Sichuan | Taste China
I, along with three other Los Angeles-based photographers, was invited by the Chinese Culture Development Center to participate in a project called - 2024 “Taste China” World-Class Photographers’ Journey Through Sichuan.
(for more information on the project see the CCDC website https://ccdcusa.com/2024-taste-china-world-class-photographers-journey-through-sichuan/)
The objective of the one-week trip to Sichuan province - located in the middle of China - was to experience and document its food and lifestyle culture.
You Yun Sichuan restaurant chefs prepare a lobster dish | restaurant workers at a halal restaurant in Chengdu | Master Chef Zhang Yuanfu supervises the stirring of assorted pastes | spice vendors in Kuan Ally | Chengdu
A giant Panda chews on bamboo | Bifengxia Panda Base | Giant Buddha statue | Leshan | card players in a Chengdu market park | a young woman in traditional dress at a photo session in Kuan Alley
I had gone on a similar trip with Nick and Ringo eight years ago to Shanghai and was looking forward to discovering and photographing another part of China. (see http://138.68.248.231/shanghai-city-of-the-future/ for the blog on Shanghai: City of the Future)
So I think I'll go day-by-day with some commentaries |
Day One | Excursion to Sanxingdui and Guanghan
We left Los Angeles on a China Eastern Airlines noon flight on 17 June and eventually arrived in Chengdu after more than 24 hours on the road early morning 19 June. Got a few hours of sleep and then headed out of the city to the Sanxingdui Museum where artifacts from the somewhat mysterious Shu Dynasty are displayed in a modern museum recently dedicated by Chinese President Xi Jinping. There were beautiful bronze and gold masks, strange sculptures of creatures - some twenty feet high - as well as jade artifacts.
Artifacts | one looks like a Mercedes Benz steering wheel | Sanxingdui Museum
and some panoramas |
Chinese visitors of Thai origins | Bronze Mask Creative Ice Cream | sort of reminds me of Hawaiian god figures
Fantastic lunch - the first of many - at an empty restaurant where a mask changing dancer gave us a private show.
On our way back we stopped at the Fanghu Park in Guanghan. There we met a young photographer, Yuja, who has been documenting the Sanxingdui excavations. He accompanied us on a visit to the temple as well as the beautiful, old wall enclosed gardens. As with most of the parks we visited there was plenty of activities going on with men playing board games, women dancing and young ladies posing for photo shoots and just people enjoying the greenery, ponds, waterways and walkways.
Scenes from Fanghu Park | statues of Chinese generals and emperors with photographer Yuja (L), our leader Donghai (C) and our guide John (R)
We returned to Chengdu and rushed to the Sichuan Opera where great performances featuring comedy sketches, magic acts, acrobats, hand shadow shows, a fashion display, culminated with a captivating performance of mask changers where even a dummy changed masks!
Scenes from the Sichuan Opera
And finally a delicious late night dinner in downtown Chengdu |
a dish with frog legs (L) and spam and other ingredients | lots of spicy pepper and super delicious
Day Two | on the road to Pandas |
We headed out of Chengdu for a three day excursion visiting sites along the mountain range that defines the western border of Sichuan. First stop was the former residence of famous Chinese poet Su Xun and his two sons Su Shi and Su Zhe in Meishan.
Scenes from Meishan Sansu Shrine
A stop for a fish stew lunch where we picked out our fresh water fish |
Fresh fish stew in a garden restaurant | outside Ya'an
And finally the pandas. We arrived late so only had a short time for the visit, but the pandas were great. And our first view of one was the best. A Giant Panda munching on a huge bamboo stalk |
Pandas | Bifengxia Panda Base
We overnighted in Ya'an and enjoyed a barbecue dinner where an entertainer sang Bob Denver's "A Country Road" |
Ringo, an accomplished chef himself, grills some kebabs | Nick, Donghai and Irfan select an assortment of kebabs | musician singing "A Country Road"
After dinner we took a stroll along the riverfront and were caught in a little downpour.
