17-day Biking in Northern Sichuan

Du Fu, a celebrated poet in the Tang Dynasty (618-907), has left behind over 200 masterpieces of peoms for the later generations. Du Fu is known for the patriotism and his brilliant in poem. The most important factor of all about his work is compassion, which was especially inspirational for his fans.

 

As its name implies, the Thatched Cottage of Du Fu was Du Fu’s home a thousand years ago, while it is not so much a cottage as a museum that attracts numerous visitors. The exhibits here include a brief account of Du Fu's life and some of his original calligraphy and poems. The complex also contains three imposing statues of some of China's greatest poets; Du Fu, Li You and Huang Tingjian (the latter two were Song dynasty poets). Today, this is a pleasant site to visit, with nice buildings dotted about, teahouses and pleasant bamboo gardens to wander and explore. This site is also home to the Chengdu Du Fu society. The Thatched Cottage of Du Fu stretches out its arms to welcome visitors from all over the world.

A garden-like museum full of cultural breath is for showing people how brilliant and celebrated Du Fu is and for making your amazing expedition meaningful.

Opening Hours:
8:00 -- 18:00 (in winter)
7:30 -- 19:00 (in summer)

Ticket Price:
60 CNY for adults
30 CNY for students
Free for the people holding the local Older Card and the non-local people older than 70

Location: No. 38, Tsinghua Road, Chengdu City

Transportation: Bus No. 17, 35, 82, 84 and 301 will bring you here directly.
 

The Dujiangyan Irrigation System, constructed in Qin Dynasty around 2,200 years ago, is a shinning pearl in the irrigation development of China, which is also praised as the “Originator of the Culture in Irrigation Work”. As the earliest irrigation work without dam in the ancient China, Dujiangyan has been making the greatest contribution to the development of the economy in Chengdu--the land of abundance.

Having witnessed centuries’ changes, the gorgeous Dujiangyan likes a record of the history attracting a growing number of tourists with the picturesque and splendid landscape. On November 29, 2000, Dujiangyan was listed as the world cultural heritage by UNESCO. Nowadays, Dujiangyan is not only the irrigation work, but also a popular scenic spot with many charming sceneries around--just like many stars twinkling around the moon.

The characterized members of the stars are the fish-mouth-like dyke--can solve the problem of irrigation in drought seasons, the bottle-neck-like sluice gate--can control the volume of inflowing water, the vent-like Feishayan--can release flood and silt from waterway to outer river, the 500-meter-long Anlan Suspension Bridge (called Couple’s Bridge)--has experienced hundreds years’ history since Song dynasty (960-1234), the garden-like Erwang-Temple with peaceful environment, and the 1800-year-old Dragon-Taming Temple.

Opening Hours: 09:00 -- 17:50

Ticket Price:
90 CNY for adults
45 CNY for kids between 1.1-1.4 meter, people between 60-69 years, the disabled and the students

Location: West Dujiangyan City, Sichuan

Transportation: Shuttle buses, subway and bus No. 1 to No. 17, 101, 102, 103, 201 and 202 will bring you here directly.
 

Wangjiang Pavilion with a height of 39 meters is the most shinning architecture in the Wangjiang Park that covered by green bamboo woods. Wangjiang Pavilion, built in Qing Dynasty (1644-1912), was designed as an octagonal shape with the overhanging eaves, sharp golden roof, and various exquisite figure carvings and clay sculptures of animals decorating each floor. Located on the bank of Jinjiang River, Wangjiang Pavilion provides an ideal angle for river viewing, from which it derived the present name “Wangjiang Lou”.

This splendid pavilion was built in memory of Xue Tao, a brilliant female poet in Tang Dynasty who has left behind many great poems. There are more than 100 kinds of bamboo around the Wangjiang Pavilion for Xue Tao has a passion for bamboo in her life. Around the Wangjiang Pivilion, out lay a group of memorial buildings including Wuyunxiang Hall, Quanxiang chamber, Pipa pavilion among which there are house a large amount of steles, paintings, calligraphy, inscribed couplets and poems.

Opening Hours: 8:00 -- 17:00

Ticket Price: 20 CNY

Location: Wangjiang Road, Chengdu City

Transportation: Bus No. 3, 18, 19, 31 and 35 will bring you here directly.

Covering 37,000 square meters, Wuhou Memorial Temple was built in the year of 233 in memory of Zhuge Liang, the most brilliant military counselor in the Three Kingdoms Period (220-280). Inside the temple, the magnificent and exquisitely designed buildings are hiding in the flourishingly towering pine trees, creating a historic environment with a strong breath of history.

 

In the exhibition zone, there are a lot of valuable historic relics, including the well-known couplets created by Du Fu, exquisite carvings and sophisticated stone inscriptions, the precious works of calligraphy and painting, the statuses of the celebrities in Three Kingdoms Period as well as the room with the original appearance in which Zhuge Liang lived. The exhibitions may cause an amazing feeling likes being back to the Three Kingdoms Period.

The temple displays the suppleness of the Chinese garden. There are numerous historical relics like horizontal cribbed boards, couplets, inscribed tablets, penmanship, furnaces, Chinese tripods, etc. The SanZui (Three-Best) horizontal inscribed board, Zhuge Liang's Lung Gun couplets, Chu Si Biao and the tomb of LiuBei are the most famous one. Today the Wuhou Temple is the most famous tourist attraction of Chengdu city. It is not only a site for people to commemorate Zhuge Liang, but also serves as a museum to the history of the Three Kingdoms Period.

