The city of the Chinese icon: panda and the UNESCO city of gastronomy - Mount Qingcheng and the Dujiangyan Irrigation System 1001; Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries - Wolong, Mt Siguniang and Jiajin Mountains 1213; Acupuncture and moxibustion of traditional Chinese medicine 00425
What and Why
The city of Chengdu (Chinese: 成都) is a great reflection of culture of Sichuan (四川), especially through its cuisine. Sichuan, meaning four rivers, is a very fertile piece of land in China and is thus nicknamed 天府之国 (tianfuzhiguo) in Chinese, meaning the nation from heaven, or literally the land of abundance. As a result, Chengdu has always been one of the most important economic, financial, commercial, cultural, transportation, and communication centres in China, whatever era you are referring to.
Sichuan is also one of the main centres of Taoism history in the land when various of these Taoist schools merged into a coherent tradition of religious organisations and orders during the 2nd century CE. Taoism (道教, daojiao) is a multi-deity philosophy that centres around doing good things and leading harmony during life with the aim to ascension to heaven and becoming a deity on his own. Tao (or dao, 道) means the road or journey towards this path. Taoist ethics vary depending on the particular school, but in general tend to Three Treasures (三宝, sanbao): compassion (慈, ci), frugality (儉, jian) and humility (不敢為天下先, buganweitianxiaxian).
Of course when one mentions Chengdu, two things come to mind: one is the hotpot and the other is the panda. Chengdu is the home of giant pandas and one claim to have been to Chengdu without paying a visit to some of the panda grounds.
Toponymy
Chengdu means 'becoming the capital' in Chinese and the name shows the importance of this city throughout history. Ironically it carries this name without actually being the capital at any point in Chinese history, so the keyword is 'becoming' instead of 'become' in participle historically.
See
Mount Qingcheng (青城山)
Mount Qingcheng (青城山, Qingchengshan), meaning the mountain of green city, is considered one of the birthplaces of Taoism and one of the most important Taoist centres in China. The name of the mountain tells the greenery of the mountain and the surrounding environment, In Taoist mythology, it was the study or enlightenment site of the Huang Di (黃帝)'s, the legendary Chinese scholar who literally begins Chinese culture, back in the 26th century BCE! The mountain has since invited many Taoist saints and as a result, one can imagine the sheer number of temples, shrines and monuments in this very scenic and beautiful mountain.
There are two main areas of Mount Qingcheng, the main mountain which is 1,260 m high, and the taller and bigger but less famous back mountain Yinghuashan (蓥华山). We did an entire loop for the main mountain reached the summit. It took us around 3 hours to go all the way up and slowly stroll down the mountain.
To reach the summit one has to hike around the big Yuechenghu (月城湖), the moon-city lake and take the cable car to reach the peak.
The peak station in Shangqinggong (上清宮), the 'upper clear palace'.
The summit pagoda Laojunge (老君閣)
From the peak you can enjoy an extremely comfortable hike down the scenic hill, walking through beautiful rock carvings along the cliffs, twisting here and there. In this one it states this is the world's top five mountains.
Almost at the end of the walk you will see the famous Tianshidong (天師洞), the master's cave. One of the main movements of Taoism, the sect of Way of the Celestial Masters (天师道, Tianshidao), was formed here by Zhang Daoling (张道陵) and this temple was constructed to commemorate him and his movement. Note the very elaborate Taoist setting and the bagua (八卦) on the floor.
Dujiangyan (都江堰)
Dujiangyan (都江堰) is an ancient but extremely ingenious hydraulic project that is used for both flooding control and irrigation purpose. Since I teach coastal engineering, I have to come and visit this wonder. Originally constructed in mid-2nd century BCE, the system's infrastructure develops on the Minjiang (岷江), the longest tributary of the Yangtze (长江, Changjiang). Originally, Minjiang would rush down from the mountains and slow down abruptly after reaching the Chengdu Plain, thus making the areas extremely prone to floods. Li Bing (李冰), then governor of the state headed the construction of the Dujiangyan, which harnessed the river waters using a novel method of diverting the water into two separate streams rather than simply constructing a dam to stop it. The water management scheme is still in use today to irrigate over 5,300 km2 of land in the region. After the system was finished, no more floods occurred while the irrigation system made Sichuan the most bountiful agricultural region in China. On the east side of Dujiangyan, people built a shrine in remembrance of Li.
