That Was Now, This is Then

Our visit to Chengdu last January was a shock -- not the shock of being in China, but the shock of So. Much. Change. Good change, bad change, whatever. Just change.

When Dave and I walk Chengdu's streets we'll say -- or just think to ourselves, simultaneously -- things like "Oh my gosh, wasn't that where the ....stood?" or "Can you believe there was ever a time when that side of the river had absolutely nothing on it?" Even when we visited last month there were buildings that didn't exist in January.

It's difficult -- almost impossible I think -- to fully appreciate just how far Chengdu, and China, have come in 25 years if you didn't know it then.

All of what Chengdu was in 1984 and 1985 is in my head, and only in my head. That's what I thought anyway, until one day last January we turned a corner and suddenly we'd gone back in time. One minute we were here,

 
 

and the next we were there.

This is what pretty much all of Chengdu, except for a very small area around the Jinjiang Hotel, looked like in the mid-eighties. These are the sort of streets we cycled through every day. These are the sorts of things we saw. This is what we took for granted.

These photos of 'old Chengdu' were taken last January. Amazingly, this little neighborhood of traditional single- and double-story tile-roofed brick houses near the Sichuan Music Conservatory has survived while similar ones around it are long gone. It hasn't been tarted up, it hasn't been Disney-fied. Many of its residents are long-timers, and they don't have the easiest life. None of these houses have indoor plumbing. Unlike in 1985 however, most of them have heaters, and TVs and washing machines. We even saw the flickering blue screens of a few PCs.

We found this clutch of old buildings quite by accident, as we walked toward the university from the bus station. First we saw, on a side street, this row of old timber-fronted shop houses and the gaggle of tea-drinkers and mahjong players out front.

Everyone was friendly, chatty. When I told a group of ladies that Dave and I lived in Chengdu 25 years ago they immediately understood why we were staring, goggle-eyed, at the structures they idle in front of every day. "It looks just like it did then!" one beamed. 

They encouraged us to follow the side street past to where it narrows into a one bike cart-wide lane. So we did.

Plastic stools are new. Children's backpacks are new. Motorbikes are too. Strips of radish and laundry hung from trees to dry are not.

Buried at the dead end of one lane we found a double-story building that we think might be an old water plant. It's been sub-divided into residences but we peaked through the slats of a door and saw an old well. A man living in one of the rooms, who ushered us into the the old structure told us that, whatever it was, it ceased operations after kaifang, as the economic reforms initiated by Deng Xiaoping in the early 1980s are referred to.

Our heads spinning, we left the warren of narrow lanes and set off towards the university in search of lunch.

Two bowls of zhajiang mian with plenty of la jiao in a knock-up noodle shop set us right. I don't recall ever encountering zhajiang mian when we lived in Chengdu. Nor any dish, for that matter, made with as much pork as that bowl of noodles held.

But right after we ordered and before she brought us our noodles the woman running the place hurried over and set before us two steaming bowls of milky pasta water, something I hadn't been offered in 25 years.

Comments

[Kavey]

A lovely post... love your balance of nostalgia without judgement, even though it must be sad as a visitor to feel the loss of what you loved so much.

[angie]

great post! and lovely pictures as always.

[Stephanie]

The milky pasta water!! Brings it right back.

I can't imagine how jarring it must feel to see the "new" Chengdu. I've only been gone from China a little over a year, and my friend already reports to me that the street we lived on has changed dramatically...thanks to the evil 拆

[marj]

this post is beautiful. it reminds me of the nostalgia i had when i visited the province i grew up in after 9 years in the city.i wish i took pictures

[Karen from Globetrotter Diaries]

Beautiful photos. I feel like everytime I go back to Shanghai, and China generally, so much changes so quickly. It's transforming at an incredible rate...

[ALBERT]

Great post and photographs.

At home I usually drink some pasta water after I ate the noodles. My dad said that it helps digestion. 原湯化原食, were his exact words.

[JD]

Great post. I lived in Sichuan University for 2 years, and I missed the spot.

I love the nostalgia b/c I'm from a city with speeding up "拆“. I miss the old city block where I grew up and I miss the serenity in the late 80's. But I feel for the residents who live in the old houses. On one hand it's always amazing to find something old in China, but to say "not having the easiest life" would be a huge understatement. My grandma lived in a similar old house (not in Chengdu, but in Qingdao. In a house built by German over 100 years ago.) Even though the house was structurally sound, and she did have plumbing and TV, she used to say "whoever could have moved, moved."

@ Albert
My Mom says the exact same words! Where is your Dad from? I think only Shandong people say that.

[Katy]

I wouldn't think it's only from Shandong - but in general-Northern regions where wheat/flour is the staple food (noodles, Shuijiao). It's to do with the water-soluble Vitamin B in the flour.

@Albert - Taiwanese version (sweet potato)Fenzhen rou/地瓜粉蒸肉 used frozen cooked white rice/or small portion of cooked glutinous rice of personal preference. Cooking time reduced significantly and not so powdery as the commercial pack. Crush the cooked rice in a plastic bag.

[Danny]

Love the photos, they really do tell a story.

[foodbin]

Great photos.

[michael]

Great photos. I lived in Beijing in 1988-89, and went back to visit in '99 and 2000. Even in those 10+ years, the city had changed beyond recognition. I can't imagine what a lapse of 25 years would feel like (though if I wait a few more years, I suppose I can go and find out).

Greetings from East Africa - where the food is not as interesting as when I lived in China (or more recently, Phnom Penh).

[Leo Sigh]

I do think it's sad China is destroying much of its history. I think many Chinese will live to regret it, just like many Americans have after they went through their own 'drive to modernization'.

Gorgeous, gorgeous photos, btw.

[Tracy]

Wonderful photos! The noodles is so mouth-watering.