From Baiyun Temple to Jinli

Long Xuming，Chair, City Photography League (CPL)

Yesterday, January 30, 2026, Chengdu was bathed in bright sunshine.
Taking advantage of the speed of the metro, I transferred three times from Zhonghe and made my way to Baiyun Temple on Huayuan Street, Xinjin County.
At Baiyun Temple, with a single sketch, I completed the very last page of the uniformly customized square sketchbook that had been in use since June 25, 2025.

That sketchbook was custom-made back then by the “Chengdu Fine Art and Photography Exhibition Office,” measuring 19 × 19 centimeters—perfectly square, fitting the temperament of someone like me whose head even seems square-shaped.
Of course, its printing date is shocking—it was produced back in 1976, in the last century.
The babies born that year must now be entering middle or even old age, right!?
I asked Shuangye, and she said, “Counting by years, it’s fifty years old.”
No wonder that the “new” sketchbook I am about to start using on February 1, 2026 already has worm-eaten holes crawling across its front and back covers…

Once the sun comes out, the mood improves.
So, at Baiyun Temple, I completed two drawings in one go, in these two sketchbooks that have just passed their fiftieth anniversaries:
one drawing on the final page of the 2025 book, and one on the opening page of the 2026 book…

After finishing, I carried a bench from the temple and walked around twice.
Having been there too many times and drawn too much already, I could no longer find anything that still carried enough visual impact or a strong perspective focus for my eyes…
After much thought, I decided to leave.

On Huayuan Street, I ate a rare bowl of Shanghai-style thin-skinned wontons.
But really, it was the deities inside Baiyun Temple who treated me to that bowl! …

When I boarded the train again at Huayuan to return to Zhonghe, after just two stops I rejected the idea of immediately heading back the same way.
It was still early—wasn’t the sun still hanging in the sky?! Why rush? Going back now would be such a pity.
So I decided not to get off, riding all the way to the terminus at the other end of the line—Wuhou Shrine.

After briefly meeting Liu, Guan, Zhang, and the various civil and military officials, then greeting Kongming and his descendants in the rear hall, I went next door to Jinli.
Under the sunlight, I completed another drawing—a small street in Jinli that satisfied me greatly.
I was very pleased with my decision to come here and draw once more, and I gave myself a perfect score.

Only when the sun was truly ready to rest did I seriously walk toward Wuhou Shrine metro station and return to Zhonghe.