A view of Jinli – Chengdu, Sichuan, China

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This is a sight in Jinli.  China spend a lot of money and effort to rebuilt old community area into modern travel attraction spot.  They are very successful.  They rebuild these areas with traditional architectures.  Walking through these areas make you feel like you are walking through China 100 years ago.  Even the locals enjoy these new tourist attractions since most of them are born in the modern era.  But the community that used to reside in these areas are long gone, replacing them are vendors who are here to make money, and money only.  They know nothing about the cultures, the history, the tradition of these areas.  Hack, they are not even from the area.  The new town look beautiful, nice and clean, but it will be forever a town with no soul.

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Even though the past is forever lost, but Jinli flourish under the new found prosperity.  Tourist from all over China pour into Jinli everyday, making it a very successful tourist district.  In its own right, Jinli is creating its own history, a history that’s resemble the past, but a whole new story in it self.

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Huge, large, grand are all subjective terms, they only have meaning when you have something to compare to.  Jinli is by no mean huge by Chinese standard because there are thousands of  others “huge” places.  But for me, since I spend most of my life in the United States, so I will compare it to US standard – so by US standard, Jinli is amazingly big and grand in comparison to most similar attraction in the United States.

In China, when people refer to a place as small or tiny,  the actual place is usually amazingly large (by US standard).  I remembered when I was getting direction from a Chinese gentleman on the street, he told me the place I was trying to go is just a very “small” shopping district.  But once I got there, I was in shock because the supposedly small shopping district is so large in area, that I can get lost easily inside and it is definitely bigger than any mall I have visited in The United States.

The above photo is taken from the same spot as the black and white one.  The only different is I keep this in color for the purpose of contrast and comparison of the same view :)  I personally like the black and white version, how about you?

This is another of Jinli’s particular view.  The whole area is basically build on this theme.

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When you are tired from all the walking and shopping in Jinli, just stop and sit down, look around, and enjoy the view.  Even though Jinli is pack with people and tourist at all time, you can still find places of solitude to rest and recharge.

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They really go the whole 9 yards when they recreate Jinli.  You can see the hard work they put in in all the details, all the architectural designs, all the authenticity in replication.  They are really trying to bring the good old days back to life.  As for the final product, I have to say, they did a very good job.

/Lumaca Moderno

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*Jinli is a popular tourist spot in Chengdu, Sichuan, China