Chengdu uses rich culture to increase global influence

Giant pandas, Jinsha site and Shu embroidery among attractions being harnessed by businesses

As the birthplace of the ancient Shu civilization, Chengdu has not only inherited splendid Chinese civilization but helps breed the unique and charming Tianfu culture, officials said.

The capital city of Southwest China’s Sichuan province has given full play to its rich and unique advantages in cultural resources in recent years, making it shine on the global stage.

A series of international cultural activities — such as the 22nd General Assembly of the United Nations World Tourism Organization, the Chengdu Panda Asian Food Festival, and the 31st Summer World University Games and World Games — have highlighted the global influence of Chengdu.

Chengdu’s rich cultural resources include giant pandas, the UNESCO-listed Qingcheng Mountain scenic area and the Dujiangyan irrigation project, the Jinsha site as well as renowned Sichuan cruisine such as Sichuan hotpot, mapo tofu, and kongpao chicken. Those are becoming a fountain of creativity in Chengdu.

Pandas are undoubtedly a cultural symbol of Chengdu and are famous worldwide. As Chengdu opens up, pandas become a feature of the city and have helped many intangible cultural heritage and cultural creativity products reach global markets.

Panda Post in Chengdu is a bear-themed post office chain. It has developed various related products and served tourists more than 10 million times since its inception in 2013.

It has become a feature for publicizing the cultures of Chengdu, its pandas and the postal service itself.

The Shuwajie flagship store opened in August. It offers postcards, domestic and foreign stamps, stamp albums on the Sichuan Basin culture and 100-plus varieties of cultural creativity products.

Cao Yalu, who is in charge of Panda Post, said: “It is not merely a popular tourist destination anymore, but a synthesis of cultural creativity, art and life aesthetics.” Shu embroidery, one of China’s four major embroidery types, is a generic term of embroideries from Chengdu and its surrounding areas.

It has been inherited over generations and practitioners are noted for their wonderful skills.

The embroidery is being promoted to more people in Chengdu and has influenced some creative products.

Among the many goods based on Shu embroidery, Sheme, a local women’s shoe brand, has become fashionable.

It has been showcased on the catwalks of London Fashion Week and Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week. Examples were also collected by a German leather and footwear museum for their original design.

Sheme has not only brought Shu embroidery to international fashion but promoted Chengdu cultural elements across the world.

Sheme products have been exported to a few dozen countries and regions, including Italy, France, Germany, the United States and Russia.

Cultural creativity is not merely applied to physical things but digital ones too.

Digital works featuring cultural creativity have been seen in recent years, such as mobile game Honor of Kings, or Arena of Valor as its international version is called; and animated film Ne Zha.

To date, more than 1,000 digital cultural creativity companies are running in Chengdu. Among them are Tencent and Lifang Group.

Totally, 100-plus such enterprises have an annual output value of more than 100 million yuan ($13.84 million). The industry chain is improving and its development has entered the fast lane.

Cultural creativity has become a pillar industry of Chengdu. Its proportion in GDP increased from 5.2 percent in 2017 to 10.4 percent in 2021. The industry’s added value had risen from 63.36 billion yuan to about 207.38 billion yuan during the same period.

Koung Manivong, a Lao student at Chengdu University, came to the city because of her love for Chinese culture. “I heard a lot of Chinese stories when I was a child, which made me particularly interested in Chinese culture,” she said.She likes the character of Zhuge Liang, a military strategist of the Shu Kingdom (221-263), in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and feels excited to study in the same place where he lived. Zhuge is a symbol of wisdom and loyalty in traditional Chinese culture.

For Three Kingdoms (220-280) culture fans, Wuhou Shrine Museum is a must-see place in Chengdu. It was built in memory of the heroes who died in that period.

In recent years, the museum has focused on the integrated development of culture and tourism, and it developed China’s first WeChat program of “Walking the Three Kingdoms”. This is an immersive research and experience platform based on the culture of that time.

The Temple of Marquis Wu and Jinli Ancient Street, both of which are scenic spots featuring the culture of the Three Kingdoms, have become important tourism business cards in Chengdu.  

Xie Hui, director of the museum, said they have also tried to carry out cross-border cooperation with schools, bookstores and companies to transform the research results of the Three Kingdoms into products spanning tourism, education and cultural creativity. Chengdu is also home to the Jinsha Site, which is believed to be one of the most significant archaeological finds in the 21st century.

The site demonstrates a thriving culture that existed in Chengdu more than 3,000 years ago.

The most famous relic is a round, golden ornament featuring the sun and immortal birds.

It is not only the main feature of the city’s logo, but is used by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage as a symbol of Chinese cultural heritage.

Since 2014, the Jinsha Site Museum has developed multilingual service platforms for mobile phones and launched several immersive exhibitions like Repeat of Jinsha, where visitors wear virtual reality glasses, and an archaeological project using digital technologies to break the boundaries of time and space.

From January 2021 to July this year, the archaeological project has received about 1.5 million visits.

Chengdu, renowned as “the city of museums”,  has the second-largest number of museums in the country.

In Chengdu, more old streets bearing historical features have been turned into fashionable landmarks.

Wide and Narrow Alleys, located in the center of Chengdu, is a typical example of the successful integration of historical areas with modern commerce on the basis of protecting the original buildings.

It comprises three parallel alleys called Kuan Alley (Wide Alley), Zhai Alley (Narrow Alley) and Jing Alley (Well Alley). Built during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Wide and Narrow Alleys is one of the best-preserved ancient streets in Chengdu.

The place not only features distinctive cultural characteristics of Chengdu, but also introduces some fashion culture and entertainment brands such as Sanlian Bookstore and POP Mart to attract more young visitors.

Citang Street, another old street in downtown Chengdu, is currently under renovation and upgrading. Workers are busy with construction to prepare for the opening of the street at the end of the year. It is a themed business community that retains the century-old street pattern and has the largest number of cultural preservation buildings in Chengdu.

The street will be transformed into a complex consisting of businesses including an art gallery, artist space, new lifestyle teahouse, immersive museum, art incubation park, providing new consumption experience for citizens. Citang Street is an important part of Tianfu Cultural Park, which will be built into a cultural center of Chengdu and a core area to showcase the characteristics of a park city. Qingyang district, a place that carries the essence of Chengdu’s cultural roots, is speeding up the renewal projects of Tianfu Cultural Park and other tourism spots.