Sichuan: The China I Keep Returning To. Part 1

I first travelled to Sichuan in 2006, and my immediate reaction when I stepped out into Chengdu was a slightly bewildered: “Two thousand or so years of history… where is it?” On the surface, the concrete sprawl had seemingly swallowed the past. But it didn’t take long to realise that the history wasn’t in preserved monuments – it’s most alive in the neighbourhoods…