Kevin Gu · Books
Book cover

Chengdu, Day Zero

A First-Timer's Guide to the Walls You'll Actually Hit

By Kevin Gu

A first-timer's guide to Chengdu, where the first wall is at the airport: there are two, far apart. Then come the ones every visitor meets: phone payments at the hotpot table, apps you can't reach from home, pandas and Sanxingdui booked by passport, a heat scale that runs from mild to numbing, and teahouses that come with no instructions.

Each chapter explains what stands in the way and how to get past it, then tells the story behind the pandas, the Three Kingdoms shrines and the bronze masks, with the Leshan Buddha, Mount Emei, the highlands and two chapters on Chongqing, and the facts checked for travel in 2026 and 2027.

This edition is written for readers from the United States and Canada, with their entry rules, embassy contacts and customs allowances.

Coming soon to ebook stores

Contents

I — Before the Wheels Touch Down

  1. Getting to Chengdu: Two Airports, Direct Flights and the Train from Xi'an
  2. The Paperwork Wall: Visa-Free, Transit and the Tianfu Arrival
  3. The Cashless Wall: Paying for Hotpot, Tea and Street Stalls
  4. The Connectivity Wall: eSIM, VPN, Maps and Translation

II — The First 48 Hours

  1. The Booking Wall: Pandas, Sanxingdui and the Museums
  2. The Transit Wall: Airport Lines, Metro, Tianfu Tong and DiDi
  3. Choosing a Bed: Around Chunxi Road, by the Alleys, or Near the Panda Line

III — The Sights: The Story First, Then the Strategy

  1. The Panda Morning: How to See Them Awake
  2. Three Kingdoms Chengdu: Wuhou Shrine and Jinli
  3. The Old Center on Foot: Kuanzhai, Wenshu, Du Fu and the Quiet Temples
  4. Gold Masks and Bronze Faces: Sanxingdui and Jinsha
  5. The Slow City: Teahouses, Mahjong, Ear-Cleaning and the Park Life

IV — Eating Without Fear

  1. The Heat Scale: Sichuan Food from Mild to Numbing
  2. The Hotpot Chapter: Broths, Dips and Not Getting Overcharged

V — The Chapters No One Else Wrote

  1. Chengdu After Dark: Yulin, Jiuyanqiao, Little Bars and Sichuan Opera
  2. The Buddha and the Mountains: Leshan, Emei, Qingcheng and Dujiangyan
  3. Into the Highlands: Kangding, Siguniang, Jiuzhaigou and the Altitude Question
  4. Chongqing, Part One: Getting There and Reading a Vertical City
  5. Chongqing, Part Two: Dazu, Ciqikou and the River
  6. Steam, Damp and Golden Week: Planning Around Chengdu's Weather and Crowds
  7. Chengdu With Kids, With Parents, With Wheels

VI — Leaving Well

  1. Shopping That Isn't a Tea Scam, and Routes for 2, 3 and 5 Days

Appendices

  1. Phrasebook by Situation, Not by Grammar
  2. Chengdu in Brief: From Ancient Shu to the Panda City
  3. Practical A–Z
  4. Place Names in Characters and Pinyin

About the Author

Kevin Gu was born in 1977 in Anqing, in China's Anhui province, where he grew up, and has since worked in Chengdu, Fuzhou, Suzhou, Shenzhen and Shanghai. He now lives in Jiaxing, in Zhejiang province.

He is a shareware developer and a freelance writer. This book grew out of a local's knowledge and experience of the country, and was written with the help of online information and AI tools, which were also used to translate it into its other editions.