Scroll through TikTok and you’ll find videos of China’s “cyberpunk” megacities – with their vertiginous skyscrapers, dazzling drone light shows and high-speed trains – racking up millions of views. Since the country scrapped its visa requirement for UK passport holders in February, China is having a moment with British travellers – and the social media trend known as “chinamaxxing” is partly fuelling the boom.
Amid this surge in interest, one city is getting the panda’s share of the spotlight: Chengdu, the country’s fourth-largest city and the capital of Sichuan province. According to internal data provided by travel booking platform Trip.com, UK searches for the destination increased 133 per cent year on year. Before its TikTok virality, Chengdu was mostly associated with tongue-numbing Sichuan peppercorns. But there’s plenty more to love about this laidback city, as I quickly came to discover during my visit.
