Chengdu, China: Where the past meets the future

The Chengdu Twin Towers

How do you picture a 2,500-year-old city of 24 million people in the center of China, some call the “chill city” for its parks, lakes tea gardens and cuddly pandas? If the above photo startles you, that’s understandable. Chengdu, like most big Chinese cities, has multiple personalities. Depending on your mood, you could be sipping a latte under the flashing lights of towering skyscrapers, or you could be joining the local women in People‘s Park for morning tai chi. 

People‘s Park

Morning tai chi - everyone welcome

After last visiting China 17 and 20 years ago, Tom and I have returned to see what‘s new as well as savor the traditional culture that never fails to surprise. It means that one night we might be biking in a bike lane next to four lanes of traffic to see the financial district lit up like Disneyland, while the next day, we might be watching street vendors “selling” shoulder massages and ear-cleaning services to locals relaxing over tea in an urban park.

Massage and tea in People‘s Park

People call Chengdu the most relaxed city in China, said Luna Lu, 33, a guide for FreeTour.com, as we walked with her our first morning in People’s Park, a gathering spot since 1911, offering a peaceful escape from the traffic and crowds outside. Luna studied in Indiana and lived in New York before returning to Chengdu to start her own tour company. Like a half-dozen or so young people we met, marriage and children are not in the cards to the regret of the government which has lifted its one child policy. “Now they encourage you to have children,” Luna said. But economics and a sense of not wanting to be tied down are getting the way.  Thus the reason we stop in the park’s Romance Garden which she describes as an off-line Tinder site for eligible young men and women. 

Romance Corner, girls section, People‘s Park

Parents post their childrens’ resumes in hopes of finding a suitable match. In reality, Luna told us, it’s mostly wishful thinking in that most young people prefer to find their own partners.

Tea and snacks with Luna Lu at the Great Banner Teahouse

Taking a break at the Great Banner Teahouse, we tried some traditional snacks - sweet water noodles, tofu with fermented rice, soup dumplings and sticky rice with peanuts. People who want to save money are welcome to bring their own picnic to a teahouse, Luna told us, and sit for hours drinking tea refreshed with jugs of hot water. Later we walked together to the Qingyang Palace, known as the Number One Taoist Temple, the oldest and largest Taoist temple in Chengdu, part of a serene complex rebuilt in the Qing Dynasty.

Taoist temple

The temple was a short walk from our hotel, the Wenjun Courtyard Hotel, located in the Qingyang historical area on what the Chinese call an “ancient street,” a street built to look as did hundreds of years ago before the area was flattened by war and grey high-rises sprung up all around it. Breakfast and dinner were served in a courtyard decorated with red paper lamps. Each each room sits on a balcony with a table decorated with flowers and little lamps. The $100 per night rate included a free upgrade to a suite, free airport pick up, free laundry and free breakfast.

Breakfast in the Wenjun courtyard

Later that evening, we experienced a completely different side of Chengdu when we met Siri Yang, 33, a freelance guide for GuruWalk.com. Like FreeTour, it’s a tip-based guide service where English-speaking locals create two to three- hour walks. They might include a small group or just one or two travelers, depending on who signs up. We were the only ones to book with both Luna and Siri, so we ended up with private tours. 

Our evening with Siri began by meeting at a with a subway stop next to a night market in the downtown financial district that attracts an after-work crowd of young professionals

A modern night market on a street that closes to cars in the evening

Enjoying bao buns

Bao dumplings filled with pork or veggies (8 for $2) were are favorites among the foods hawked from brightly-lit stalls set up under the flashing lights of blinking skyscrapers in an area called Jiaozi Park. Translated, it means Paper Money, a nod to the 11th century when Chengdu was the birthplace of the world’s first paper money.

After the market, Siri unlocked three blue city bikes available for a few cents per minute. We road along a paved path skirting the Jinjiang riverfront. It was there where we got our first glimpse of the Chengdu Twin Towers, a pair of 720-feet-tall skyscrapers that light up at night like giant media screens.

Siri pays and unlocks city bikes using AliPay, China’ digital payment system

The Chengdu Twin towers

Parking the bikes, we walked along the Nine Leaf Lotus pedestrian bridge, part of a park that seems to be floating on water as the bridge incorporates nine lotus leaf-inspired platforms to connect two halves of a green belt divided by the river, linking the riverbanks to city streets, a flying-saucer-shaped bar, a library and theater.

