Culture

Chinese liquor tour in Chengdu

by CDpanda | March 26, 2009 at 08:31 pm

259 views | 16 Recommendations | 3 comments

I am excited about the tour I was heading for Chengdu to see a liquor & wine exhibition. Officially called it China National Sugar and Alcoholic Commodities Fair, it is the largest event of this kind nationwide.

Chengdu, the capital city of Southwestern Sichuan Province, owns many famous liquor brands. Historically, the liquor-distillation industry in this city can be traced back to more than 3,000 years ago.

Chengdu's liquor culture is a perfect reflection of its leisure culture. Residents in the capital city are known for their love of leisure, and they care much about life quality. The city has been renowned as the most relaxed and leisure city in China. People in Chengdu like getting together drinking teas and chatting. Despite the fact that the city is becoming more modern with many multinational companies setting their regional headquarters, such as Intel, Lafarge, etc, it still remains its leisure style.

On March 24, I left the hotel very early for Chengdu Century-New International Convention & Exhibition Center, where the exhibition was held, as one of my friends had reminded me that thousands of people would go for the events. Nevertheless, it still took me around 1 hour from the hotel to the exhibition center due to the traffic jam. The taxi driver told me normally it only takes around 30 minutes.

When I arrived, I saw thousands of people flocked into the exhibition center. I took some interesting pictures.

I arrived in Chengdu on March 22, 1 day before the exhibition was open. So I got the chance to see the well-known Wuhou Temple, Jinli Ancient Street, and eat the famous hot pot.

Wuhou Temple was built in honor of Zhuge Liang, the Primer Minister of Ancient Shu Kingdom. There are shrine of Liu Bei (the emperor of Shu), shrine of Zhuge Liang and Liu's mausoleum, etc. the temple is noteworthy for commemorating the monarch and his subject together. The buildings of the temple, the Front Gate, the Second Gate, Hall of Liu Bei, Hall of Zhuge Liang and Liu Bei's Mausoleum and so on, are all located in the central axial line, facing south. The temple incenses history of the Shu and Han Kingdom.

Jinli is one of the most ancient commercial streets in the history of Sichuan Province, which was nationally well known during Qin, Han, and Three Kingdoms dynasties. Nowadays in the 350 meters long street there is a concentration of the business of Chengdu life. There are tea houses, inns, restaurants, bars and theaters, and there also have snack foods, handicrafts and local specialties which show the charm of Sichuan culture.

In southwest China, Chengdu city is famous for mouth-watering chilly food and hotpot. Red and green peppers full of vitamin C are the best and most popular dieting food in the world. Don’t worry about what we have swallowed, because most of them are counteracted by chilly peppers.