I visited 20 grocery stores, B&Bs, and restaurants in Chengdu in 2 days. Each one is worth a special visit (Part 1)
I have been working on a lifestyle website for 9 years. I have come into contact with 4,000 people in WeChat and thousands of people in Q and address books. More than 90% of them are in work-related fields.
I still remember the first week of my first job more than ten years ago. It was an internationally renowned Internet giant. The first task of our team was to make 500 calls each to verify the information of 3,000 cooperative merchants. That week I’ve made all my phone calls in the past three years. From that moment on, I opened the door to communicating with strangers throughout my life.
Slowly, I can easily tell from the tone and tone of the first "hello" and from the most high-sounding common words whether the person I have never met will become a good collaborator or even a friend.
As the years passed, I became more and more tired, and the probability of finding friends from the sea was too low. In this era of "fighting for fame and fortune, how can we rest, get up early and sleep late, we are not free. We ride on donkeys, mules, and horses, and officials and prime ministers look at princes." A simple fool like me is only worthy of being the target of other people's calculations. I think that as long as I don't do anything, You won't die. In fact, if you stay quietly, someone will let you die.
My last remaining hope for trust in this world was ruthlessly destroyed.
I think many people walking in today's society feel it more deeply than I do.
As a result, armor, weapons, defense, and gas masks have become the daily equipment of every person in society and in the workplace. The moment when you take off your guard becomes extremely relaxed, but this moment often comes when you fall asleep.
In November 2018, I was having a hard time. After 6 trips, the seniors in the industry jokingly called him “a business trip back to Beijing.” The days at home were numbered, and I often came back today and left tomorrow. The sixth itinerary was a trip I took along the way. I planned to go to Chengdu for three days and two nights. However, due to my friend’s schedule, it turned into a lonely trip for me. In hundreds of travel experiences, I have never traveled alone. It’s not impossible, it’s meaningless. No one can share happiness and sorrow, happiness will not double and sorrow will not decrease.
I was scrolling through the thousands of people on WeChat, sifting through the scattered light snow in Chengdu, which melted as soon as it hit the ground. Suddenly, I remembered a sentence I read on a certain day in a certain month of a certain year: What kind of friend? Just an acquaintance.
Just when I was ready to risk my life and walk alone, I threw out the last life-saving straw without any hope.
A “net friend” whom I had never met but whom I had known for many years accepted it.
I thought, if a netizen I haven’t met comes to Tianjin, would I buy a train ticket and stay with her for two days? I couldn't, but you did.
This opening chapter may be a bit long, or perhaps it is not an opening chapter, and the following running accounts are the elaboration of this short opening chapter.
In this day and age, the number of friends in WeChat has far exceeded the number of "friends". Have you ever carefully counted how many real friends you have in your "circle of friends"?
——The above letter was published in November 2018 and has not been issued yet.
1
In early September 2020, I received a call from my old boss, asking me to go on a business trip with him. The leisure and vacation conference that had been delayed for 4 months was about to start. I and 4 senior colleagues embarked on a journey to Suining, Sichuan. I had to force myself to take a year off and go to Chengdu for two days. In total, I only took 5 days off this year, including work. It was not as good as the time when I was on vacation. At least it was 15 days. I wanted to find a friend to go shopping with me, but they were all busy. It doesn’t matter. Even if I am alone, I will devote myself to my longing - countless grocery stores and small restaurants, those days when I can’t go out, lying in bed and reading reviews and collections in a warm corner.
I thought again of my friend Garfield who came to Chengdu from Mianyang to accompany me in the late autumn of the year before last. I tried to ask, but I didn’t expect that she happened to be in Chengdu on the second or third day of my visit. That was when she took the train from Mianyang every month. On the day of class, we hit it off immediately.
The driver took my friends who were traveling with me to Chengdu Airport back to Beijing. I was the only one who didn't get off the car. I'm always so independent. Firstly, I couldn't bear to leave my friends. Secondly, I was very excited to start my solo journey again. The kind driver dropped me off at the subway entrance. I stood on the side of the road and took a taxi. It started to rain lightly for a few minutes. I didn't know it at the time. It continued to rain until I left, almost non-stop. I always attract rain like this.
Looking for the navigation, I found the community of the B&B I booked on Tujia. The girl at the B&B asked me to tell her that I was almost there so she could pick me up. I'm confident I can find it, but the truth is, it's probably half and half. This B&B is the most satisfying one I've ever found - it's in the city center, a bungalow, not an apartment building, close to where I want to go, with convenient transportation, great design... and great value for money. I looked through the apps and found nothing to compete with.
