Read China in an Afternoon: Ink Painting, a 60-Year Teahouse & Chongqing's Living Art Quarter
Huangjueping is China's largest street-art district — but its real magic is that it's not a fenced-off art park. It's a living art community, where old residential blocks and graffiti walls grow side by side, and teahouses face galleries across the street. Spend an afternoon here with a local, and you don't just see Chinese art and city life — you step inside it, and you leave with a painting you made yourself.
Highlights
- ✦Learn Chinese ink painting from a professional art professor — create your own piece to take home
- ✦Sit in the last authentic 1980s teahouse in central Chongqing — a bowl of gaiwan tea, a step back into old street life
- ✦A chance to watch Sichuan opera face-changing, one of Bayu's living intangible-heritage arts
- ✦Wander the 1.25 km graffiti street — every wall, staircase and lamppost covered in art
- ✦Explore the old campus of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute — one of China's top three art academies
- ✦Duck into a vintage bookshop hidden inside a WWII bomb shelter, and a 30-year leather-craft studio
The day, hour by hour
Stop 1 · Chinese Ink Painting (13:00–15:00)
Guided by a professional ink-painting professor, you'll come to understand the thinking behind a thousand years of Chinese ink art — then pick up the brush yourself. Working on rice paper, even total beginners finish a piece they're happy with, and proud to take home. The professor guides you the whole way.
Stop 2 · The Old Teahouse (15:00–16:00)
Where art and everyday street life meet, you'll drink gaiwan tea and — with luck — catch an intangible-heritage face-changing performance up close. This teahouse was almost turned into an internet café in 2005. It survived because a Sichuan Fine Arts Institute professor and oil painter, Chen Anjian, bought its lease and kept it exactly as it was — same prices, same worn walls, same bamboo chairs. He's painted here for over twenty years; his "Teahouse Series" made this place quietly famous. The bamboo chair you're sitting in might be the one in one of his paintings.
Stop 3 · Huangjueping Community Art Walk (16:00–18:00)
Wander an entire neighbourhood where art has grown into daily life:
- ·The Graffiti Street — celebrity-linked murals and film-location walls
- ·Xiyu Leather Studio — a craftsman's studio 30 years in the making
- ·Sichuan Fine Arts Institute — the 80-year-old campus, its Tank Loft and contemporary art museum
- ·Jun-ge's Bookshop — a retro bookshop inside a bomb shelter, a constant 27°C inside
- ·Railway No. 4 Village — abandoned tracks, murals and greenery, like walking into an old film
Included
- ✓Professional English interpretation
- ✓Chinese ink painting class (2 hrs, materials included)
- ✓Old teahouse visit (1 bowl of gaiwan tea; chance to watch face-changing)
- ✓Self-serve graffiti-lane experience (basic materials included)
- ✓Guided walk: graffiti street, SFAI old campus, Jun-ge's Bookshop, Railway No. 4 Village
Not included
- —Meals (your choice — recommendations provided)
- —Personal shopping
Good to know
- ·Face-changing timing typically 15:00–16:00, usually around 15:30; exact timing varies by day
- ·Real, working teahouse — please respect the atmosphere and keep noise down
- ·Ink painting is beginner-friendly; artwork is yours to keep
- ·SFAI Huangjueping campus is open, but access may occasionally be restricted for events
