What the visitors see and experience by is what the culture of Sichuan has to offer. The culture of Sichuan originated from today’s Sichuan province.
It exerts an influence on areas such as Tianshui to the north, Hanzhong as well as eastern Yunnan and western Guizhou to the south, and it survives and prevails in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.
Like any other culture in China, it is an important part of Chinese culture with a long history and striking local features. The Sanxing Pile historic site was unearthed in Guanghan, Sichuan in 1986 proving that Sichuan culture has been prosperous as early as 4000 years ago.
2000 years ago, Sichuan, the kingdom of silks, opened the southwest Silk Road, which started from Chengdu and ended in Mid Asia and Europe by passing Burma and India.
It was through this road that famous Sichuan silks, brocades, porcelains and tea leaves were exported to other countries and such items as jewelries, jades, pearls, seashells and glasses were introduced to Sichuan.
This road opened a door of cross-cultural communications between Sichuan and other regions. Characterized by various patterns and exquisite embroidery, the Sichuan brocades back then were looked on as the symbol of Chinese culture.
The prosperity of the Sichuan culture causes its gathering of outstanding scholars and talented people. Guo Moruo, the late renowned Sichuan writer, said in his famous masterpiece The Anecdotes of Sichuan, “Since educationalist Wen Weng vigorously subsidized the cultural and educational undertakings in Sichuan, such historical figures as Yangxiong and Sima Xiangru stood out one after another. Thus, most of the poets, like Libai in the Tang Dynasty and Sushi in the Northern Song Dynasty, are from Sichuan.”
Apart from educationalist Wen Weng, classical Chinese poet Yangxiong, Sima Xiangru, poet Libai and writer Sushi mentioned above, such as great poets Dufu, Luyou and Huang Tingjian have lived in Sichuan. Dufu wrote nearly 1/3 of his poems in Sichuan.
In the past, the prosperity of literacy creation served as a driving force behind the rapid development of the printing industry in Sichuan. In the Tang Dynasty over 1,200 years ago, Chengdu is the most prosperous and the important printing center that was as famous as Chang’an in today’s Xi’an and its nearby areas.
It was in the Song Dynasty that the block printing industry in Sichuan witnessed its unprecedented growth. It was recorded that the block printing of Sichuan in the Song Dynasty tops that elsewhere.
The culture of Sichuan has a long and glorious history. As early as in the trace of human activity, the Wushan people and Ziyang people once lived in Sichuan.
A saying goes like this, “The people from western and eastern Sichuan shared the same ancestors.” As Chinese civilization developed, the culture of Sichuan glowed with dazzling light in successive dynasties.
Up until now, Sichuan remains a renewed and important part of Chinese culture.
Sichuan Cuisine
Sichuan is well known for its spicy cuisine and use of Sichuan peppers due to its more humid climate. The Sichuanese are proud of their cuisine, known as one of the Four Great Traditions of Chinese cuisine.
The cuisine here is of one dish, one shape, hundreds of dishes, hundreds of tastes, as the saying goes, to describe its acclaimed diversity.
The most prominent traits of Sichuanese cuisine are described by four words: spicy, hot, fresh and fragrant.
Sichuan cuisine is popular in the whole nation of China, so are Sichuan chefs. Two well-known Sichuan chefs are Chen Kenmin and his son Chen Kenichi, who was Iron Chef Chinese on the Japanese television series "Iron Chef".
Another famous Sichuan cuisine is hotpot. Hot pot is a Chinese soup containing a variety of East Asian foodstuffs and ingredients, prepared with a simmering pot of soup stock at the dining table.
While the hot pot is kept simmering, ingredients are placed into the pot and are cooked at the table. Typical hot pot dishes include thinly sliced meat, leaf vegetables, mushrooms, wontons, egg dumplings, tofu, and seafood. The cooked food is usually eaten with a dipping sauce.
Sichuan cuisine is one of the eight most famous cuisines in China and it’s various. A saying describes the Sichuan dishes like this, “The dishes are rich in taste and diversity”.
In people’s mind, Sichuan food is generally famous for its spicy taste. Saute, home-cooked, fried and boiled food is characterized by their unique flavors.
They are definitely scrumptious! Double-cooked pork slices, fried chicken, duck smoked with tea leaves and steamed fish in soy bean sauce allure the guests with their unique fragrances. The delicious Sichuan dishes have already become popular all around the country.
Famous dishes are Mapo tofu, cold dish with eight flavors, duck smoked with tea leaves, sliced meat with crispy rice, pork shreds with fish seasoning, kung pao chicken, hot and sour beef tendon, saute meat dumplings with pork slices.
Double-cooked pork slices, diced beef with water flour, stir-fried duck tongues with bamboo shoots, poached sliced beef in hot chili oil, braised Dongpo pork hock with brown sauce, steamed beef with rice flour, boiled fish with pickled cabbage and chili, etc.
Yangxixian and Zijin Residential Area are the places where you can taste delicious Sichuan dishes since there are many excellent restaurants scattering around there.
Recommended restaurants are Hongxin Restaurant, Da Ronghe, Honghe Weidao the place where director Zhang Yimou once made the propaganda film for Chengdu and Mother Zhou and Xiyanghong.
When it comes to Sichuan dishes, there is nothing more famous than hotpot.
Characterized by its variety, spicy taste and convenience, hotpot has quickly won over the hearts of the people all over the country. Sichuan hotpots are various; there are dozens of soups of the hotpots; the raw materials for making hotpots defy enumeration.
In a word, anything eatable can be boiled or cooked in the hotpots. In recent years, searing hotpot has derived from the traditional hotpots.
Popular traditional hotpot restaurants are Huangcheng Laoma, Shu Jiuxiang, Sanguo Yanyi, Chuanjiang Haozi, Wuding, etc. And the famous special hotpot restaurants are Tianmei Niqiu, San Zhier, Tubaguo and Yiba Gu, etc.
The most popular place for enjoying hotpots is Funan New Developed Area—the special hotpot street. There are dozens of big and small hotpot restaurants scattering there: San Zhier, Kong Liang, Liu Yishou, Gourmet Huang Hopot, Zeng Shiji Loach Hotpot, Zhaolao Goose Sausage Hotpot, Baba Yan Duck Sausage Hotpot, Abalone Hotpot, Kaiyuan Delicious Hotpot, etc.
There is also chicken and bamboo shoots hotpot, sliced pork and radish soup hotpot, shrimps hotpot, dainties of every kind hotpot, frog hotpot, etc.
Tourism Observer
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