Kuanzhai Alley and Jinli (Chengdu)

Historic Qing Era Lanes And The Three Kingdoms Themed Street Beside Wuhou Shrine · Chengdu, Sichuan

Two of Chengdu's most loved old-style streets, where the city's famously relaxed teahouse culture, street food and folk arts meet. Kuanzhai Alley - the Wide, Narrow and Well alleys - survives from the Qing-dynasty garrison town built in 1718 for Manchu bannermen, and its grey-brick courtyard houses and carved gateways were restored in 2008 into a quarter of teahouses, restaurants, bars and shops. Here visitors sip jasmine tea while professional ear cleaners work with long metal picks, tea masters pour from kettles with metre-long spouts, and Sichuan opera performers flash through the face-changing trick. Across town, Jinli is a lantern-strung lane of Qing-style buildings running beside Wuhou Shrine, the memorial temple to the Three Kingdoms strategist Zhuge Liang and the Shu emperor Liu Bei; its stalls sell rabbit heads, sweet rice balls, spicy skewers and cold jelly, and at night the red lanterns glow over the crowds. Both are free to wander and deliberately touristy, but they give a lively first taste of Chengdu's food and slow pace of life, and the city's real teahouses, temples and parks are close by.

Kuanzhai Alley, Qingyang District, Chengdu, Sichuan, China

Kuanzhai Alley and Jinli are free open-air streets (shops roughly 9:00-22:00). Wuhou Shrine relic area 9:00-18:00, ticket sales until 17:00; west area 9:00-21:00.

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