A night at the opera might mean a variety of powerful and beautiful voices singing a ballad of some sort — or at the very least a phantom shows up.

Not so at the Sichuan Opera where a fire-breathing performer made for a dramatic backdrop to a quick-change artist, who managed to change mask and costume as fast as it took to swipe a huge fan in front of him.

Glitz and glamour of the Sichuan Opera in Chengdu.

     It was incredible magic, really. How did he do that, anyway? You’ve got to check out the video for a taste.

     There was some singing that I’m certain told a beautiful tale, and a man who balanced a bowl with a flame on his head as he crawled under benches in a comedy sketch that said the man was tired of doing what his wife said.

     Funny, you couldn’t understand it totally, but you got the idea.

     But without question, the highlight was an incredible hand-shadow artist who transformed his 10 digits into a flying bird that sat and pecked at his mouth, a running rabbit, a galloping horse – an incredible sight — and a coyote looking down on a rabbit and eating it. You actually saw the rabbit going down the coyote’s throat.

     He also used his forearms and head to fashion an owl with eyes that moved back and forth.

     The entire show was great theater and nothing you’d expect from your typical opera. And before the show, you can walk right into the dressing area and watch the performers put on their makeup.

     If you have a free night in Chengdu, take in the opera. You won’t regret it.

• See the video

FINAL NOTE:

Suǒyǒu zhèxiē zhōngshí xìntú “zhōng piàn sìchuān,” xièxiè dàjiā yì qǐ wèi qí. Wǒ xīwàng nǐ xǐhuan de màoxiǎn.
Zhè hěn yǒuqù chóngxīn shēnghuó wǒ qù chéngdū hé sìchuān, hé fēnxiǎng wǒ de shíkè.
Wǒ qiángliè jiànyì nǐ kǎolǜ dào zhōngguó lǚxíng. Yuē měi tiān 100 yuán, nǐ kěyǐ dédào yīgè sì xīng jí jiǔdiàn, jiāotōng, dǎoyóu hé ménpiào suǒyǒu jǐngdiǎn. Zhè shì zhídé de.
Zàijiàn le dàjiā!

TRANSLATION:

     To all those faithful followers of “A Slice of Sichuan,” thanks for coming along for the ride. I hope you enjoyed the adventures.

     It was fun re-living my trip to Chengdu and the Sichuan Province, and sharing my moments with you.

     I highly recommend you consider a trip to China. For about $100 a day, you can get a four-star hotel, transportation, food, a guide and tickets to all the attractions. It’s well worth it.

     Goodbye all!

     Yours truly,

     The SichuanChinaTraveler

     aka David Strege

     Silk is as big a part of China as green tea. Well, almost as big.

     The Silk Road, an intricate trade route that connected Asia with the Mediterranean world and parts of Africa and Europe, was utilized 3,000 years ago.

Silk Tiger with a Peacock on backside on display at the Shu Brocade Workshop in Chengdu, Sichuan Province.

     More than silk traveled along the route, of course, but a German geographer retrospectively coined the term The Silk Road in 1877 and it stuck.

     While visiting Chengdu, we opted to stop at a silk-making plant. At least we thought it was a silk-making plant. Turns out, the Shu Brocade Workshop was a place where you bought silk items. It was more of a showroom.

     You probably won’t find it in many tour guides, but it was fascinating and turned out to be a great place to pick up a few gifts for family and friends back home.

     Interesting was the fact they actually had a silk spinning loom, and two people were busy making a Shu brocade, a richly decorative shuttle-woven fabric often made in colored silk.

     Since Sichuan Province is called “Shu” for short, the brocade produced in Chengdu and famous throughout China is called Shu brocade.

     The intricacy of the loom boggles the mind. How in the world did someone invent this thing? It really is incredible to see in action.

     The Shu Brocade Workshop also featured women working on embroidering silk products. The two-sided silk tiger and peacock — yes, one side is a tiger and you turn it around and see a peacock — took one year to make.

     We also learned that to clean silk, besides taking it to a dry cleaners, use hair shampoo and cold water.

A spinning loom making Shu Brocade

     If you want to see one of these looms, pick up some silk and/or watch someone making a brocade, the Shu Brocade Workshop is worth the stop.

• See more photos 
• Next week: The fire-breathing opera star.

     The voices, reading in unison, caught our attention immediately.

     The words spilled out of more than 100 mouths in a recurrent rhythmical series that we couldn’t understand. Even our Chinese guide, Alex, said it was difficult to decipher. He said they were reading stories.

A Thousand Buddha Peace Pagoda at Wenshu Temple in Chengdu.

