Many visitors who have been to Chengdu might have heard the following said about this capital of Sichuan Province in southwestern China.

Relax and take a nap on the plane to Chengdu, the anecdote goes. You won't miss overlooking the Chengdu Plains from the air, as the sound of shuffling mahjong tiles are bound to wake you up.

This city of 10 million is no hasty-busy one. Its defining feature is, in fact, how relaxed it feels.

Mind for mahjong

Take a stroll or a taxi around the city, and you are bound to find locals playing mahjong below the eaves of their houses, in outdoor teahouses or in parks. Almost every back street of the city will have little tables with crowds of people at play.

Its mahjong fad is better known than its other attractions such as the giant panda, the Temple of Marquis Wu, Sichuan Opera and Sichuan cuisine, according to an online survey by www.sohu.com at the end of 2000. The idea behind the survey was to find the one thing that best represented Chengdu and seal the name in a jar for the residents of Chengdu to open 1,000 years later.

Mahjong was not invented in Sichuan and came here only in the early 1990s. But it took root quickly. Any occasion is right for mahjong be it a wedding banquet of a condolence gathering.

"After they give a red envelope filled with gift money to the newly wed to congratulate them for the union of hearts or to the family members of the deceased to show condolence, Chengdu people would take seats by the table arranged by the host to play mahjong. They only stop when they are served with meals," said Liu Xiaorong, an official in Chengdu's Jinniu District.

Chengdu is not blessed with much sunshine. A popular saying goes that even a dog would bark merrily if the sun rose.

So whenever the sun does go up, residents like to be outdoors. And what better way to spend this time outside than to draw up a table for a game of mahjong.

Since March 2001, Chengdu has been hosting an annual international peach blossom festival in the mountainous Longquanyi District.

With 17 million fruit trees, nearly 10 million of which are peach trees, the district draws hundreds of thousands of visitors during the festival every year. The festival, lasting over half a month, rakes in more than 1 million yuan (US$123,763) for the district.

However, the real idea behind the festival is not the enjoyment of peach blossoms, but mahjong. During the festival, crowds of up to 10,000 people playing mahjong together under the peach trees is common.

Not surprisingly, the festival is called "the majhong festival."

Many of the elderly folk can be seen spending half a day playing mahjong.

"Playing mahjong can slow ageing," avers Li Mengyun, 76, a retired primary school teacher in the Jinniu District of Chengdu.

Teahouses

The popularity of mahjong owes much to the city's distinctive teahouse culture.

Chengdu boasts more than 10,000 teahouses, said Yuan Tingdong, a researcher with the Sichuan Bashu Culture Research Centre.

While teahouses are found in many parts of China, the ones in Chengdu are special.

At one time, Chengdu had more tea drinkers than any other Chinese city. It is estimated that some 200,000 people visit teahouses every day.

The relaxed "Chengdu culture" finds its best expression in these teahouses.

It is the place for people to drink tea, chat, smoke, play chess, cards and mahjong, take a nap, hang bird cages, read books and newspapers and eat snacks.

It is where people socialize, make business deals, seek information and settle disputes.

It is also the place for some to earn a living; vendors sell cigarettes, fruit and candy while fortune tellers, barbers and shoe-shine boys go about their jobs.

Most teahouses in Chengdu appeal to customers with their low prices. "The price for a cup of tea ranges from 5 yuan (US$0.6) to 20 yuan (US$2.5). With a cup of tea, a drinker can stay in a teahouse for the whole day," said Wang Xia, deputy manager of the 97-year-old Yuelai Teahouse in the centre of Chengdu.

The popularity of mahjong and teahouses in Chengdu has much to do with the rise in people's income in the past two decades since the country introduced its reform and opening up policies, and to Sichuan's geographic location, according to researchers.

Sitting in a basin, Sichuan is surrounded by rolling mountains. This made it possible for the province to escape the wars waged in other parts of the country and to enjoy social stability in ancient times.

In addition, Sichuan, known as the "land of abundance," has been one of the country's major farming areas since construction of the Dujiangyan Irrigation Project in the outskirts of Chengdu around 256 BC. Abundant farm supplies and social stability have given locals a taste for a leisurely lifestyle. And they are not complaining!

(China Daily 05/04/2006 page10)