-
Day1 Chengdu
Transfer via: flight – your arrangement
Activities for today: Airport transfer, Wangjianglou Park
On arrival at Chegndu Shuangliu International Airport, where your English-speaking guide will welcome you and transfer you to your hotel.
After a short break, it's time to enjoy a relaxed tour in Wangjianglou Park. The park is renowned worldwide for its cultural heritages represented by the ancient building complex of Wangjiang Pavilion and Xue Tao Memorial, and its large collection of rare bamboos.
Optional night show: We will recommend Sichuan Opera at Shufeng Yayun Sichuan Opera House. The opera includes interesting short comedy show, puppet show, hand shadow, music instruments mimic horse and people conversation, and the face changing show with fire spitting.
Wangjianglou Park
Wangjianglou Park
Chengdu Wangjianglou Park
-
Day2 Chengdu
Transfer via: private vehicle
Activities for today: Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, Sanxingdui Museum
This morning drive about 15 KM to Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, home to over 100 giant pandas and one of the most important panda scientific research centers in China. You will walk through the bamboo-framed paths and closely observe the giant pandas of different ages eating, playing, tumbling, and climbing. Be sure to not miss the chance to watch female pandas nursing their cubs in the nursery rooms. There is also a very informative panda museum where you can learn some interesting facts about panda bears.
After some happy hours with the lovely pandas, drive about 1 hour to Sanxingdui Museum. Here you will discover 3,000-year-old artifacts, all sitting upon their own little pedestals, including jade knives, bronze masks, and bronze trees. Many of the items were dug up from a nearby archaeological site - Sanxingdui. Sanxingdui is now believed to be the site of a major ancient city in what is now Sichuan. The Bronze Age culture which was first discovered in 1929 and then re-discovered in 1986 when archaeologists excavated remarkable artifacts, that radiocarbon dating dated as being from the 12th-11th centuries BCE.The culture that produced these artifacts is now known as the Sanxingdui Culture, and archeologists are identifying it with the ancient kingdom of Shu.
N.B.
1) We suggest starting your tour at 07:00 because the pandas are active at 08:00 - 10:00. They are playing and eating breakfast in their houses and gardens. If you go there so late, the pandas will asleep.
2) Holding a panda in Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding will cost RMB 1800 for 15 seconds. This is an optional activity for visitors.
Chengdu Panda Base
Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding
Sanxingdui Museum Chengdu
-
Day3 Chengdu
Transfer via: private vehicle
Activities for today: Sichuan Museum, Wuhou Temple, Jinli Ancient Street
After breakfast tour Sichuan Museum, which displays over 250,000 items. Begin at the exhibits of pottery from the Hand Dynasty, then continue to the displays of bronze items and the section containing Tibetan Buddhist relics. Across several exhibit halls, you can see ceramics, stone sculptures, ancient coins, folk arts and crafts, and calligraphy. The museum also allows visitors to learn more about the cultures of local ethnic minorities, displaying their clothing, musical instruments, and other objects. Host to regular temporary exhibits, the museum frequently shows modern art from around the world.
This afternoon we will visit both Wuhou Temple and Jinli Street in the leafy neighbourhood of Chengdu. Wuhou Temple was built in the Western Jin period (265–316) in the honor of Zhuge Liang, the famous military and political strategist who was Prime Minister of the Shu Han State during the Three Kingdoms period (220–280). The temple highlights the Zhuge Liang Memorial Temple and the Hall of Liu Bei (founder of the Shu Han state), along with statues of other historical figures of Shu Han, as well as cultural relics like stone inscriptions and tablets. The Hui Mausoleum of Liu Bei represents a unique pattern of enshrining both the emperor and his subjects in the same temple, a rarity in China.
Jinli Ancient Street is nearby Wuhou Temple. It is a popular commercial and dining area resembling the style of traditional architecture of western Sichuan. "Jinli" is the name of an old street in Chengdu dating from the Han dynasty and means "making perfection more perfect". The ancient Jinli Street was one of the oldest and the most commercialized streets in the history of the Shu state and was well known throughout the country during the Qin, Han and Three Kingdoms periods. Many aspects of the urban life of Chengdu are present in the current-day Jinli area: teahouses, restaurants, bars, theatres, handicraft stores, local snack vendors, and specialty shops.
Sichuan Museum
Wuhou Temple
Jinli Old Street
-
Day4 Chengdu
Transfer via: flight – your arrangement
Activities for today: Wenshu Temple, Dufu Thatched Cottage, airport transfer
This morning, your Chengdu city hisorty and culture tour focuses on Wenshu Temple and Dufu Thatched Cottage. Wenshu Temple is the best preserved Buddhist temple in Chengdu. Initially built during the Tang dynasty (618 - 907), it has a history dating back 1,300 years. Parts of Xuanzang's skull are held in consecration here.
Du Fu was one of the most noted Tang dynasty poets, so much so that he is their equivalent to Shakespeare. During the An Lushan-Shi Siming Rebellion, he left Chang'an (today Xi'an) to take refuge in Chengdu. With the help from his friends, the thatched cottage was built along the Huanhua Stream in the west suburbs of Chengdu, where Du Fu spent four years of his life and produced more than 240 now-famous poems. During the Song dynasty, people started to construct gardens and halls on the site of his thatched cottage to honor his life and memory. Currently, a series of memorial buildings representing Du Fu's humble life stand on the river bank, along with a large collection of relics and various editions of his poems.
After sightseeing, transfer to the airport for your onward flight.
Chengdu Wenshu Templ
Wenshu Templ Chengdu
Wuhou Temple Chengdu