Chengdu Living

I love Chengdu, but I gotta go. I took a job as copy editor in the antithesis of the ‘Du: glitzy, glamorous Shanghai. Here’s what I think about these two cities after spending 10 years in Sichuan.

Bikes are all the rage in green suburbs like San Sheng Xiang and Dujiangyan. And now you can rent one for 10RMB. The rent-a-bike system comes from cities like Paris and Lyons and Forever Corp. has done a good job of implementing the scheme here in Chengdu.

Being another provincial capital along with Chengdu, Kunming is for most people the gateway to sunny and beautiful Yunnan province. Here’s how and why you should check out Kunming for a weekend getaway.

Ever since the government began construction on the massive Pubu Dam project, Hanyuan county in Sichuan has been rocked by protests and bloody pitched battles between dis-possessed, incensed locals and the government over the corrupt and broken relocation process.

Traveling between Chengdu and Chongqing is easier than ever before, with the “He Xie” bullet train delivering passengers in style. The trip costs just 97 yuan one way and I took it recently for the second time.

Over the next few years, a number of Sichuan’s hidden gems will be revealed to a new generation of travelers. We outline some our favorite destinations in the region.

After spending a year within Mainland China on a twice-extended business visa, I was recently informed that I had to leave the country and re-enter with a new visa. For many people, this means a trip to Hong Kong. Now that my latest visa run in Hong Kong is complete, I’m ready to share what I’ve gone through on this trip and look at how the process has changed over the years.

You might not know it, but just outside of Chengdu, some of the best green teas in the world are grown on mountains shrouded in fog.

In recent years a global trend has emerged based on the principles of sustainability, and it’s begun to get a foothold in China’s Southwest. In this post, I take a look at the progress of Southwest China’s sustainable tourism industry.

Sometimes after a particularly long string of cloudy days in Chengdu, you’ll wish you could escape to somewhere like Thailand: a beautiful and tropical retreat from the cold weather. Information on helping you make that trip is inside.