Last week, a workshop was held in Chengdu. From Beijing, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Shanghai, Japan…., many colleagues came to attend this workshop. As the host, I was bombarded with series questions about Chengdu: Where to eat? Where to visit? Where to shop….. Half amused, half exasperated, I found myself, a person who has lived in this City for more than 36 years, unable to answer all these questions.

I was supposed to know it all. I was born, grown up, went to college, got married, give birth in this very same city. I should be an expert in Chengdu’s living. However, my familiarity with JingLi(锦里),the most famous spot in Chengdu, perhaps is not better than an outsider who had paid a couple visits with really interests.

Perhaps I’m just too Chengdu to take everything for granted. It was a glorious sunny Sunday. Instead of driving outside of the city as usual, we decided to pay a visit to Music Park, a newly-opened tour site in eastern suburbs of Chengdu. I once thought it was just a man-made sight, nothing but another selling point the local government has created to increase the revenue, but after visit, I realized that perhaps I had been too soon to jump into that conclusion.

Eastern suburbs, a place used to be assembled with all size of factories, the same place where I was born, took a quite different look now. With the development of the city, those factories I was once familiar with had already stepped out of the public’s sight after fulfilling their destiny---either being relocated, or shut down for good long time ago.

At the first sight, Music Park bears a striking resemblance to Shenzhen’s Loft. Art statue is seen everywhere.

However, the unique imprint of old Chengdu is begging to be discovered. Even shop's name bears Chengdu's Mark . For example, there is one shop named: 街沿边边(curbside in old Chendu dialect).  Not just Chengdu's imprint, but also the lingering trace of Old Chengdu exists---as if somehow part of old Chengdu has risen again from the ashes of the memories.  

Music Park is built up at the same place where Hong Guang Factory used to be. Parts of the factory’s machines have been torn apart, refurnished as decoration. The plant is turned into a cinema. Clear water is pushed up from a huge-boiler-made fountain.

Any idea what's this made of?

Creative ideas are easily observed. But it’s not the creativity that has impressed me most, but those memories, memories I thought have long gone with those vanished factories, gushed up during this visit.

t.

Several restaurants are scattered on the side of this aisle, each restaurant is named after staff canteen, like Canteen No. 9, Canteen No. 11….Neither of my parents worked at the factory, but I couldn’t be more familiar with the factory canteen. My father pulled some strings so I could dine at the canteen during my whole time in primary school. Walking on this aisle, I seemed to look into the cook’s stern face again. Every time when he spotted me from the crowd, he would wave a huge spoon and shout: “Kids first!” The others would automatically stepped aside and make a way for me to go through. I still remembered that the price is 0.25 yuan for a meat dish with rice included. Now, this place might have some vague resemblance to what I have remembered about the canteen, but of course 0.25 yuan is a big laugh---you can’t get a decent meal here even for 100 times of that price.

The corner of one restaurant. The slogan is even before me, might belong to my mum’s generation.

n.

Such building is hard to be found in the street now, but it’s very popular when I was a child. Though in my memory, those buildings are shabbier. er.

In Chengdu, it’s always about Panda.

Locomotive square. Xu was slightly taken back by this big guy guy.