The house is hidden at the end of one old community and then out of another. After passing through the thick green grass and woods, I met a stray cat in the middle of the road. Finally, I arrived at a design B&B renovated from an old courtyard. "My Loft City Utopia Design Bed and Breakfast”.
Pushing open the black door, you suddenly see white walls, dark doors and windows, and an alien space opens the door to another dimension. Quiet in the bustle, with terraces on the upper and lower floors, a total of 11 rooms, each one different.
The gentle girl butler took me to the garden starry sky king-size bed room I booked. This room has a tree in the room! With an area of 60 square meters, it is very spacious.
The light industrial style of magenta and pure white artistic sense is composed of four parts: a large bed bedroom + a small living room and powder room + a bathtub, bathroom and toilet. The welcome gift is local desserts, and there are many drinks on the table in the living room. The roof of the bathroom is made of glass, and it sounds very cool when it rains at night.
The only problem is that the bathroom has no door, which is inconvenient. Also, because there is a big tree in the house, it is not airtight. There was a big spider that scared me to death. Its legs were longer than my fingers. Garfield solved it for me the next day.
The housekeeper saw that I liked the design here so much, and took me to visit several rooms with different styles. The pure white Santorini bedroom is designed as a sunken space, full of pure white, changing space, curved doorway design, and Greek-style bath, which is beautiful. There are also Southeast Asian complex colorful tiles, houses with thatched open-air baths, and my favorite triangular attic house...
In the early morning, breakfast was delivered to the room as scheduled at the time ordered yesterday. And I chose to eat under the umbrella on the terrace in the drizzle. On the first day, I stared at the sky alone, and on the second day, I waited for Garfield. The two photographers, who both like to take pictures of others but not themselves, finally got together to take a selfie. I haven’t seen you for two whole years, but you are still so kind and virtuous, and I am still so idle at home and know nothing.
2
Business hours: Tue-Sun 13:00-21:00
Inside the Chemical Design and Research Institute, No. 30 Wuhouci Street, Wuhou District, Chengdu
After settling down my luggage and at the hotel, I checked the weather forecast. It said it was raining. It was okay. I put down the Little Eagle with the rain cover, put my little one-shoulder bike on my back and started riding for tonight’s plan. First I would go to Yishan Sundries, and then I would go to Grass Carp. Eat something fresh from Xiaotong Alley for dinner.
Before the car could be swept away, it started to rain again. Facing the light rain, I got on the car, mixed in the traffic during the evening rush hour, and started riding in a foreign land.
I am a moving obstacle in a foreign country, and I have to stop and look at the map from time to time. The mountain of debris at the first stop seems to be in this yard, but the store clerk at the door has never heard of this name. With my intuition, I went in the right direction and found it - Spring Sugar in March 2018. Before leaving for the airport for my last business trip, I took advantage of every opportunity to visit a retro grocery store I came across in Joy City. There are some surprises, but also some regrets. The surprise is that there are such interesting things in Chengdu. The regret is that I don’t like shopping mall stores, and the other store I found is in a three-story pavilion on the fifth floor of a residential building on Hongxing Road. It no longer exists. Time has passed.
There was a big black dog and a beautiful dwarf locked inside the plastic fence door. A young handsome guy asked me if I was afraid of dogs. I said no, I have wolfdogs at home, so he opened the door for me. I said a few words to the dog and looked at the store to see if it looked good and could be photographed. Then, continuing the aftereffects of being in Beijing, I asked for advice: Can I take photos?
The answer I got was: shoot whatever you want.
At this time, for a tourist who just loves taking photos and loving grocery stores, and who has made a special trip from Beijing after two years, these three words are more touching than I love you and casual swiping.
The handsome guy Chen asked me where I was from, and I said Beijing. He said that he lived in Beijing for half a year in 1997 when he was in his 20s. I was shocked, I was still in elementary school in 1997! You look too young. You are 10 years older than me. I thought you were about the same size as me. He said calmly: Maybe the pace of life in Chengdu is slow.
Knowing that I was a regular customer who came here specially, Yidaiwuyidai told me the story of the store.
Yishan Sundries has been open for 7 years. The owner is a musician, so there is a small stage in the store. Musicians will come to play every Saturday afternoon. It is not a performance, but an impromptu performance. Every Sunday afternoon from 2- There is a flea market at 7 o'clock. On the last Saturday of every month at 3 pm, a Yishan Market is held at No. 3 Yujie Lane, Yulin Community. It has been held 20 times so far. I have time on Saturday when I leave, so I want to go!