The finale of the evening came as we picked up a new set of bikes, and road in a bike lane next to a four-lane highway to the New Century Global Center, a massive city within a building, housing a huge shopping mall, offices and residences. This is the best place to view the Chengdu Bamboo Fountain, six giant bamboo-shaped columns where water cascades downwards from the top to mimic falling rain on natural bamboo stalks. Bamboo is significant because Chengdu hosts one of the world’s largest habitats for giant pandas, and they survive mainly on the plant. 

Chengdu Bamboo Fountain

After dark, the towers light up with color-changing LED displays that change every few minutes. Water, light and technology come together in a futuristic display, the perfect end to an evening exploring Chengdu’s ever-changing faces.

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Exploring the “New China” First stop: Shanghai

Friendly robot waiter

The sound of a bell from a delivery cart breaks the silence as we walk out of our hotel in Shanghai on a Sunday morning. 

Cars, motorbikes, buses and bikes whiz by, but there‘s barely any traffic noise. Nearly all are electric.

Rush hour near the Bund in Shanghai

Later that afternoon, Tom and I visit a showroom for Nio, a high-end Chinese  EV car company where we’re invited to sit inside a $80,000 SUV that allows the driver to let go of the steering wheel, move to a reclining seat in the back, relax with a massage, and watch a movie while the car navigates itself. 

Back seat drivers

The $80,000 Nio EV

Searching for a bathroom while we are out and about, we decide to try a hotel with a third-floor restaurant. Getting off the elevator, we see robot sporting a bow tie delivering a meal to someone‘s room. A few minutes later, we see “him” again as he rolls back to the kitchen.

For dinner, we order a pizza by down loading a QR code, placing the order on our phone and paying for it with an app called AliPay, the digital replacement for cash for everything from an apple to a hotel bill.

We have come to China for the first time in 20 years to see what’s new in what some consider the country of the future. 

After a brief re-visit to Shanghai, we will move onto Chengdu in Southwest China, then travel by bullet train to Chongqing, Seattle‘s sister city; and finally onto Kunming near the Vietnamese border. 

In the meantime, one deviation from our plan to focus on the “New China” is our choice of a hotel in the French Concession, a century-old  area of leafy streets and colonial-style homes built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when by Europeans who occupied Shanghai after the  first Opium War of 1842.

The Old House Inn

We found the Old House Inn almost exactly as we remembered it when we stayed here 20 years ago. The building, on a back lane too narrow for a taxi to navigate, dates to the 1920s. Creaking wooden floors give away the building’s age (We had to climb four flights to reach our room), but important features such as the bathrooms have been updated, and the owners took care to decorate the rooms with Chinese antiques and lacquered furniture. 

The surprise was finding an Italian restaurant called Bella Napoli on the first floor. We ate breakfast each morning surrounded by posters of the Italian countryside as we dug into platters of buffalo mozzarella and tomatoes along with eggs, coffee and croissants. 

Pudong at night

Nightime on the Bund 

The Huangpu River divides Shanghai into two parts, Pudong or modern Shanghai on one side, and Puxi, Old Shanghai, including the French Concession on the other. Pudong is known for its massive skyscrapers with night time light shows starting after sun set, while the most famous landmark on the other side is the Bund, a semi-circle of more than 50 waterfront buildings of different European architectural styles built by Western banks and trading companies.

Squeezing pomegranates street side

Fancy coffees: Starbucks not

In reality, old and new Shanghai intersect at every turn. On our walk to the subway in the morning, we pass soup dumpling shops, hair salons, bakeries and a woman squeezing fresh pomegranate juice on the sidewalk. There‘s a recycling operation in our alley where carts piled high with flattened cardboard sometime block the entrance.  Two blocks away there are gentrified streets lined with wine bars, sushi restaurants and minimalist coffee shops selling $7 lattes. And of course, Starbucks.

To get the lay of the land, we signed up for a walking tour of the French Concession area with FreetourChina.com, a tip-based guide service; an evening food tour with a similar group called GuruWalk; and a paid high-tech tour that included the visit to the EV showroom, a ride in a driverless taxi and a visit to a store in a shopping mall with dancing robots on display. 

Deina with FreeTourChina leads a walk through the French Concession. The city bike next to her says “Thank you” when you use the AliPay app to pay for a ride.

The Prada store: Good shopping but bad vibes

Our tour with Deina, a guide with FreeTourChina, met in front of a Uniqlo store across from a good stall selling sticky rice cakes. 

