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Anybody living in Chengdu in the last few years could not help but notice the breakneck refurbishments happening city wide. More and more of the city is cleaning up, gentrifying, and with this process, many worry that the down-to-earth, no-fuss character of the city and its people will fade away also, replaced by global corporate templates.
Fly restaurants, actually highly praised for their food, are part of that character, but June’s story seems the rule, not the exception. These mom and pop shops are quickly losing ground to ubiquitous, trendy, clean shops staffed by a collection of strangers. My personal hope for the city is that more of these shops are people following their own dreams, rather than merely placeholders in a franchise uniform.
June lives and works in Chengdu and is a PhD candidate, studying anthropology at Sichuan university. She is interested in how cultural tradition has been fading away and reshaped in modern China. She studies intangible cultural heritage in China. She can be reached via WeChat ID: yelanzifang. Those interested in the same field can add her as a WeChat friend.