Back in Chengdu

I forgot how humid Chengdu and Shanghai are in May compared to Lexington. But I am very glad to come back after so many years. Chengdu, as a central city of the southwest region has developed so much that I cannot even recognize. The south district of the city is basically another Chengdu, called Tianfu District. Although lots of cities in China are doing the same thing to build new districts, Chengdu is doing quite well. Ken and I took the line 1 subway to the new district to explore on our own today. The Global Center reminds me of Las Vegas. Things are not cheap there, but there are still lots of people, even on the week days. I don’t know how people can afford it. On the way home on line 1, we stopped at Tianfu Square, which is the center of the city. That was actually my first time to be there since I don’t even remember when. The department stores above the subway station are quite neat. The scale of the Tianfu Square is smaller than Tiananmen Square, but it’s really breathtaking to have a huge flat area amongst the concrete forest. As we are planning to spend more time here, there will be more new things to be discovered.