Leo’s 2 Days Side Trip to Anren Ancient Town from Chengdu

Anren Ancient Town, 41 km from Chengdu, is a famed town with 27 mansions (more than Nanjing) built during the period of the Republic of China. There are well-preserved historical streets lined with diverse architectures in both eastern and western style.

Day 1: Taxi to Anren Ancient Town from Chengdu & Anren Ancient Town Tour

It’s not far from Chengdu downtown, so I decided to take a taxi by using DiDi service (just like Uber), which cost me around RMB150. If you would like to visit Anren Ancient Town, you can choose to take our private car service which is more convenient. Or you can take bus from Chengdu Xinnanmen Bus Station if you are traveling alone.

When I reached the town, I checked in my hotel Four Points By Sheraton Chengdu, Anren, which is a good choice if you visit this town.

After a little break, firstly I chose to take the sightseeing train named Anren (安仁号). I took some nice pictures and enjoy the short train journey.

Taking a relaxing historical roam along the old streets to admire the ancient houses along the sides and see locals enjoying sunshine, playing mahjong, doing their knitting, etc. to enjoy their simple but leisure life!

Sightseeing Train & Streets in Anren Ancient Town

Next, I got a chance to visit the Liu's Manor Museum, which was the former residence of the big landlord Liu Wencai. It covers an area of 70,000 square meters, and consists of two big architecture groups. The buildings are very luxurious, and include various shapes such as rectangles, squares and terraces. It was converted into a museum in October 1958. It now houses an extensive collection of over 27,000 cultural relics, including a suit of rosewood desks and chairs with marbles in it. In addition, 8 of them are embedded with 27 colorful pearls. The manor exhibits the life of Liu Wencai, which consisted of four parts, and shows the day-to-day life of the affluent landlord. The museum is an ideal place to learn about Neoteric and Modern Chinese history.

Liu's Manor Museum

After today’s visit, I found a local restaurant to have my dinner. It’s easy to find one or you can have your dinner at your hotel. There are also some bars along the ancient street and you can find some night life there!

Day 2: Anren Ancient Town & Taxi Back to Chengdu

Next day, I headed to Museum Cluster Jianchuan, which is the largest folk museum in China invested by Mr. Fan Jianchuan. There are over 8 million collections here, including 404 Class-One National Treasures. With the theme of “collecting warfare for peace, collecting lesson for future, collecting disaster for stabilization and collecting folk-custom for inheriting”, Jianchuan Museum Cluster is hailed as National 4A Scenic Spot, Patriotism Education Base, National Culture Industry Demonstration Base and Forest Park of Relics and Museum.

Museum Cluster Jianchuan

Jianchuan Museum Cluster is composed of more than 30 museums with four thematic sets including Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945), the “Red Era”, the Wenchuan Earthquake, and Folklore & Culture. Here you can have a glance of historic development and vicissitude of Chinese society.

After all tours in Dayi, it’s time to say goodbye and went back home.

Anren Ancient Town is not popular as other places in Chengdu, Sichuan, but if you want to take a side trip to find some peace, I think this is an option for you.