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Jinli Ancient Street
Jinli Street, an ancient street in Chengdu City, is located to the east of the
Wuhou Temple.
Chengdu is a city brimming with a strong leisurely ambience with Jinli Street as the typical representative.
History of the Jinli Street
It is recorded that as early as the Qin Dynasty (221 BC - 206 BC), Jinli Street was the most famous place for baldachin - a rich, ornate cloth. And it was one of the busiest commercial areas during the Shu Kingdom (221-263). Hence, it is known as 'First Street of the Shu Kingdom'. In order to reclaim its prosperity of former days, it was restored with contributions from the Wuhou Temple and was opened to public in October of 2004. Since then, visitors from all over China and abroad gather here to relax, admire the traditional-style buildings, and taste some local snacks.
What to see?
The elegant style of the architectures tells you what Sichuan looks like during the Qing Dynasty. Sichuan Culture is inlayed in this ancient street. After its recent renovation, Jinli Ancient Street has become one of the busy trading streets in
Chengdu. On both sides of this 550-metre street there are numerous small stores selling handicrafts, antiques, and souvenirs such as Shu embroidery, lacquer products, folk handicrafts, old porcelain dishes, curios, or calligraphies and paintings.
The street is about 550 meters long.Within the area, there are also hotels, restaurants, teahouses, bars and cafés. The street is very popular with both locals and tourists, especially at night. In the middle of the street, there is a wooden stage which looks like an ancient
pavilion. It is used from time to time for performing classic Sichuan Operas. You can enjoy folk music along with the actor's beautiful, quick costume and make-up changes. The actors' perfect performances will wow you.
In the middle of the street, there is a wooden stage which looks like an ancient pavilion. It is used from time to time for performing classic Sichuan Operas. You can enjoy folk music along with the actor's beautiful, quick costume and make-up changes. The actors' perfect performances will wow you. Open-air movies are also shown in front of the stage. There are also some other performances in
Jinli Street such as a traditional clothing show, sounding night watches, and carrying bridal sedan chair and bamboo chairs show. Another interesting performance is the local wedding ceremony show in which visitors may participate. Lovers can also have a unique and traditional wedding ceremony here.
When you reach the end of the street, you'll be tempted by the aroma of delicious local snacks. The citizens of Chengdu are born epicures and they are particularly fond of dining. Here there are many restaurants as well as
sidewalk booths offering local snacks that will make your mouth water.Walking in this street, historic lanes, old official residences, vernacular dwelling, inns and shops will bring you back to the ancient China.
On traditional festival days,
Jinli has some theme activities: lantern exhibitions on Lantern Festival, zong zi (glutinous rice wrapped to form a pyramid using bamboo leaves) eating competition on the Dragon Boat Festival, appreciating the glorious full moon on the Mid-Autumn Festival and so on. Especially in Spring Festival, more people come to visit “Big Temple Fair”.
In 2005, Jinli Ancient Street was named as “National Top Ten City Commercial Pedestrian Street”. In 2006, Jinli was named as “National Demonstration Base Of The Cultural Industry” by the Ministry of Culture. There are approximately 18,000,000 visitors a year.
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