Beyond the Pandas, Chengdu Is China’s LGBTQ Capital and a Gastronomic Gem

I arrived at Chengdu East Station on a balmy spring night after taking the high-speed train from Hong Kong. The ride was roughly eight hours of idyllic countryside landscapes with brief station stops along the way. Pulling into the busy train station was my only reminder that Chengdu is a city of 21 million. Some 1,100 miles southwest of Beijing, the Sichuan provincial capital has long been considered one of China’s most livable metropolises, and after a chaotic itinerary, I was looking forward to the promise of a relaxed pace. I found it everywhere: in teahouses where grandparents chatted as morning warmed to afternoon, in parks where friends took long strolls along the paths, and at streetside shops where people crouched over bowls of spicy noodles. Dubbed the queer capital of China, Chengdu is known as China’s most LGBTQ-friendly city, an extension of its broader temperament. YuWei Tian, a Sichuan native and travel designer with WildChina, explains that “when we see a riverside, we don’t first think about how to develop it commercially—we imagine a teahouse, somewhere to sit, drink tea, and spend time with friends.” That relaxed atmosphere and enjoyment of life is pa