Chengdu, China

Our latest vacation was spent partly exploring more of China.  We traveled to Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province in Southwest China.  Our choice for visiting this city was to see China’s National Treasure, the giant panda.  One of the rarest animals in the world, of those living in the wild 80% of which are in Sichuan Province.  We decided to visit the Panda Breeding Research Center in Chengdu which is a unique opportunity to see the Panda in an environment that mimics their natural habitat.  The center leads the world in research into the rearing and breeding of Pandas.  We signed up for volunteering at the Center by cleaning a Panda cage, washing them down, and best of all feeding them.  It was great experience.
 

Within the same day we visited Antique Street with a history stretching back to the Qin Dynasty around two thousand years ago.  Walking through the street you see many handcrafts and antique items for sale.  Finally we stopped on Jingli street in the evening, it is recorded that as early as the Qin Dynasty (221 BC - 206 BC).  As we walked down the streets we saw stores selling handicrafts, etc.  It was a very happening place to visit as the streets were very crowded as we casually walked around and stopping at a few select shops here and there.

The following day we went to see the “Big Buddha”.  We traveled to Leshan to see the biggest Buddha in the world and the longest reclining Buddha in the world.  The Buddha is situated at the Lingyun Mountain where the Minjiang and Dadu River meet, east of Leshan City.   Created in the Tang Dyansty it is the biggest stone stature in the world at present.  Historical documents show that the carving was begun in AD 713. According to legend, there was a river monster that lived on the confluence of the rivers. The monster often caused floods that capsized passing boats. Believing that the statue would protect boats travelling up the river, Master Haitong, a Buddhist abbot of the Lingyun Monastery, initiated the project by raising the necessary funds.  It was really a great site to see!  Aside from climbing down the mountain side we also took a short ferryboat ride along the river to get a better view of the statue.

In the evening we went to see a Sichuanese Opera which originates back to the 1700's.  Sichuan opera is more like a play than other forms of Chinese operad.  The traditional opera we witnessed had a combination of dancing, stunts of face changing, sword-hiding and fire-spitting.  This was a great experience and a great way to end this trip within China.