A local dance troupe flashes the peace sign | panda projection on the Qingyi River Dam | a couple stroll under the rain
Day Three | Giant Buddha and ancient village |
It was raining as we made our way to the Ya'an Tibetan Tea Village. We were the only visitors and we sampled some tea and I bought some Tibetan Black Tea for my wife, Mona |
The team posing with bronze statues of tea porters | tea sales woman | Mengding Mountain Tea
Next stop was the Suji Ancient Village along the Emei River | know for its beef production
Suji village scenes | gold water buffalo statue | Beef Museum | beef jerky | tea house | grounding Sichuan pepper |
Our final stop - the Giant Buddha of Leshan | It is the largest and tallest stone Buddha statue in the world and is 233 feet tall and was built between 713 and 803 AD. It is located at the confluence of the Min and Dadu Rivers and is believed to be at the location where Buddhism first took hold in China | It reminded me of the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses II Temple of Abu Simbel which was carved out of a mountain on the banks of the Nile River | Very impressive and what a location over looking the rivers and in the distance the Emei Mountain
Views of the Giant Buddha
Worshippers | tourists | Monks | Lingyun Temple | UNESCO World Heritage site
After checking into the hotel and a brief rest, we headed out to a popular dining quarter near the river. As my colleagues wondered around the festive street environment, I decided to take a sunset stroll along the river walk. I have an affinity for water and river cities have always captivated me. The confluence of the two rivers with their different colors reminded me of the meetings of the Blue and White Niles in Khartoum, Sudan. However, the setting could not be more different.
Pooches | dancers | and a fisherman | Min Jiang River corniche | Leshan
and another great dining experience |
Scenes from Leshan street dining quarter
a restaurant employee in a monkey mask dances to entice diners | Ringo accompanies a street musician in a popular Chinese pop tune
Day Four | Dinosaurs | Salt | and high speed train |
The day started with a beautiful, relaxing drive through the rolling countryside of southern Sichuan province to Zigong where we first visited the Zigong Dinosaur Museum, one of the best in the world. It's been awhile since I visited a dinosaur site and it still amazes me that such incredible creatures once inhabited the earth.
Scenes from the Dino Museum | lots of families and kids
a portion of the museum is built over a preserved excavation site with ultra-realistic archaelogist manniquins | Zigong Dinosaur Museum
Next up | the Zigong Salt Making Industry History Museum. Since Sichuan is so far from any ocean or sea, they had to find salt another way. 250 million years ago during the Triassic period - the period of time that dinosaurs evolved - the Sichuan basin was surrounded by open ocean. So very deep down there was salt. Salt making wells were sunk as early as 220 BC and continued until the 19th century with some wells reaching down over a thousand meters. The salt water from the brine aquifers was sucked up into huge vats where natural gas (also from the wells) was used to boil the water allowing salt to be skimmed off. The museum was pretty empty with historic displays and salt wells from the period. And then we came across two shirtless guy who were actually working active salt wells in the old way. It was sweltering hot in boiling salt water vat room where salt was being produced.
Donghai, our leader and friend, from the Los Angeles office of the Chinese Cultural Development Center, did a fantastic job of finding awesome restaurants. Zigong is known for its rabbits and we had a great meal featuring rabbit in a popular downtown restaurant.
Restaurant staff enjoying a late lunch | Donghai consulting the menu | Zigong
People's Army curtains photo opp | me, Nick and Ringo | I think Irfan was outside taking some snaps
We needed to return to Chengdu and instead of going by bus, Donghai wanted us to experience China's famous bullet trains. We boarded the train at the massive train terminal and sped our way, silently and rapidly through the Sichuan countryside. Though we only reached speeds of 200 kms per hour - it is a relatively short ride and there was one stop on the way, so the 400 km plus maximum speed was not reachable. Nonetheless, it was a thrill zipping along and looking out at farmers in traditional conical bamboo hats tending the fields. I wanted to take it all in but the ride was so smooth and quiet that I, unfortunately, dosed off within 15 minutes of boarding the train - hence no photos :(
A janitor passes a huge wall of sayings and place names | Zigong High Speed Train Terminal
We arrived at the Chengdu train station and transferred to an underground subway line that took us downtown where we met up with our sponsors for an incredible hot pot dinner.
