Introducing Chengdu Places

When I first arrived in Chengdu seven years ago almost nothing came easily. Maps and menus were in Chinese, virtually no information was available online, and everything seemed to require speaking Chinese. It took years to explore each corner of Chengdu, but now so much information is accessible online within seconds. Chengdu Living is one of the projects that helped me learn about Chengdu, as well as pass that knowledge on to you, the Reader.

Some quick numbers on Chengdu Living:

  • 200+ posts published comprising 200,000+ words (equivalent to several average novels in length)
  • 10,000+ Chengdu Forum posts authored by thousands of members

Now we’ve decided to take it a bit further. We’re launching a new project that we’ve been working on for months, called Chengdu Places.

The Idea Behind Chengdu Places

Over the last year I’ve noticed a clear trend in the Chengdu Forum: people want to find and share information about places in the city. Some recent examples:

Each of these questions were not only answered, but led to in-depth discussions surrounding these topics (and in some cases, even group activities and hand-drawn maps to point people in the right direction). In short, the community is the best provider of information, but the forum as a platform for this exchange isn’t ideal. So the writing was on the wall: create a platform for sharing information on locations in Chengdu.

What Makes Chengdu Places Different

From the beginning the idea was not to create a listing of each and every location in Chengdu, but to create a very high quality listing of the places in Chengdu that everyone should know about.

We didn’t want to create or manage a listing of thousands of locations because Chengdu simply doesn’t have that many locations that are relevant to the average person. However, if you’re looking for a great coffee shop, Chengdu’s must-see temples, or other places of interest within proximity to you, Chengdu Places is made exactly for these things.

Features

  • Browse by type or city quadrant to find new places of interest to you
  • Each place listing includes photographs, description, and a Google map so you have all the info you need
  • Search by keyword to locate places by name, or just search for keywords like “coffee” to return coffee shops
  • Leave feedback on places to share your thoughts with the community
  • Suggest new places to be added to Chengdu Places to share your findings with others

Check It Out

At launch Chengdu Places is beginning with 52 published places across the city, with more to be added on a regular basis. You can browse the Quick Guide to Chengdu Places or go directly to the site by clicking the button below:

[button link=”http://www.chengduplaces.com” size=”large” color=”green” window=”yes”]Go to Chengdu Places[/button]

13 thoughts on “Introducing Chengdu Places”

  1. Having run into you on numerous occasions, camera in hand and a day’s itinerary of places to hit up, got to say, quite proud of you for pulling off a project of this scale. I’m with Sascha on this one. Congrats!

    /highfive

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  2. Yes, good job indeed. I imagine that this must be made all the more difficult due to Chengdu changing at the speed of light.

    Trying to find accurate maps of Shanghai a few years back was a bit difficult but kind of easier now as construction has slowed down somewhat.

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    • It’s a double-edged sword because on one hand there are a lot of exciting places emerging in Chengdu right now like the Natooke Bicycle Shop. At the same time you have other places dropping off the map like Xiong Mao. I would say it evens out but in general this trend makes me feel hopeful that Chengdu has a lot of exciting things coming in the next year.

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    • I think the layout accommodates community input which ought to help it adapt to all the changes.

      For my business partner and I the gears are already grinding on places that I’ve discovered over the past few months that are super useful for the the Chengdu newcomer, including vast hardware markets, go-to tool shops, fabric markets, etc.

      There’s a lot of amazing places even within the 3rd ring road that take some serious legwork to find and Places looks to eliminate that.

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    • I’m definitely up for it and I’m confident that others are willing to help me put the pieces together to make a community resource that’s valuable to everyone.

      On the Chengdu Forum alone I’ve discovered tons of cool places that I wouldn’t have found otherwise. That really opened a door for the expat community in Chengdu to share information and this is just the next step. Now when I hear someone mention something that I feel like I should know about, I get excited about checking the place out, taking photos, and sharing the information!

      Reply
  3. Good job Charlie! This is another great resource for the community, and one that the community can help contribute to as well. Congratulations!

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  4. Sweet. This is exactly the kind of info I’ve been looking for since arriving here a couple of months ago. Thanks for setting up a such a valuable resource.

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  5. I could not agree more. Back then, there were less information on the net. Now, all information is all over the place. By the way, rock climbing seems special in Chengdu. I’ll put this on my bucket list.

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  6. Hi, i’m moving to chengdu soon, looking for house and places to hang out in free time. Any advice? I like the road near shangrile hotel where is some bars and restaurants, some houses around look good, but i don’t which one is good location to live, i don’t know the city.

    Reply
    • Hi Van,

      I would browse around Chengdu Places and see what strikes you. As far as where to live, that’s a good question to pose to the Chengdu Forum. Everyone has a different opinion of where is best, but most foreigners opt to live in the South of Chengdu.

      Reply

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