Bailu, Pengzhou
River town of Gothic-arched churches and footbridges, where shallow water invites splash fights and wading.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Bailu in Pengzhou, outside Chengdu, opens with an ordinary afternoon of water-gun fights and wading in the shallow river that splits the town, then asks why a Sichuan mountain town has a French Gothic churchyard at all. It traces the seminary built by the priest Alexandre Perrodin starting in 1895 and run by French missionaries until 1949, and the earthquake that struck the region on May 12, 2008, while couples were photographing themselves on the grounds. Teahouses line the gentler bends of the river, so you can watch the splash fights from a table while your tea cools.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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