Subway scenes | advertising poster featuring Jackie Chan for Sichuan baijiu liquor
Hot Pot dinner | Irfan shows a photo to Mao, a China News Service photographer once based in Los Angeles
Once we checked back into our hotel, we discovered a rooftop bar that became our chill out go-top place after long days exploring Chengdu |
Rooftop bar | The Wormhole | the Ritz-Carlton Hotel | Chengdu | not sure why they had a NASA astronaut statue
Day Five | Exploring Chengdu
This day was jam packed with so much sightseeing. We started the day meeting up with colleagues from the China News Service at People's Park. We were welcomed with a tea ceremony and then we all headed out to explore the park. I'm particularly interested in history and had seen there were some monuments commemorating the Japanese Aggression in World War II - Imperial Japan never reached Chengdu, but the city was bombed from 1938 to 1944 - so I headed over to see them.
Boating | ear cleaning | dancing | tea ceremony presentation | a girl gives a presentation at the Sichuan Railway Protection Movement History Exhibition Hall | woman consults male dating profiles | People's Park | Chengdu
Both Irfan and I had expressed interest in visiting the Chengdu Huangcheng Mosque, so we walked over there. Around the mosque were halal restaurants and we enjoyed kebabs and other halal-oriented dishes for lunch.
Scenes around the mosque
After lunch we visited Tianfu Square where there is a huge statue of Mao Zedong - apparently one of only three in all of China |
Chairman Mao | giant flower statue and monk | Tianfu Square | Chengdu
The rest of the afternoon we visited different tourist oriented old walled neighborhoods and the Tibetan quarter |
First up | Kuan Alley | old cobblestone streets and lots and lots of shops | it - like Jinli Old Street - was chaotic and a visually odyssey |
Kuan Alley scenes | artist | wall art | ear-cleaning | selfies | make-up boutique | steam-spitting Chinese zodiac figures | glamour photo shoot
A quick 45 minute visit to the Tibetan neighborhood. It was weird seeing Tibetan monks wondering around | I befriended one Tibetan gentleman, Justin, who gifted me a copy of "What Makes You Not a Buddhist" by Khyentse Norbu |
Scenes from the Tibetan neighborhood | Tibetan merchandise salesman and family | monks | with Tibetan Justin | Chengdu
By this time we were pretty exhausted but there was still the Jinli Old Street to visit | as usual we were given an hour to check it out | like Kuan Alley, it was chaotic with lots of people doing selfies and recording their visits |
Scenes from Jinli Old Street | daughter takes photo of parents | tomb of General Liu Xiang | traditionally dressed visitor records herself | glamour photo shoots
and lastly we ate seafood at a street restaurant and it was by far the best seafood meal I have ever had | I was so busy enjoying the meal and atmosphere that I neglected to take any photos | among the dishes were conch, abalone, oysters, clams, octopus, mussels and a fish called Pomfret | absolutely fantastic | also Nick is a big fan of dorian fruit and there was a stall next to the restaurant so I bought one | I've heard numerous stories about how smelly the fruit is and how delicious it is | well it was creamy and sweet and not smelly at all | definitely another culinary experience
Dorian fruit | late night card game |
another great day in Sichuan |
Day Six | Shopping and fine dining
We started the day visiting a local market. I had already shot a number of market photos and was hopeful to find a bookstore as I wanted to see if there were any old books or books in English on Sichuan. A colleague of our guide, David, met us and offered to take me to a bookstore. Unfortunately, it was closed and when the owner showed up, he said he was moving inventory and would be open later in the day. There was another possible store and we hopped into a tuk-tuk and made our way there. It was closed and our time in the neighborhood was almost up.
