People's Park

People’s Park is the first park in Chengdu and one of the first established parks in China. People’s park was called Shaocheng Park when it was first built in 1911. The name came from its location in the Shaocheng (small city) built for the Manchuria soldiers sent to Tibet and came back to settle. The big city (Taicheng) was built in today’s Tianfu Square as early as 311BC. In 1911, the Manchuria government came to the end and the Manchurians needed to be relocated so the governor of Sichuan enclosed today’s Shaocheng Park solely to be the residence for the Manchurians. Today it has become a significant place for Chengdu people. It is a small world inside the park where you can see the relaxed lifestyle of Chengdu people.

How to Get There

People’s Park is located near Tianfu Square in the center area of Chengdu. Bus route 4, 30, 42, 62, 53, 80 and subway line 2 goes by the park. It is very easy to get to. There is no entrance charge for this park. It has four gates and easy to find

What to see at People’ Park

A lot of interesting things you see in People’s Park may define the details of Chengdu people’s life. If you have limited time in Chengdu and also want to see local life and have local experience, this is the place to visit.

Tea Houses

There are several tea houses in the park and among which the one named “Heming Tea House” is the most famous and the biggest one. In the tea garden Chengdu people do a lot of things over a tea table, having a business meeting, chanting with friends, playing Mahjong or porker, reading newspapers or talking politics loud. The fact Chengdu people spend a lot of time in a tea house correspond the fame of Chengdu people being relaxed. Especially at weekends, hundreds of bamboo chairs will be occupied by tea-drinkers. Another interesting thing is there some people providing ear-cleaning service in the park. The ear-cleaning or ear-picking service is unique in Chengdu. It is considered a craftsmanship transferred down generation by generation. It is a service to clean up your ears with their metal sticks and cotton swaps. It is actually a very pleasant experience while some may be suspicious about other people putting things in your ears

Match-making Corner

By the south entrance not far to the left, there is a section by the walking path full of match-making leaflets hanging on the strings and guarded by match-makers. Parents who are persistent to have their children get married choose this place as one of their solutions. It is very interesting if you can read the information in Chinese written on the papers. They are simple and only the most important information is put on it. From 2022 this is available everyday from 9am to 5pm. Parents visiting and talking with the match-makers while match-makers try to advertise the single people they have in hand. Mainly what they put on those papers are information about oneself and the description about the requirements, including monthly income, appearance, height, whether have an apartment in the city, whether have important acquaintances.

Dancing Old People

People start to dance in different groups after 9:00 o’clock. Before that there are some people doing Taichi when it is still quiet. The dancers are mainly old and retired people. The dances vary from traditional dancing with the dancers holding traditional fans in hands, to modern dancing with one man and one woman imitating Waltz. The open spaces separated by bushes in the park under the trees are designated to different groups of dancers during different time of the day. It is very crowd sometimes. You may find space for retired Chengdu people may be too much limited but in another way they still manage to enjoy themselves. Visitors are usually welcome to join the dancers anytime. It is a park open to everyone.

Bonsai Garden

This Bonsai garden is rather small but still has bonsai in different sizes and shapes. A Bonsai garden is necessary in a big Chinese public park. The Bonsai garden is by the south entrance.

Republic Revolution Monument

The most significant construction in People’s Park is the monument erected to memorize people died in “Protecting the Right of Building Railway” movement in 1911. It was an incident under Beiyang Government when they tried to sell the right to build an important railway in China to a foreign government. It is consider part of the 1911 Great Republic Revolution and people who died are widely recognized as heroes.

Best Time to Go

The best time to visit People’s Park is all year round. In terms of the time of visiting during a day, morning would be better option because it is quieter and it stays the way one park is supposed to be but in the day time, you get to see more.

Opening hours: 06:00~22:00

recommended length of visiting: 2 hours