Hotfoot It To Hot Pot City

Forget Beijing and Shanghai, the bright lights of Chengdu are where it’s at

- Jodie Clark

Home of the Giant Panda, hot pot and the flaming Sichuan chilli, Chengdu is the hip new travel destination you’ve probably never heard of. It’s one of those places that has exploded in recent years — a potential goldmine of growth with more than 260 Fortune 500 companies already joining the throng.

The very definition of a noisy Chinese city, if it feels a bit frenetic here it’s because 8 million people are all jostling for space in one of the country’s biggest urban centres. As Chengdu’s modernisation ambitions career along at breakneck speed, it’s exactly this fast pace that feeds into the eclectic atmosphere. But for all the change that’s going on, heritage still plays a major part in a local fabric that blends modern China and its ancient traditions. And that’s exactly where Chengdu’s charm lies, at the collision point between its modernity and its past.