Scenes from the Yu Lin neighborhood | Depot of Smart - no idea what she was selling | woman and mural commemorating Chinese President Xi Jinping visit | public exercise session | owner of the closed bookstore | a board game observer cools off with a fan depicting Chinese leaders
With only one full day remaining, it was decided to go downtown to the commercial area for some shopping. I had already bought a number of items during our visit - Tibetan black tea, incense sticks, prayer beads and some panda souvenirs and other gifts - so I decided to give the bookstore hunt another chance. Though I did find one bookstore, there were no books in English and so came up empty handed |
Scenes from downtown shopping district | Kowloon Plaza Mall
We had lunch at a place where a recent high ranking American official had dined - unfortunately cannot remember who it was. It was while having lunch that Ringo received a call from colleague and friend, Damian Dorvorganes, informing him he had won Photojournalism of the Year from the Los Angeles Press Club |
For our last dinner, we drove out to an exclusive restaurant called You Yun Sichuan where we were greeted by our sponsors and given a tour of the restaurant by Master Chef Zhang Yuanfu. We toured displays of the origins of Sichuan cuisine and visited the gardens where chefs were stirring pastes in large containers as well as vats containing pickled items. Lastly before sitting down to an extravagant dining experience, we doned white chef outfits and visited the kitchen. It was an incredible evening of wonderful food and drink. Each one of us had personal servers and we had something like 25 dishes.
In the kitchen | vats containing pickled items | sichuan cuisine spices and peppers | Master Chef Zhang Yuanfu | Genealogical chart of Rong School of Sichuan Cuisine | chefs stirring jars of paste
The presentation of the dishes was amazing. Each serving was a work of art. Here are a few pictures of some of the dishes |
Plates and atmosphere | You Yun Sichuan
At the end of the meal our sponsors presented us with a gift and stamped menus in both Chinese and English. It was one of the most incredible dining experiences in my life |
Posing with panda themed gift | our sponsors, Master Chef Master Zhang Yuanfu and Donghai
Day Seven | Last Day
Our flight back to the US was late afternoon, and some of us wanted to do some more shopping so we went back downtown | Our guide, John, mentioned there was a temple complex nearby so I went to check it out. Amazing complex with multiple temples and courtyards right among skyscrapers |
Scenes from the Gudashengci Temple
and a few more from downtown |
along Hongxing Road
All things Panda |
The Giant Panda, a Chinese national symbol, is from Sichuan province and their images can be found everywhere. I have to admit that pandas are super cool and one of the highlights of my trip to China was seeing the pandas in their natural habitat.
Panda mask changing face | restroom sign | panda advertising | panda cigarettes | panda taxi | panda dessert | panda post | panda souvenirs | panda water
also everywhere we went there were lots of people -mostly adults - wearing these panda head decorations |
Panda statues | panda head wear
and a few quirky photos |
creatures | signs | wishing well | umbrellas for rent | Shu Dynasty figure selling cellphones | hotel gas mask | two handed camera snapper
and people |
enjoying the scene in a park | waiting for work | fashion clash | food stalls | rabbit for sale | lunch break | handsome couple | pooch ride
and these photos are primarily for me to remember the great Sichuan adventure | with the traveling companions and others
on the road | awesome seafood dinner in Chengdu | posing with emperors in Fanghu Park in Guanghan | strutting about | with Master Chef Zhang Yuanfu | with Ray from the Leshan Antiquities Department | at Bifengxia Panda Base |
selfies and others |
Suji Ancient town restauranteurs | at the mosque in Chengdu | with Mohammed from a halal restaurant | poses with a rickshaw wall art installation | statues in Suji | with some girl tourists | shoeshine time in Zigong | with Tibetan monks | with tour guide David - aka Wings of Liberty
parting shot |