PHOTOS COURTESY OF JANET GYENES 94 BCBUSINESS NOVEMBER 2017
TRAVEL
It's early morning at the Chengdu Research
Base of Giant Panda Breeding on Futou
Mountain, part of the rare bears' ances-
tral homeland. A small group of us are
huddled against a wooden fence. We're
hoping to glimpse some of the giant
pandas that have been bred and raised in
this sprawling habitat of laurel trees (both
real and arti•cial) and bamboo forest.
The capital of Sichuan province in
southwest China, Chengdu is home to
16 million people. (With 24 million
residents, Shanghai is the country's larg-
est city.) But it's probably best known
for the 150 black-and-white bears living
at the research base. Although the base
and its park are just 10 kilometres north
of downtown, they're an otherworldly
escape from the city's snarled traŠc
and modern skyscrapers—architectural
eye candy when not hidden by haze.
Chengdu's ancient alleyways and lush
surrounding forests served as inspira-
tion for DreamWorks Animation SKG
Inc.'s Kung Fu Panda •lms. Art and life
imitate one another in this deep-rooted
but forward-thinking city, which is lay-
ing the groundwork for its lofty goal of
becoming Asia's Silicon Valley.
Two portly pandas lumber to a
bamboo platform. One plops down on
its plush backside, grabs a bamboo stalk
from a pile and starts chomping away.
It's like an animated character pro-
grammed to chew in perpetual motion,
more Zen master than kung fu •ghter.
We wander to another panda den just as
a park sta– member—clad in a lab coat,
rubber boots, hairnet and face mask—is
depositing three cubs on a platform in a
furry heap.
Watching these animals romp is a
meditative experience, but there's more
incubating in Chengdu than pandas.
Although the city is overshadowed by
business behemoths Beijing and
Shanghai, almost 280 Fortune 500 com-
panies already operate here, according
Best known for its giant
pandas, the capital of China's
Sichuan province has its eye
on becoming Asia's Silicon
Valley
by Janet Gyenes
Chengdu
Rising