The owner, who plays music, and his friends opened this grocery store together because they like old things. Among their friends are illustrators and creative people... The original intention of opening the store is very simple: they hope to share practicality and design with more people. Sensual things. Some of the items in the store are not for sale. They are private collections of cultural relics that are put out for display. They make people look at them greedily, but they can only look at them. More than half of the items in the store are handmade sundries, and some are handmade products consigned by designers to the store. There are also many small items brought back from abroad by the shop owner's friends, most of which are orphans. The owner hopes that Yishan can become a platform to provide opportunities to more young people, give more independent culture a chance, and let everyone know the thoughts and attitudes of young people today. In addition, they will also launch creative markets from time to time, where many interesting gadgets will be on display, including handmade leather goods, vinyl records, ghost horse handbags, vintage clothes, etc.
The dog's name is Ma Da, and the cat's name is Miss. They are both female and over six years old. The eldest lady keeps chasing me, maybe I smell like cat? It's a bit hard to feel bored after being hugged with Li Goudan all day long.
The rain showed no sign of stopping and kept getting heavier. I was trapped and couldn't leave the store behind, so I decided to eat here.
Da Chen said that chicken popcorn is slower, so if you are hungry, you can order takeout.
I was shocked again. I could eat other people’s food in a cafe. Even if I could, I couldn’t do it...
After a while, a little girl came to the store. She was very familiar with the clerk. Da Chen said to her: Didn't you say there is no language environment? She is also from Beijing, and so is the girl upstairs.
That day, three Beijing girls came to the store at the same time, and the same accent became each other's passport.
This girl goes to school in Chengdu, studying mathematics and cognition. She lives 5 minutes away from Yishan Zaodong. She still comes to the store to chat before going to class, even if she leaves in 10 minutes. How charming is this to keep someone so old?
The air fryer chicken popcorn is ready, Da Chen asked if it can be spicy. I was shocked again. Even chicken popcorn in Chengdu is for chili noodles. I tasted it and it was quite delicious.
He taught me several Chengdu dialects, but I couldn't understand any of them. "Cannon" and "waist pants" actually all mean "pants". Bashi can also describe people.
From walking in to browse to sitting down to eat, Chengdu explodes in a hidden grocery store...
The rain has lightened up a bit, it's getting late, and it's time for me to go. Da Chen gave me a plastic bag to put on my camera bag to prevent it from getting wet.
When I went out, I found that the rain was not heavy, but the shed and leaves in front of the store became amplifiers. I did not choose to return the same way, but took the opposite road that I had not traveled before and continued riding...
Walking through the streets and alleys, I chose small roads. The secluded streets wetted by rain were illuminated by street lights. I stopped to admire them and watched the cyclist's back fading away.
I walked back to my small hotel at the end of the community to prepare for tomorrow’s trip.
3
Business hours: Tuesday to Sunday 11-18:30
No. 10, No. 7, Shizi Lane, Qingyang District, Chengdu
I can’t count whether I passed through Kuanzhai Alley five or six times without entering.
Chengdu's tourist landmarks that were once a must-visit have become a target in some people's minds and cannot be avoided. Having said that, I still like mice very much, with gray fur, especially chinchillas.
All things wax and wane.
Just near Kuanzhai Alley, many small shops have sprung up in the gaps between residential buildings with few tourists in recent years. Some are already well-established and some are new. I'm just here for them.
The night before, I sorted the more than 20 grocery stores and small restaurants I found into groups according to the three directions of northwest, southwest and east. I wanted to complete all visits to the northwest the next day. The sky was overcast, so I rode my bicycle and found the "Grass Carp Stuff" next to a middle school, but the door was closed tightly. I looked down and found out that it only opened at 1 p.m., so I had to go through the community and go to a few new stores in Persimmon Lane first.
Persimmon Alley is a place that has only become popular with the petty bourgeoisie this year. Mido is probably the second cultural and creative store opened in Persimmon Alley. It is located at the east entrance of the alley, and there is a construction site in front of the door.
I arrived early, the shop had just opened, and I was probably their first customer today. Only when there is sunshine can there be shadows, and only when it is rainy can there be warm light in the glass windows. The store is not big, and it is straight. I might not like it if it is bigger.
