Emperor, and Hall of Tang Emperors.  One can see clearly the Taoist style of architecture with glazed tiled roofs, animal carvings decorating the pillars, and the Ying Yang symbol.  You will notice that all visitors will rub the pair of bronze goat sculptures placed in front of Sanqing Hall.  The goat on the left is actually a mythical creature which combines the features of the 12 animal signs of the Chinese zodiac.  It has a mouse’s ears, an ox’s nose, a tiger’s claws, a rabbit’s mouth, a dragon’s horn, a snake’s tail, a horse’s face, a goat’s beard, a chicken’s eyes, a dog’s belly, and a pig’s thighs.  Legend has it that these two bronze goats were incarnates of two servants of the Pure Emperor and that they could cure all diseases.  It is believed that touching a certain part of the goat will release pain and disease from that equivalent part on the human body.

Qingyang Palace

Qingyang Palace

Ancient structure surrounded by the modern city of Chengdu

Mythical goat like creature representing all 12 animals from the Chinese zodiac.

Jinli Pedestrian Street

There are many performance halls and restaurants with traditional Face Changing or Bian Lian shows which is an ancient Chinese dramatic art that is part of the Sichuan Opera.  Performers wear colorful masks which they change from one face to another almost instantaneously with a movement of the head or a wave of the hand.  This art form began about 300 years ago during the reign of Emperor Qianlong (1736-1795).  The secret of this art is passed down from generation to generation within families and most usually only passed onto males of the families.  Apparently, skilled actors can change about 10 masks in 20 seconds and wear up to 24 masks at the same time.  We had the opportunity to see a variety of traditional performances while enjoying our tea at one of these halls.

Sichuan Opera

Sichuan Opera

 

Sichuan Opera

 

Sichuan Opera

 

Thanks for stopping by!