Opening Hours: 8:00 -- 18:00

Ticket Price: 60 CNY

Location: No. 231, Wuhouci Street, Chengdu City

Transportation:
Bus No.1, 10, 57, 82, 301, 334, 335, 503, 521, 901 and 904 will bring you here directly.
 

With two clean rivers running through and two green hills decorating, Huanglong (Yellow Dragon) Historic Interest Area, an ancient town full of ancient cultural architectures and custom, appeals to an increasing number of tourists from near and far. Huanglong Historic Interest Area consists of three charming parts that are free for visiting, namely the Custom Street, the Dragon Street and the core zone.

 

Along the Custom Street, various magnificent architectures built in different times will be a sumptuous art feast for the eyes, and the beautiful and yummy local snacks will increase your appetite greatly and make you reluctant to leave. Having traveled around the Custom Street, you will be attracted by the next station--Dragon Street, where there is a clean stream zigzagging through just like a water dragon. Along the both banks of the dragon stream, teahouses, local restaurants and specialties stores rank orderly like a comb.

Crossing the stone bridge, you will reach the core zone where the most shinning cultural heritages are waiting for you. The fish-skeleton-like lanes, the centuries-old dock and the ancient temples with old banyans around and street full of ancient local customs will be a memorable experience in your expedition. If you come here on the local festivals, the lovely local celebrations will amaze you a lot.

Opening Hours: 9:00 -- 16:30

Ticket Price: free　

Location: 40 km (25 miles) away from the city center of Chengdu

Transportation:
Shuttle bus from New South Gate (xin nan men) Station will bring you here directly (10 CNY).

Lingyun Mountain (Lingyun Shan) has been being the holy land of the Buddhist, Confucian and Daoist culture since the East Han Dynasty (25-220). The magnificent temples, palaces, altars built in different times for the propagating the Buddhist, Confucian and Daoist culture are reserved well forming a spectacular scene. The splendid Sanqing Hall with many 5-meter-tall golden statuses of the immortals, the sleeping-Buddha-like mountains and the grotto with spectacular but exquisite carvings make Lingyun Mountain more mysterious and attractive.

On the hill here is a relatively new temple complex affording excellent views of Dafo himself and containing hundreds of statues. There is an Oriental Buddha park (dongfang fodu) here which contains over 3000 Buddhist statues and a 170m long reclining Buddha- among the largest in the world. The Mahaoya Tomb Mausoleum (Mahaoyamu bowuguan) is also located on the mountain. This is a Han dynasty building containing tombs and other burial artifacts from the Han dynasty.

The spectacular, odd, precipitous and peaceful landscapes in the 562-meter-high Lingyun Mountain are waiting for your expedition.

Opening Hours: 8:30 -- 17:00

Ticket Price: 30 CNY

Location: Gaoping Zone, Nanchong City, Sichuan

Transportation: Shuttle bus from the city center and boat from Leshan can bring you here directly.

Renmin Park (Renmin Gongyuan) is a charming and very typical Chinese park. Situated in the southwest of the city, this is a great place to relax and soak up some atmosphere while watching the Tai Ji (Shadow Boxing) or Wushu (Martial Art) enthusiasts work out.

 

The park consists of a pretty bonsai garden, a children's funfair and a Monument to the Martyrs. These sites are all situated around a lake where you can hire pedal boats. The nicest way to see the park is just to spend some time wandering around and taking in the ambience of the city. The gates open here at 6.30 am when the martial arts enthusiasts move in, and close at 2 am to allow for dancing to take place in the park squares.

Perhaps the best thing about this place however, is the wonderful teahouse in the grounds. Teahouses abound in this city and here is a particularly popular one with locals who come to sip, chat and stay all day!

Opening hours: 7:00 -- 14:00

Location: Jinhe Road

Transportation: Take trolleybus No. 4 from the center of town.
 

Qingcheng Mountain is one of the birthplaces of the Daoist where the landscapes are amazingly charming. Despite it is only 16 km (10 miles) away from the city center, Qingcheng Mountain is a place with serene and peaceful breath--the towering trees, winding paths, beautiful song tweet, sweet fragrances, peaceful streams and gorgeous pavilions contribute to the harmonious environment.

 

The mountain chain, which the Qingcheng Mountain is in, queue closely and orderly like a comb, in which the landscapes put up different but graceful covers. Around the Qingcheng Mountain, there are more than 10 halls and temples of Daoist, and natural caves with spectacular scenes.

Jianfu Temple (Jianfu Gong) sits at the base of the mountain and is a large, well-preserved Daoist temple from the Tang Dynasty. About halfway up the mountain sits Tianshi Cave (Tianshi Dong) the temple and school of Zhang Daolin, a famous Daoist master who taught here and contributed greatly to spreading Daoism in China. The present Tianshi Cave buildings were built at the end of the Qing Dynasty. Lastly, near the peak sits Shangqing Temple, which was originally established in the Jin Dynasty, while the current temple buildings are Qing Dynasty constructions.

Opening Hours: 8:00 -- 17:00

Ticket Price: 90 CNY
　
Location: Qingchengshan Town, Dujiangyan City, Chengdu

Transportation: Shuttle bus from New South Gate (xin nan men) Station, Chadianzi Station and Dujiangyan Station will bring you here directly.