In 2002, he began his novel of Chengdu.

These questions and many others will have to wait until the next field season to be answered, as we are now sitting in the Jiuzhaigou airport waiting for our flight to Chengdu.

On our first night in Chengdu, we joined a group of four for dinner - one Chinese woman and three westerners.

The visa they attached to my passport was a piece of paper.Handwritten.It lasted all the way to Chengdu where I turned it into an F visa.

I can see that here in Chengdu, the city that is leading the effort to become a major player in the innovation economy, you can feel it.