China, Day 17: A Sea of Bamboo
In South Sichuan lies one of the largest concentrations of bamboo in the world. The Shunan Bamboo Sea (蜀南竹海) covers 120 square kilometers of land and contains more than 100 tourist destinations within.
China, Day 11: Jinli Historic Town
Yesterday, Day 10, was the traditional Mid-Autumn Festival. Traditionally, this day is spent with family, so we didn’t go anywhere. Today, we went to the Jinli Historic Town, a site dating back to the Three Kingdoms Period (220-280). Back then, it was one of the busiest streets and an important center for commerce. The architecture of the site today closely …
China, Day 9: The Tower
In Seattle, we have the 605-feet tall Space Needle, world famous for being the centerpiece of the 1962 World’s Fair. Chengdu’s answer to the Space Needle is the 1,112-foot-tall West Pearl Tower. Home to Sichuan Radio and Television, the tower has been in existence for 8 years — younger than the Space Needle — but only opened its observation deck …
China, Day 8: The largest building in the world!
Just last year (2013), Chengdu saw the opening of the world’s largest building by floor space, the gigantic New Century Global Center. Its main fixture is the New Century Global Mall, which occupies the center of the complex. We woke up this morning to take the Chengdu Metro Line 1, to the center. Chengdu currently has two metro lines, one …
China, Day 6 and 7: The Campus
These few days, we spent most of our time on the campus of Chengdu University of Technology. My family has a long history of affiliation with the University. It is also the place where I spent my first few years.