There are three key parts of this construction:
The Fish Mouth (鱼嘴, yüjui), as it resembles the mouth of a fish. It is an artificial levee that divides the water into inner and outer streams. The inner stream is deep and narrow, while the outer stream is relatively shallow but wide. This special structure ensures that the inner stream carries approximately 60% of the river's flow into the irrigation system during dry season. While during flood, this amount decreases to 40% to protect the people from flooding. The outer stream drains away the rest, flushing out much of the sediment.
Flying Sand Weir (飞沙堰, feishayan) is a 200 m-wide opening that connects the inner and outer streams. This is to reduce flooding by allowing the natural swirling flow of the water to drain out excess water from the inner to the outer stream. The swirl also drains out the sediment that failed to go into the outer stream.
Treasure Bottlemouth Channel (宝瓶口, baopingkou), which is an opening gouged through the mountain, is the final part of the system. The channel distributes the water to the farmlands in the Chengdu Plain, whilst the narrow entrance that gives it its name, works as a check gate, creating the whirlpool flow that carries away the excess water over Flying Sand Weir, to avoid flooding.
Qingcheng Mountain and Dujiangyan are also the main panda sanctuary parks.
Wenchuan Earthquake Memorial (汶川地震記念碑)
Wenchuan earthquake, occurred at 14:28:01 on 12th May 2008 CE. Measuring at 8.0 Ms Richter scale, the earthquake's epicentre was located 80 km northwest of Chengdu. Strong aftershocks, some exceeding 6 Ms, continued to hit the area up to several months after the main shock, causing further casualties and damage. The earthquake also caused the largest number of geo-hazards ever recorded. Over 69,000 people lost their lives in the quake and left about 4.8 million people homeless. A memorial to the earthquake is erected near Dujiangyan as the area is very close to the epicentre. Incredibly none of the dams near Dujiangyan were damaged during the earthquake.
Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding (成都大熊猫繁育研究基地)
As everyone knows, giant pandas are all found in Sichuan. The Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries (四川大熊猫栖息地, Sichuan daxiongmao cixidi) is located in southwest Sichuan province of China, is the home to more than 30% of the world's highly endangered giant pandas and is amongst the most important sites for the captive breeding of these pandas. Moreover this is probably the only place where pandas can be found in the wild.
The Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries actually consist of seven nature reserves and nine scenic parks, the most important being Wolong (卧龙), Mount Siguniang (四姑娘山) and Mount Qingcheng, with the area of the site larger than Jamaica. Unfortunately most of these sites are severely damaged or affected by the Wenchuan earthquakes and are at present closed to public.
The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding (成都大熊猫繁育研究基地, Sichuan daxiongmao fanyu yianjiu jidi), is a non-profit research and breeding facility for pandas. Not a bad place to spend a few hours, especially you will be able to see some baby pandas, but not as many pandas as you think. I think the official number is 50.
Buy and Do
Acupuncture and moxibustion (针灸, 艾灸)
Along the streets of Chengdu there are many clinics that practises acupuncture (针灸, jinjiu) and moxibustion (艾灸, aijiu). Acupuncture is a form of alternative medicine and a component of traditional Chinese medicine (中医, zhongyi) (TCM) in which thin needles are inserted into the body to make stimulus to the human body via various designated acupuncture points , especially the nervous system. Acupuncture is often looked at as a pseudoscience, and is not backed by science, at least from the Western media or scientific community; and even the efficacy reports are inconclusive.
Acupuncture is most often used for pain relief, though acupuncturists say that it can also be used for a wide range of other conditions. Even for Chinese and with such a long tradition, the process can look gruesome for many, and it does send a shiver to me when I tried it. Does it work? I could only say 'Perhaps'. Was it painful? Tinily uncomfortable would be the word and I probably would prefer to return to conventional medicine for a diagnostics.
A less exotic and perhaps more accommodating form of TCM is moxibustion therapy which consists of burning dried mugwort (艾, ai), or moxa, usually in fluffy or incense form, on particular points on the body with the intention of stimulating circulation through the points and inducing a smoother flow of blood and qi (气). Mugwort is used because its combustion temperature is approximately 37 to 40 ℃ and is close to human body temperature, thus creating a soothing effect. There is no known medicinal effect from the plant.
Both of these are inscribed as UNESCO ICHs.
Ear-cleaning (掏耳朵)
Ear-cleaning (掏耳朵, taoerduo) is another very unique local tradition on the streets of Chengdu and is similarly ubiquitous in the city. According to words in the streets, this tradition dates back a few centuries and the local industry is making a proposal to inscribe the practice into the ICH.
