Things to do
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Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding
Founded in 1987 with six pandas rescued from the wild, the base now breeds and raises dozens on wooded ground north of the city. Nurseries, bamboo enclosures and a red panda section are linked by shaded paths and electric carts. Animals feed and move in the cool of the morning, then sleep through the afternoon.
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Dujiangyan
Li Bing and his engineers split the Min River around 256 BC without damming it, and the works still water the Chengdu plain today. Three elements do the job: a levee shaped like a fish mouth, a spillway that throws off sand, and a channel cut through the rock. A suspension bridge crosses the divided current to a hillside temple.
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Jinli
A pedestrian lane beside the Wuhou Shrine, rebuilt in western Sichuan style and opened in 2004, is given over to snack stalls, teahouses and souvenir shops. Skewers, rabbit heads and glutinous rice cakes come from the food alley at the back. Red lanterns go on after dark, which is when the crowding peaks.
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Jinsha Site Museum
Construction crews cut into a Bronze Age settlement here in 2001, turning up gold, jade and ivory from the Shu culture that followed Sanxingdui. The museum keeps the excavation pit open under a roof, with the finds displayed in a hall alongside. Among them is the gold sun bird disc adopted as a national heritage emblem.
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Kuanzhai Alley
Three parallel lanes, wide, narrow and well, survive from the Manchu garrison quarter laid out in the Qing era and were restored and reopened in 2008. Courtyard houses behind grey brick walls now hold teahouses, bars and small restaurants. Weekday mornings are calm; by evening the lanes are shoulder to shoulder.
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Leshan Giant Buddha
Carved into a red sandstone cliff where the Min and Dadu rivers meet, this seated Maitreya stands about 71 metres high and took most of the eighth century to finish. A monk named Haitong began it, hoping the work would calm the currents that wrecked boats below. Stairs down the cliffside back up badly at midday.
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Mount Qingcheng
One of the cradles of Taoism, this forested ridge west of the city carries temples and pavilions strung along stone stairways under old trees. Zhang Daoling taught here in the second century, and the mountain went onto the UNESCO list with the Dujiangyan waterworks in 2000. The front slope has a cable car and a ferry; the rear takes a full day on foot.
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Wuhou Shrine
Liu Bei and his chancellor Zhuge Liang share one walled compound south of the centre, unusual for joining a ruler and his minister in a single temple. Most of what stands dates from a rebuilding in 1672, including the painted statues in the side corridors. Liu Bei's tomb mound sits in the gardens at the back.