During my stay in China, I was planning to visit Chengdu for a couple of days (on the way to visiting Tibet -- which is still up in the air obviously).

Of course there has now been a big earthquake, and although it sounds like Chengdu itself wasn't hurt as badly as some other parts, it's still serving as a hub for much of the rescue operations.

Do people here think it would be OK to visit at the end of June? On the one hand, I'm sure Chengdu could use some extra tourist dollars -- the local economy I'm sure has been hit hard. On the other hand, I don't want to get in the way of recovery efforts or otherwise go if I would not be wanted there at that time (e.g. people would otherwise be bothered by the tourism in the area).

If I were planning to go tomorrow, I would not go, but I'm not sure about a month from now. I would value your thoughts on this matter.

Hey,

I was just talking about this with my Chinese friends living in coastal China, as well as some buddies in Chengdu.
Last week they had still about 100 aftershocks in the area, also felt in Chengdu. People are sleeping outside, in a fear of buildings collapsing. However, the airport is undamaged and that makes possible to get food etc to Chengdu and nearby areas.

They will be re-building the area at the time you'll be there. So I guess the biggest question is what kind of services there will be available.
Considering that you are going to Tibet, I would assume you are fine with the bare minimum :-)

I am going to China in August; was thinking of going to Chengdu area as well. I will make my final plans closer to the travel date, or when I finally make it to China.

Feel free to send me a private message closer to your departure, I am more than happy to get up-to-date status information from locals about how things are going over there.

Hi Nina,

Thank you for the response!

You are right -- I don't mind the bare minimum of services (although from what I understand the place that I was planning to stay is still open and undamaged). I was more worried first about getting in the way of anything going on there, and second about whether I would still be able to see the things I had originally been planning to see: Panda Breeding Research Base, Sanxing Dui Museum, Wenshu Yuan Monastery, etc.

Do you think that these types of things will be feasible to do/see? If they will be open in a month, and I won't be resented for visiting them so soon after this tragedy, then I would like to go as it seems that ultimately it could only be good for the region to have tourists start to come back.

I was just chatting this morning with my friend who lives in Chengdu. She told that the bigger panda station closer to Wenchuan is no-go, smaller place close to Chengdu wasn't damaged that badly.

I will ask about the other places, and let you know.

Chengdu is a great city, but not sure if it's such a good idea to go now. The city supposedly wasn't damaged much in the quake, but it's still the central area for relief efforts (everything will pass through there). Check out www.chengdoo.com -- they should have some good info there.

Also, as far as I know, Tibet still isn't open to foreigners. You might not be able to travel there in June.

Hi China-Matt,

Thanks for the message. I'm well aware I might not be able to travel there in June. However, the travel company that I booked that the Chengdu/Tibet trip with (we're not using a travel company the rest of the time in China) is insisting that there will be no problem in getting to either place by the time we will be there -- they claim Tibet will be opened after the Olympic Torch passes through there. I have doubts about this, but was trying to find out about Chengdu.

Thank for for the link. I don't see much in terms of updates, but it seems as if concerts, and other events are going on anyways, so perhaps it will be OK to be there in a month.