On our three-hour walk with a dozen travelers from Spain, the UK, Serbia and Mexico, we witnessed a wedding shoot in the French Club, an elegant mansion built in the 1920, and explored a neighborhood of European-style houses, formerly single-family homes, now housing for five or six families. Along the way, Deiina pointed out a skyscraper housing a Prada store known locally for bad feng shui (energy) because of the number of people who have committed suicide by jumping off. 

Bill serves Soup dumplings 

Tom mastered the art of eating soup dumplings

Bill from GuruWalk introduced us to soup dumplings while walking us through some traditional neighborhoods, not-yet-gentrified with Starbucks stores or designer boutiques. The dumplings - veggie, pork or egg- are filled with a pork skin soup. The way to eat them without squirting hot soup all over the table, he explained, is to pierce them with a small hole, then suck out the soup before eating the dumpling itself. 

I normally tune out when the conversation turns to electric cars, but I found myself fascinated by a tour of the Nio showroom with our guide Sean from a travel agency called China in Sight.

“A car is not just a car anymore,” Sean told us as he demonstrated a seat back massage function with 22 massage points; three video screens for watching movies; a refrigerator; and a surround sound stereo system.

“Self-driving” EVs in China are authorized for what’s called Level 2 autopilot driving, meaning the driver can take his or hands off the wheel briefly, but must keep eyes on the road. The $80,000 SUV he showed us has Level 3 capabilities that once approved, allow the autopilot to go a step further and take over total navigation. 

Robot  taxis are still being tested in Shanghai in restricted areas. We went with Sean on the subway to the test area where he used an app to call a driverless Lexus for a 12-minute trip to the Shanghai Museum of Art. The “driver” was polite but firm about telling us to buckle our seat belts. Unlike real drivers, it kept to the speed limit on a three-lane highway. Upon delivering us to our destination, it warned us to watch out for traffic on the side of the road.

Rooftop ornament indicates to other drivers that this is a self-driving taxi

We ended the day with a visit to a shopping mall where a company called Robots and Pets demonstrates the capabilities of mechanical robots to dance, carry heavy loads and do Bruce Lee impressions.

Their robo dog sells for around $2,000. He can carry 33 pounds on his back. Search and rescue teams in China use them for missions too dangerous for actual humans.

Onto Chengu, but first a ride back to the airport in Pudong on the high-speed Meglev which we missed on our first trip here. The technology is “old.” The Meglev began running in 2002, but it’s a thrill ride nonetheless as it levitates over “tracks,” traveling at 186 miles per hour.

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Exploring China: The focus is on the future in the country of tomorrow

 

                          The future: Chengdu's bamboo towers with waterfalls that mimic bamboo shoots 

The past: Tiananmen Square

It was just after midnight when the taxi driver dropped us off in an alleyway surrounded by sacks of concrete and piles of bricks. It was hard to believe this is where we would find our hotel in Beijing, but this was 17 years ago, and my husband, Tom, and I had decided to opt for staying in a hutong instead of a four-star hotel. 

Hutongs have mostly disappeared, but at the time, they were like villages inside the big city - basically communities hidden in and around alleyways surrounding common courtyards. A few, like this one, housed tiny family-run inns that welcomed visitors with comfortable courtyard rooms and cafes.

The alley entrance to our hutong in Beijing in 2009

In 2009 and 2005 while I was reporting for the Seattle Times, we concentrated on historical sites, remote villages and cultural encounters in the rural countryside. We biked an undeveloped section of the Great Wall, visited Xian's terracotta soldiers, road the "hard sleeper" train to small towns and spent the night in an ethnic village reached by a mile walk along a dirt path after a 100-mile drive that took five hours.

Fast forward to 2026 as we get ready for our third trip to China, this time focused not on the past, but the future. Rather than traditional sites such as Tiananmen Square, above, we're off this time to see modern landmarks like the Chengdu bamboo fountains, pictured above, and find out what it is like to stay in one of the gigantic Raffles City towers in Chongqing pictured below. 

The futuristic Raffles City hotel and shopping complex in Chongqing

Apparently we're not alone in our quest to experience a cashless society, ride in driverless cars, try out facial recognition at a vending machine and walk across a sky bridge that stretches across the tops of four 800-foot- tall skyscrapers. 