The Chengdu practice of ear-cleaning, literally ear-scooping actually involves an elaborate 30-minute ritual featuring an array of specialised slender tools that go deep into the ear canal. While it does sound daring, the process is surprisingly comfortable, akin to a light tickle, as I quote from one report from BBC, 'the experience was oddly satisfying – like having an out-of-reach itch scratched'.
Having said that when I did my ear-cleaning, the 'master' kept wiping my earwax onto the blanket I was lying on. I wonder how much earwax was I actually sitting on...
Eat and Drink
Sichuan hotpot (川式火锅)
Aside from housing two UNESCO WHS, Chengdu is also the UNESCO city of gastronomy, featuring a variety of food as a result of its bountiful agriculture. The Sichuanese hotpot (川式火锅, chuansehuoguo)comes from Chengdu, the hotpot restaurants in Chengdu are so famous and competitive that they feature all sorts of animatronics and elaborate performance to attract customers. On the other hand, unfortunately as a result of the fertile soil, Sichuanese has also developed a very laid-back life-style, spending more time playing mahjong (麻将, majiang) than working.
Local skewers in hotpot is a favourite snack in Chengdu, where they dip pretty much every kind of meat, innards into the hot oil. The local favourite is the rabbit head, which they eat with local wine or spirits. Another local snack is the fresh peeled pineapple. The best place to savour these Sichuanese cuisine is the famed Kuanzhai Xiangzi (宽窄巷子), meaning the 'wide and narrow alleys', an integrated shopping redevelopment area in Chengdu.
Chengdu and its cuisine is a renowned for its gastronomy and is now enlisted as a UNESCO City of Gastronomy.
Rice candy (米糖)
One of the other local delicacies in Qingcheng mountain is the rice candy (米糖, mitang), which uses the rice grown in the nearby field and smash them into a sweet mash. As they see some visitors passing by, these workers will start humming their tunes and pretend that they are smashing the rice fresh in front of you all along. I watched them pretending...
Stay
We stayed in a very beautiful but affordable Han Dynasty Boutique Hotel (汉室酒店, Hanshijiudian), where the internal decor looks pretty much like an ancient Chinese palace with every room decorated like an emperor's suite. An extremely good stay, highly recommended.
Getting There and Around
Unsurprisingly accessing Qingchengshan and Dujiangyan requires an entrance fee of CNY 80¥ and there will be lots of touts or amateur tour guides wanting to get business to take you both there. The entrance ticket to the panda centre is 60¥. Chengdu is one of the best touristy cities in China and I recommend spending three to four days at least in the area.
UNESCO Inscriptions
Construction of the Dujiangyan irrigation system began in the 3rd century B.C. This system still controls the waters of the Minjiang River and distributes it to the fertile farmland of the Chengdu plains. Mount Qingcheng was the birthplace of Taoism, which is celebrated in a series of ancient temples.
Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries, home to more than 30% of the world's pandas which are classed as highly endangered, covers 924,500 ha with seven nature reserves and nine scenic parks in the Qionglai and Jiajin Mountains. The sanctuaries constitute the largest remaining contiguous habitat of the giant panda, a relict from the paleo-tropic forests of the Tertiary Era. It is also the species' most important site for captive breeding. The sanctuaries are home to other globally endangered animals such as the red panda, the snow leopard and clouded leopard. They are among the botanically richest sites of any region in the world outside the tropical rainforests, with between 5,000 and 6,000 species of flora in over 1,000 genera.
Acupuncture and moxibustion are forms of traditional Chinese medicine widely practised in China and also found in regions of south-east Asia, Europe and the Americas. The theories of acupuncture and moxibustion hold that the human body acts as a small universe connected by channels, and that by physically stimulating these channels the practitioner can promote the human body’s self-regulating functions and bring health to the patient. This stimulation involves the burning of moxa (mugwort) or the insertion of needles into points on these channels, with the aim to restore the body’s balance and prevent and treat disease. In acupuncture, needles are selected according to the individual condition and used to puncture and stimulate the chosen points. Moxibustion is usually divided into direct and indirect moxibustion, in which either moxa cones are placed directly on points or moxa sticks are held and kept at some distance from the body surface to warm the chosen area. Moxa cones and sticks are made of dried mugwort leaves. Acupuncture and moxibustion are taught through verbal instruction and demonstration, transmitted through master-disciple relations or through members of a clan. Currently, acupuncture and moxibustion are also transmitted through formal academic education.
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