People's Park in Chengdu

While Chengdu is an autonomous city (like Washington DC), Chengdu is officially part of Sichuan province - the capital in fact! Mostly famous for its food, Chengdu also has a reputation for being one of the most relaxed cities in China. While this claim to fame is fading a bit as the city balloons like the rest of the country (16 million and growing!)It's not difficult to find the slower pace of life here.

One of the most popular places to enjoy this mellow vibe is at People’s Park (Renmin Park), an urban park right in the middle of the city. Here you can wander the paths near canals, feed koi fish in a pond, watch locals practice tai chi, and sit in bamboo chairs drinking tea. The environment is nearly tropical, with lotuses, palms, and giant ferns seemingly everywhere. To add to this, some of the canals have a light mist that hangs like smoke just above the waters and the plants.

Another attraction in the park is the “Matchmaking Corner” where you will find hundreds of papers hung up with local bachelors and bachelorettes trying their hand to find suitable partners. The papers are color coded (blue for men, pink for women), and you will see discerning potential partners (and more likely their parents) scouring over the details to see what kind of match they can find, like an analog version of online dating. Just like the internet, those looking for love are trying to put their best foot forward, detailing how tall, attractive, smart or successful they are. If you (or again, probably your parents) like what you see you can give the number at the bottom of the sheet a call and see if the feeling is mutual. I have no idea how often successful matches are made, but it’s a practice at least decades in the making and the crowds around the ads lead me to believe that it won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.