While the U.S. is discouraging foreign travel with visa restrictions and generally unwelcoming policies, China is encouraging international visitors any way possible, reports Wendy Lu, a Seattle-area consultant and author of a book titled "My First Impresssion of China- Washingtonians' First Trips to the Middle Kingdom." 

Writing for the online publication Post Alley, she sites a Pew Research Center survey on world opinions of 36 countries that concluded that many people now have a more favorable view of China than of the U.S.

With looser visa rules (If you are transiting through China to another country, you can stay in China for 10 days without a visa), China logged a 20.4 percent increase in inbound trips by foreign nationals in the first half of this year.

"China has had a blockbuster summer of international tourism, Lu reports. "One new trend that makes tourists to China more excited about is that they can now go beyond the conventional sightseeing of landmarks and historical sites to take immersive industrial or rural tours, watching robotic arms operate in an EV factory, for instance, or spending time with residents of ethnic villages." 

KFC delivery robot

Twenty years ago, no one thought about taking a vacation to China the way they did to Thailand or Vietnam, but after traveling there twice with the help of many English-speaking Chinese, I asked myself, why not? 

I would pose the same question today, given that it's even easier now to plan an independent trip without going on an organized tour.

 China was and still is a great value for U.S. travelers, given the dollar-yen exchange rate. The historical and modern inventions are incomparable. The food is cheap and tasty. The hotels are great values. Even the international air fare is a good value compared to fares to Europe.

Online sites such as booking.com and trip.com make booking hotels, trains and buses easy. Walking tours and day trip can be arranged and paid for in advance through sites such as freetour.com, GuruWalk and  and GetYourGuide.  

Armed with the payment app Alipay, used instead of cash for even smallest transactions; WeChat (the Chinese version of WhatsApp); and DIDI (ride share app), we are set for a three-week do-it-yourself  trip that will take us first to Shanghai on Delta's non-stop from Seattle, then onto Chengdu and Chongqing in the center of China and finally to Kunming and the ethnic minority villages of Dali in the southwest.

A nighttime light show at Chengdu's Twin Towers 

Chengdu pandas 

We'll take in some traditional sites -the Panda Research Base in Chengdu, the Dongchuan Red Lands near Kunming, and the ethnic villages near Dali, but the city we're most excited about is Chongqing, a sister city to Seattle located along the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, best described as the "biggest city nobody has ever heard of."

Suspension bridges connect various parts of Chongqing

With a population of 32 million, Chongqing (formerly called Chungking like the American noodle company that once made canned chow mein) is the largest municipality in the world by population, although third behind Tokyo and Jakarta when measured in terms of metro area. The city's biggest mark on Seattle is the Seattle Chinese Garden on the South Seattle College campus, designed in the Sichuan style by architects and artisans from Chongqing and Seattle.

Famous for its fiery hotpot, dramatic skyline, monorails through buildings and stacked highways, Chongqing is called the "8D city" or vertical city because it is built in a steep mountainous area, resulting in significant elevation differences and the need for suspension bridges at various heights to connect various parts of the city.

Public transportation

Due to its layout, the streets are so steep that the ground floor of a building might open to a busy street, while the 22nd floor opens to a completely separate street or a public square on the other side.

The Liziba monorail

A train station inside a building in the Liziba district is located eight stories above ground. The monorail system allows trains to pass without causing disruptive vibrations, thanks to an advanced soundproofing system.

How to see all off this? We've booked a three-hour walking tour our first day through freetour.com with a local guide and later, through a local travel agency, a market tour and visit with a family for lunch in their home.

Our hotel is a far cry from the inn in the hutong we booked so many years ago in Beijing. In Chongqing, we will be staying in the Ascott Raffles City, a hotel inside Raffles City, complex of four skyscrapers sitting 820 feet above the confluence of the Yangtze and Jialing rivers. 

Raffles City hotel and shopping complex

The price was a bargain $117 per night, booked on booking.com, with breakfast for one-bedroom apartment with a washing machine in the room.

Designed by architect Moshe Safdie, the key feature is a top-floor observation deck called the Crystal walkway that includes the Sky Mirror, a  glass-bottomed outdoor viewing deck that cantilevers over the edge of the building.

Raffles City skywalk 

The view is straight down at the 820-foot drop to the streets and rivers below. 

If this isn't enough of a thrill, there's a Cloud Walk for those willing to gear up in a full-body safety harness and walk along the open-air spine of the crystal, with no glass walls between you and the drop. The highlight: You can sit on the edge and dangle your feet over the city. 