The store is full and neatly stocked with handbook materials that little girls like, such as colored tapes, sticky notes, clips, large and small flower books, colorful stickers, posters, pendants, illustrators’ works, and beautiful things. magazines, typewriters, plants...
I thought it was run by a girl, but in fact it was a sojourn for a young "uncle" who was tired of working overtime and resigned.
There is a shelf in the store that is specially produced using scrap paper. It is called Waste Heart Liangzuo, which focuses on the redesign of waste paper and is customized according to the characteristics of the scrap paper. These items are of the same quality as the others and are just as beautiful and practical.
I bought a few of the smallest 2021 calendars. Although they look good, I also feel sad and resentful. Are the manufacturers so anxious to survive? 2020 is very difficult, but I haven’t had enough fun.
4
Business hours: 11-21 o'clock
No. 9, No. 7, Shizi Lane, Qingyang District, Chengdu City
I had no plan to visit this small shop next to Mido Store, which was half-covered by tree branches. In fact, it was the first design shop in Persimmon Alley. There are a few seats in the store, and customers are chatting softly. There are finished ceramic products on the shelves, mainly tea sets and flower ornaments. If you like to make your own pottery, you can also fire a kiln here, and the boss will teach you how to do it. But it will take longer, maybe a few hours.
After walking here, I already like Persimmon Alley. This small road less than 300 meters may seem ordinary, but in fact it has quite a profound history behind it.
Persimmon Lane is a place in Shaocheng during the Qing Dynasty. forever Ping Hutong. Shaocheng, also known as Mancheng, is a "city within a city" built by the Qing government for the Eight Banners soldiers and their families. After the pacification of the Three Feudatories, the number of Eight Banners soldiers in Chengdu gradually increased. In 1718, the Qing government built Mancheng in the west of Chengdu. Because it was located on the site of Shaocheng built by Zhang Yi of the Qin Dynasty in the Warring States Period, it was called "Shaocheng".
5
Business hours: Saturday and Sunday 11-20:00; other days 11-18:00
No. 1, No. 7, Shizi Lane, Qingyang District, Chengdu City
There used to be a pool at the east entrance of Persimmon Lane called Amber River, but later the sedimentation gradually disappeared. There is a tall and lush persimmon tree at the entrance of the hutong. After the Revolution of 1911, Yongping Hutong was renamed Persimmon Alley. Today, the persimmon trees have also disappeared in the distant timeline, leaving only a few old-fashioned Nordic Western-style buildings from the Republic of China period. Like the former residence Wang Mansion of the famous anti-Japanese general Wang Zejun. After he was defeated and captured, the residence was transferred to his father, Wang Zanxu, the former chairman of the fourth Sichuan Provincial Government . Chengdu people are accustomed to calling it Jinhe Street Nursery, which is now hidden among private houses.
Another example is the "Okawa Hotel Incident" in 1936, which forced the Japanese authorities to give up their attempt to set up a consulate in Chengdu. In the end, after many twists and turns, they finally established a consulate at the entrance of Persimmon Alley. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War in 1937 and the severance of diplomatic relations between China and Japan, the Japanese consular staff evacuated and later became the residence of Deng Xihou, commander of the 28th Army of the National Revolutionary Army. After liberation, it became the Chengdu Military Region Logistics Department Kindergarten. Now it is empty and abandoned.
Two of the four nationally famous schools of modern orthopedics in Sichuan emerged from here, namely the Manchu Du family of orthopedics represented by Du Ziming and Du Qiongshu and his daughter, and the Mongolian He family of orthopedics represented by He Renfu and his three sons. .
In the middle of Persimmon Lane, at the corner of the alley, there is a bright, white-walled small shop, which is quite famous in Chengdu. I made a special trip to visit it. Again, I came too early, the beautiful boss Xiaoxi was changing exhibitions. The store has a different theme every month, and the products will also change. So what you see at different times will be completely different.
The beautiful shop owner, like many of us, likes to visit stores. I went to Korea on a business trip that year and met the illustrator Zero Per Zero and became good friends. After returning to China, he became their dealer and placed their works on consignment in small cultural and creative shops in many cities. As time went by and I met more and more illustrators, it became natural to open my own shop.
The clean and clear glass window says "LIFE IS SO HARD, YOU NEED ONE BITE OF SWEETNESS." This sentence tells me the origin of our store name. I only remember listening to a sentence on the radio when I was in high school: Life is fragile, we can only live strong.
There are only a dozen small shops left, see you in the next issue.
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