     We were at the Wenshu Temple, said to be the largest and best-preserved Buddhist temple in Chengdu. We were walking toward a room full of Buddhist worshippers, all with books propped up on the tables in front of them.

     All were reading in the same cadence to the beat of a drum, a monk setting the pace to the monotone drone.

     The sight is hard to put into words. To get the full impact, check out my video at the bottom.

     Wenshu Temple is a monastery that dates to the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD). Originally known as Xinxiang Temple, it was renamed after a Buddhist monk who lived at the temple in the 17th century.

     The temple is known for the crowd of worshippers who flock to the place and we saw that firsthand on one Sunday morning.

     The monastery, known for its ornate carvings that decorate many of its buildings, has more than 400 statues of stone, iron, bronze, painted clay and wood in various sizes and shapes.

     There are also many Buddhist cultural relics and artwork from ancient and contemporary China in the Scriptures Hall.

     The most precious item is said to be the skull of Xuanzang, a monk of the Tang Dynasty.

     Outside is a Peace Pagoda of A Thousand Buddhas. It has 11 stories and is the tallest iron pagoda cast in China.

     This is a fascinating stop, no doubt. Equally interesting is the shopping area on nearby Wenshuyuan Street with all the old-fashioned buildings. Quaint and charming, it is worth a visit.

•      See the video 
•      See more photos
•      Coming next: A silk factory.
•      Still to come: A fire-breathing opera star.  

    Visiting an irrigation system doesn’t sound all that exciting, so why were hundreds of people lining up to purchase tickets as if it were the entrance to Disneyland?

     Because the Dujiangyan Irrigation Project is ancient history. We’re talking really old. 

     It was built in 300 BC and, while modernized a bit, is still being used today to provide water for agriculture in Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan Province.

     The irrigation project is one of the reasons Dujiangyan, located not far from Chengdu, was named Top Tourist City in China. No kidding.

     At the head of the project you can see two distinct and very wide canals shaped by man’s hand.

Aerial view of irrigation system. No, I didn't take the helicopter tour to get this shot. This was a photo posted on site.

     The reason for the system?

     As the story goes, the lack of rain and unreliable summer weather led to some difficult times for the farmers and the crops. On the other hand, sometimes the Min River would flood and cause damage and death.

     So the engineering geniuses of that day moved the earth around and basically created an inner river that feeds into Chengdu and its agricultural plain.

     Our guide Alex explained the basics thusly:

     In the summer when there is more water, 60 percent of the water continues down the outer river while 40 percent goes to the inner river.

     In the winter when water levels are low, 40 percent of the water goes down the outer river while 60 percent goes to the inner river.

     There is no dam to divert the water, the depths of the canals do it automatically. The island in the middle, where you can glimpse the inner and outer rivers, is manmade.

     To get to the island, one must negotiate a shaky suspension bridge — a wild treat in itself — and walk or take a shuttle to the head of the irrigation system.

     Two dams were put in 30 years ago, but the system originally built 2,300 years ago continues to work like a charm. It really is amazing.

• See more photos
• Next week: Wenshu Temple.
• Still to come: A fire-breathing opera star.

     In 1986, workers digging for a brick company near Guanghan City in Sichuan Province unearthed a treasure trove of artifacts that became “the most important archaeological discovery of China in the 20th Century.”

A gold-covered bronze mask from the Shang Dynasty, nearly 4,000 years old

     Many Westerners would say the Terracotta Army of Xi’an was China’s most significant archaeological find of the past 50 years. It was discovered in 1977 and dates to 210 BC.

     Hard to argue, yet the Sanxingdui ruins, which are between 3,000 to 5,000 years old, was described by the major media as the “most important” and “most attractive archaeological discovery in the world.”

     Archeologists excavated two large burial pits that yielded more than 3,000 gold, bronze and jade artifacts of surprisingly high-quality workmanship.

     It was reported that the discovery of the pits pushed back the perceived date of the Bronze Age in China by as many as 1,000 years.

     Among the items found were tools and practical instruments, weapons and daggers, artifacts of religious worship, and a series of bronze masks, some with gold coverings.

A bronze statue from the Shang Dynasty

     A guide at the Sanxingdui Museum, located about two hours from Chengdu, said an unnamed city existed at the site 5,000 years ago but disappeared 2,800 years ago for some unknown reason.

     It is said that this was the capital city of the ancient Shu Kingdom and these are the largest ruins from that period to ever have been uncovered.

     What’s incredible is visiting the museum and looking at artifacts that are 5,000 years old; particularly because so many of the items are in incredibly great shape.

     For those into history and archeology, the Sanxingdui Museum is a must-see for the China Traveler. 

• Next week: An irrigation ditch that attracts tourists like Disneyland.
• Still to come: A fire-breathing opera star.