Sadly, China has age restrictions on the lower and higher ends. The cut-off for the Cloud Walk is 65, so we will have to see what other closer-to-the ground thrills await.

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Ignore the Airbnb pushback; Choose wisely and everyone wins

 

An Airbnb in Taxco, Mexico. The owner lived next door

Should you feel guilty about staying in an Airbnb, given the pushback around the idea that they displace locals, create a shortage of housing and ruin neighborhoods once reserved for long-term residents?

Hotel industry lobbyists are winning support from city governments to restrict or eliminate Airbnbs in many places. Even consumer advocates, such as syndicated columnist Christopher Elliott, urge travelers go back to being tourists rather than "pretending" to live in a neighborhood at the expense of permanent residents."

I argued against those arguments in a recent blog post countering the assumption that Airbnb lost its way when it began opening up its listings to investors with hired managers. Some are, but many are owned by individuals supplementing their incomes by renting out a room, suite or mother-in-law apartment never intended as a full-time residence. 

 "How do you tell the difference?" a reader asked.

A classic Airbnb on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia

Making the right choice when choosing an Airbnb requires research, not only when it comes to ownership, but also the neighborhood, bottom-line price and refund policies. Do your homework, and you won't need to feel guilty about deciding on a spacious Airbnb as opposed to a tiny room in a high-priced hotel. The bonus is not only a larger, more private accommodation, but the chance for a unique cultural experience, especially if you are booking in another country,

Here's what to consider:

After searching for a listing that meets your criteria, scroll down to below the map showing the location to "Meet your host." My husband and I rented a suite in White Rock, British Columbia recently. The owner and her family lived in a house attached to the unit which appeared to have been remodeled to include a kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. The entrance was near the back of her house, and although the unit was well-equipped, I doubt that anyone would find it suitable as a full-time rental.

A typical Airbnb listing with photos. This was our White Rock Airbnb

A unit that is not owned by an individual but rather by a company that hires out the management might list their own name or the names of the same two or three different "hosts" on multiple listings. 

The studio apartment we rented a couple of years ago on Rua das Flores, the main pedestrian street in Porto, Portugal was one of several managed by the same people, a good indication that the owners were investors. The host, Sofia, confirmed she was a real estate consultant who, along with her parents, started buying up units on the street a few years ago.

The view from our Airbnb in Porto

We stayed three nights in the Airbnb and two nights in a small hotel owned and managed by a local couple. Both we lovely, but I admit I felt better about supporting the local innkeepers as opposed to the investors who likely did displace some permanent housing. 

Pricing

The initial price that appears on an Airbnb listing will not be the bottom-line price you see when you hit the "reserve" button. The initial listing will include the Airbnb service fee, but not taxes. Example: I have been looking at an Airbnb in Mexico City where the listed price was $$373 for thee nights. That jumped to $439 when I went to book and $67.12 in taxes were included. Some cities or countries have a per-day tourist tax required to be collected on-site. We discovered this in Malta last spring when the Airbnb owner left a note requesting that we leave 7 euros in cash on the kitchen table before leaving. 

Refund/Cancellation policy

Always check refund and cancellation policies which vary according to the listing. Many Airbnbs have liberal policies allowing for cancellation with a full refund up to a few days ahead of arrival. Pass on bookings that are non-refundable or return just a partial payment minus the Airbnb fees.

Check the reviews

Airbnb publishes all reviews, good or bad, from both customers and owners. Check them carefully as well as the dates they were posted. Only people who have actually stayed in the Airbnb can do a review, so there is no danger of fake postings. 

House rules and amenities 

Some hosts think of everything. Cindy, our host in White Rock, left blueberry muffins, grapes and cheese in the fridge along with half- and -half for coffee. Other hosts leave the cupboards bare except for salt and pepper. Almost all provide a code for opening the door rather than a key. Some make an effort at personal contact; others don't unless you need something. 

Coffee makers are one of the quirkiest variables. Some hosts provide easy-to-use drip machines with ground coffee; others, like Cindy, supply K-cups and a Keurig or Keurig--like coffee maker. Coffee purists tend to stock their units with complicated equipment such as elaborate espresso machines and whole bean grinders.

The most unusual non-amenity I have encountered was at an Airbnb on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia. The owner provided no indoor trash can, just an outdoor compost pile. Guests were expected to provide their own receptacle for taking coffee grounds or food to the compost pile, and pack everything else out when they left.