![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.chengduliving.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/dufu.jpg\" "\\"dufu\\"")
Near poet\u00a0Du Fu’s memorial cottage<\/a> is one of the quietest and least visited parks in the city, called Huanhua Stream (???) .<\/p>\nDu Fu’s cottage and park has become more of a tourist attraction over the years, but his poems and personality truly represent what this city once was: a place of emotion, thought and exile, before twenty years of economic growth transformed China. It served as an escape from the harsh realities of the nation’s capital far away.<\/p>\n
Read Du Fu’s description of his home and how he was forced, due to his poverty, to chase away urchins and serve his friends a measly two eggs, before walking along the stream that he sat by while composing his poems.<\/p>\n
Here are two of my favorites, one poem about a\u00a0guest arriving at his cottage<\/a>, and\u00a0another of a violent storm<\/a> tearing the thatched roof.<\/p>\n If you do decide to fly a kite from the steps of\u00a0Tianfu Plaza <\/a>(????), right beneath the largest statue of Mao Zedong in China, you might not be able to do it alone.\u00a0Something about kites in China will attract the very, very young and the very, very old. Wizened old Revolutionaries still wearing Mao-era blue suits will come up and inspect your technique and toddlers wrapped up like the Stay-puff Marshmellow man will demand to hold the kite for a second. This is one way to get away from the craziness and engage the people — and the city — in a joyful way.<\/p>\n I love to listen to the local musicians play traditional Sichuanese tunes and perform opera beneath the South People’s Road flyover (???????).\u00a0They play every night and the crowd is always respectful and appreciative.<\/p>\n Most of the performers are from the outskirts of town and they play for migrant workers, under-employed laborers, and old school locals who miss their hometowns. The music they play is the old style spoken word myth handed down for generations. Come here and see the cultural legacy of the local Chinese that has lived on for thousands of years. It’s a treat.<\/p>\n Red lamps strung from one end of Jinli to the other give just the right amount of lighting to take one away from the traffic and bustle. There are performers, vendors, dozens of shops, and a long strip of local snack specialty shops toward the end of the street as well as several western-style bars, a silk shop that makes shawls and skirts by hand (!), and dozens of others. The street performers, including musical acts and painters, sculptors, and magicians, are very impressive. Jinli was recently expanded and is now almost twice as large as previously.<\/p>\n If you really need a break, head to the Tibetan district of\u00a0Wu Hou Temple<\/a> (???)and talk with monks, lamas, or nomads down from the Himalayas.<\/p>\n This is an entirely different culture. With different faces, different gazes, different clothes, and they are as curious about you as you are about them. Of course, these are Tibetans down from the mountains, so you might want to take a trip to their home if you want to enjoy the real Tibet, but you can hear their music and smell yak butter and incense for an afternoon and get transported away.<\/p>\n Take a bus to Flower Town (???)about 15km southeast of town and enjoy a day of fresh air in Chengdu’s largest Flower market.<\/p>\n If you still don’t want to go home after buying armfuls of peach, plum, cherry, and assorted other blossoms, you can also stay here for a night at one of the dozens of bed and breakfast spots that the locals have opened up to supplement their flower-selling businesses. These bed and breakfasts are not advertised as well as they could be (especially for foreigners), but if you take a guide\/translator or ask around, you can find great places for cheap. My suggestion is to get to Flower Town (bus 56 from Jiu Yan Bridge) and then walk around. You can’t take three steps without bumping into a B&B.<\/p>\n Longquan is far enough from the city to be “out there” — you will probably be a curiosity for the locals, who don’t get that many foreigners coming through town. But what they have down there is beautiful: a huge man-made lake surrounded by hundreds of peach trees and dotted around the lake are petite tea houses. To get to Longcuan, go to the Traffic Hotel in town and ask for the bus to Longquan, they will guide you there.<\/p>\n#7: Tianfu Square<\/h3>\n
#6: South People’s Road Flyover<\/h3>\n
#5: Jinli Street<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.chengduliving.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/jinli1.jpg\" "\\"jinli\\"")
At night it’s not a place for solitude, and it might not be the “real deal” with it’s rebuilt buildings, but\u00a0Jinli<\/a> (??) sure is pretty and the snacks are delicious.<\/p>\n#4: Chengdu’s Tibetan District<\/h3>\n
#3: Flower Town<\/h3>\n
#2: Longquan Lake<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.chengduliving.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/longquan.jpg\" "\\"longquan\\"")
Visit Longquan (??) in the spring to enjoy the peach blossoms for which this little town (15 minutes from Chengdu) is famous for.<\/p>\nAnd, #1: Qing Yang Gong<\/h3>\n