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Chengdu, the basin, and two empty suitcases
Chengdu sits in the Sichuan basin, ringed by mountains on every side, and that geography explains most of what the city is like. The ring traps moisture, so the basin is humid, overcast and famously short of sunshine — Chengdu averages well under a thousand hours of sun a year, less than London, and locals joke about the dog that barks when it sees its shadow. The same ring made the basin one of the most agriculturally productive regions in China, fed by the irrigation system lesson 73 will visit, and historically difficult enough to reach that Sichuan has often gone its own way. The flight delay in this dialogue is not invented either. Chinese domestic aviation has long-standing punctuality problems — a combination of weather, extremely dense traffic, and limited civilian airspace in a system where a large share is reserved for military use — and 延误 is a word every resident knows. Chengdu is a particular case because of the cloud. The practical consequence is the one lesson 53 already argued: for anything under about six hours, take the train, which is punctual, and which now reaches Chengdu from Shanghai in about eleven hours or from Chongqing in under two. Then the suitcases, which are the real cultural note. 林芋's two empty cases are an entirely ordinary thing for a Chinese person travelling home to do, and what fills them on the way back is food. Sichuan pepper, chilli bean paste from Pixian, cured pork, pickles, tea, dried chillies, things a grandmother made. Regional food attachment in China is strong, specific and taken seriously: people genuinely believe — often correctly — that the version of a dish available where they now live is inferior to the version at home, and they act on it. If you are invited to somebody's home town, expect to be sent away carrying things. This also means a visitor has a very easy gift strategy. Bringing something edible and specifically from somewhere — Shanghai pastries to Chengdu, Chengdu pepper to Shanghai — is always correct, is cheap, and is understood immediately. It beats anything generic, and it is the reason 特产, local speciality produce, is a whole retail category with shops at every station and airport in the country. A last practical note on the grammar. The three adverbs in this lesson are how you get a real answer out of an announcement, a ticket office or a landlord: 到底怎么回事？ what is actually going on, 究竟要等多久？ how long is it really going to be. Used with a flat, patient tone they are perfectly polite and considerably more effective than repeating the question.