Luodai Ancient Town - Explore Authentic Hakka Culture

Luodai Ancient Town was called “Wanjing Street” in Han Dynasty, and renamed “Wanfu Street” by Zhuge Liang, the prime minister of Shu. There are two legends about the origin of “Luodai”. It is said that, Liu Shan (the son of the emperor Liu Bei in Shu of Three Kingdom Period) dropped his jade band into the octagon well while trying to catching a fish, so the town was named "洛带", same pronunciation to "落带" which means “dropped band”. Another legend is that the town is called Luodai for it is surrounded by a lake which looks like a winding jade band.

Entering Luodai Ancient Town is like opening an interesting book with antique flavor. It is a never ending stretch of cobbled roadway, old buildings and traditional snacks and street food. There are four Guild Hall situated in Luodai, which represent Guangdong, Jiangxi, Hunan and Hubei provinces, Northern Sichuan respectively.

As a landmark, Guangdong Guild Hall is the best preserved and largest Guild hall. You can see some couplets hanging over the stone pillar, and all of them create an atmosphere of Nostalgia. In contrast to grey or back tiles of other buildings, the golden roof of Guangdong Guild Hall depicts a distinctive status.

Jiangxi Guild Hall was built in the late Qing Dynasty. Covering about 10 square meters, it shows a style of delicate and warm southern Yangtze River Delta. In the small stage of Jiangxi Guild Hall, there are many seats arranged for audience who could watch the performance in the old times. Sometimes the audience got involved and performed on the stages, so it is the earliest KTV in China.

Faced south, Huguang Guild Hall (Guild Hall of Hunan and Hubei) consists stage, Er tower, Music tower，front hall and back hall along with an axis. Great Yu who is renowned for taming floods is enshrined here, thus Huguang Guild Hall is also described as “Palace of Yu”. Local people are convinced that Luodai Town is far away from floods because Great Yu is guarding them. In Huguang Guild Hall builds a free Hakka Museum where you can explore the history of Hakka.

The Guild Hall of North Sichuan Province was moved here from Wolongqiao Street in Chengdu. It witnessed that how culture was developed by immigrants of north Sichuan province. Current North Sichuan Guild Hall is not open for visitor because it’s a cultural relic protection site.

Water-dragon Festival & Fire-dragon Festival

Most noted Dragon Dances are performed by “Liu’s Dragon”, because all the dancers are the descendants of Liu from Jiangxi. Liu’s family has been Luodai for more than 300 years and their dragon dance skills are uninterruptedly inherited by their children.

Water-dragon Festival is the most momentous festival for Hakka. It is said that Luodai enjoys a favorable weather because Hakka has an intimate relationship with the Dragon King who is in charge of rainfall. In order to show their thanks to Dragon King, they perform Dragon Dance in the summer. All the dancers dressed with only shorts dance delightfully while the visitors using squirt gun to shot at them and other people.

Fire-dragon Festival always takes place on the twelfth day on lunar January. Before the dragon dance, Hakka will have a ritual. Then the head dancer leads other dancers to have a New Year visit to local family. The enthusiasm of audience is highlighted by the climax when the dancers kindle the firecrackers and throw at each other. The burn marks on Dancers’ body not only means a brand of courage but also means a booming new year. When the Fire-dragon Festival ends, the dancers will burn out the dragon.

Having Local Snacks in Luodai Ancient Town

Shangxin Bean Jelly is the most famous snacks in Luodai. In the ancient times, Hakka was forced to leave their hometown to Sichuan. Whenever they ate bean jelly made by their traditional techniques, they felt into deep homesickness, and became quite sorrowful. As a result, they named this kind of bean jelly “Shangxin Bean Jelly” (Shangxin means sad in Chinese). However, many other visitors will come into tears while eating Shangxin Bean Jelly. Why? Will everyone be homesick if they eat Shangxin Bean Jelly? Of course not, their tears come out just because this snack is too spicy. So it’s a good option to have one bowl of Kaixin (means happy) Bean Jelly which is sweet tasty after Shangxin Bean Jelly.

Swan Egg in Luodai Ancient Town is not genuine swan egg but flour-made snack which looks like swan egg. It is crisp outside and soft sandwich inside and even one bite will make you come back for more.

√ 2 Days Chengdu Highlights Tour with Hakka Ancient Town

Jinlong Great Wall is the longest simulated Great Wall in China. It is 1680 meter in length, 4 meter in height and 3 meter in width with 5 beacon towers. At the entrance stands a memorial archway inscribed with many lifelike dragons. A horizon board hanging over the archway is inscribed with four Chinese Characters “Jin Long Great Wall” in masterful calligraphy. Buying a ticket in 10 RMB, you can hike along the great wall and enjoy the luxuriant and green trees with wild fruits. Reaching to the summit, you can make pilgrimage in Jinlong Temple. It is said that Jinlong Great Wall is a dragon and Jinlong Temple is the head.

Get to Luodai Ancient Town by Private Tour (Top Recommended)

If you want to get rid of hustle of public transportation, troublesome navigation and language communication, you can book a private tour package from China Discovery which covers sightseeing, dining and transfer from us. Our local tour guide and driver will escort you to Luodai Ancient Town and other tourist attractions in Chengdu with speed and convenience, and take care of all the details. You just need to focus on sightseeing.