National Geographic Traveller

ESSENTIALS

Getting there & around

British Airways fl ies nonstop fi ve times a

week between Heathrow and Chengdu.

Airlines that fl y with one stop include

Singapore Airlines, Air China and

Cathay Pacifi c. ba.com

singaporeair.com airchina.co.uk

cathaypacifi c.com

A one-hour transfer from Chengdu

city to Dujiangyan by high-speed train

costs around £1.50.

Day trips for guests at Six Senses

Qing Cheng Mountain, with an

English-speaking guide and driver cost

around £100-£140 per person.

When to go

March to June and September to

November are best. Avoid the cold

winter, and July/August, which can

be wet.

Places mentioned

Six Senses Qing Cheng Mountain.

Jack Feng has driven me two hours from the lush

forests surrounding Qingcheng into barren mountains

to the north where only goats seem to thrive. The steep

rocky slopes are inhabited by marginalised people from

one of China’s minority groups, the Qiang people.

The village of Taoping dates to 111BC, and is built

of stone so carefully mortared into the slopes that it

appears to be part of the mountain. We duck into cool

dark passageways, to the sound of snowmelt gushing

through channels underfoot; overhead, the dwellings

are piled high, with four ‘blockhouses’ reaching a

full, nine storeys. They’re reminiscent of the ancient

dwellings of the Pueblo people of the American

Southwest — the di‚ erence being these dwellings are

still occupied.

Swarthier than the majority Han Chinese, the Qiang

are more similar to China’s largest minority, the

Tibetans, who neighbour Sichuan to the west. Their

roofs are crowned with goat horns, symbols of animistic

beliefs that, like them, have survived to the modern age.

I talk to an old lady selling trinkets to tourists. She

wears brightly coloured silk and invites us to feel the

quality of her handmade jacket. She speaks Mandarin

to Jack, telling us she knows her family has been here

for at least 1,000 years, but is unsure exactly when they

fi rst arrived. “She says that only the rich families have

records,” Jack tells me.

Inside the houses we see extraordinary layers of

Chinese history. One owner, Mr Chen, shows us into his

kitchen; it has a wooden fl oor and central fi re pit, the

ancient walls are lined with pictures of Mao and the

ra’ ers hung with fatty slabs of air-dried pork. There

are even slits where arrows were once fi red to repel

invaders. He shows us a photo of his father in army

fatigues in the 1950s when he was fi ghting with the

North Koreans against the Americans.

We climb handmade ladders to the top of a

blockhouse and survey the village. Jack says it’s a

miracle the structures are still standing a’ er centuries

sixsenses.com/qingcheng

Dujiangyan Panda Base. panda.org.cn

More info

gochengdu.cn

cnto.org.uk

Lonely Planet China. RRP: £19.99

How to do it

STEPPES TRAVEL has fi ve nights, B&B,

at Six Senses Qing Cheng Mountain

from £1,560 per person based on two

sharing. Includes international economy

fl ights with British Airways, plus private

transfers. Each private tour day-trip cost

£100-£120 each. steppestravel.co.uk

Alternatively, budget travellers could

share a room at Xiuxishu Boutique Hotel

(from £40 a night), use Chinese tour

companies booked through Ctrip

(english.ctrip.com/ttd/28-chengdu-tour)

and/or take local cabs and do the whole

trip for around £800-£1,000 each, fl ying

with Air China.

Chengdu

Dujiangyan

QINGCHENG

MOUNTAIN

SIX SENSES QING CHENG

MOUNTAIN RESORT

DUJIANGYAN IRRIGATION

SYSTEM

Taoping Qiang

Yingxiu

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SICHUAN Chengdu
CHINA
10 Miles
ILLUSTRATION: JOHN PLUMER
Interior of a traditional home,
with meat hanging from the
ceiling to air-dry
November 2016 125
CHINA