City preview · CHENGDU

Chengdu let students choose the path

The Sun Bird unearthed at Jinsha later became Chengdu’s city emblem. After the Wenchuan earthquake, software-park workers returned to inspection notes taped beside the lifts. UESTC students turned ginkgo season into a music festival, while Sichuan University waited for students to mark paths through the grass before laying the paving stones.

4 web previews 49 stories in the app

Jinsha Site Museum, South Gate · Editorial illustration, not a historical photo

From an unearthed gold bird to a campus path

A gold bird, return-to-work notes, ginkgo music, and footprints

Four complete stories and their public sources are shown here; the rest of the collection is in the app.

01 · Jinsha Site Museum, South Gate

A gold bird flew from the excavation to the city emblem

Chengdu's Sun Bird was still underground at Jinsha in 2001.

In 2001, archaeologists at Jinsha found a wafer-thin gold ornament: four birds chase one another around twelve turning rays. Four years later, the design became China's cultural heritage symbol; Chengdu incorporated it into the city's visual identity in 2011. The Relics Hall stands over the original ritual area. Beside the layer where the ornament emerged, the whole journey from buried object to street-level emblem comes together in one place.

Source: jinshasitemuseum.com Source: wwj.sc.gov.cn

02 · Tianfu Software Park

The first sign back at work was on the elevator

After the Wenchuan earthquake, workers returned to notes saying the buildings had passed inspection.

After the earthquake on May 12, 2008, many offices in Tianfu Software Park paused work. The next day, Chengdu High-Tech Zone sent structural engineers to inspect the buildings. When one company director returned on May 16, the elevators and corridors were covered with notes reading "Inspection passed" and "Welcome back." Three days later, the park held an earthquake-safety lecture about aftershocks and building assessments.

Source: tfsp.cn Source: cdsgxq.sczwfw.gov.cn Source: zqb.cyol.com Source: eet-china.com

03 · Main Building Ginkgo Avenue, UESTC Shahe Campus

When the Ginkgo Leaves Fall, Campus Turns into a Festival

UESTC students did more than collect golden leaves: they added a music festival and student-film premieres.

Once UESTC turned ginkgo season into a campus festival, the leaves only had to handle the opening act. Students premiered original short films, staged live music, and mounted photography and design projects. Volunteers used maps and tips to connect leaf-peepers across two campuses. The lineup changes from year to year, but the sweep of gold between the avenue and the Main Building keeps its starring role. If you arrive in fall, don't start by counting trees; the students have already worked the leaves into the program.

Source: news.uestc.edu.cn Source: xgb.uestc.edu.cn Source: new1.uestc.edu.cn

04 · Mingyuan Lake Long Bridge, Sichuan University Jiang'an Campus

Sichuan University Let Students Make the Paths First

Some paths at the Jiang'an Campus waited a year in the grass before anyone decided where to lay the stones.

Yan Shijun, who helped build the Jiang'an Campus, recalled that its new planting beds were not immediately filled with stone paths. Students crossed the grass according to their own schedules and habits. A year later, builders paved the routes they had worn in and even adjusted the spacing to suit a natural stride. The master plan left a blank; generations hurrying to class supplied the answer with their feet. Walk near Mingyuan Lake and Long Bridge and the shortcuts bending toward the classrooms understand the bell better than any perfectly straight axis.

Source: archives.scu.edu.cn Source: archives.scu.edu.cn

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