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By Zhu Linyong (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-03-27 09:53

I do not smoke and I hate second-hand smoke in public spaces. However, when asked about my hometown, I often proudly reply: "I come from Shifang, the home of Chinese cigars."

Shifang, some 100 km to the north of Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, has been a cigar production base for about 400 years.

The top quality cigars were on the list of royal tributes to the Qing Court during the reign of Emperor Guangxu, historical records indicate.

In the mid-1950s, the Shifang Cigar Factory provided specially made cigars for Chinese leaders, including Mao Zedong, He Long and Deng Xiaoping.

I remember clearly the news broadcast on Sept 20, 1986 in which Mike Wallace, CBS' 60 Minutes correspondent, asked for a Chinese cigar from his interviewee, the former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping.

The cigars Deng enjoyed came from the hands of several cigar masters at the Shifang Cigar Factory, I was told by my childhood buddies working in the factory.

The same year, during his visit to Nepal, Deng presented leaders of the country cigars from Shifang as gifts.

There is more to my hometown, however, than cigars.

Take food for example. In the eyes of many in North China, or South China, Sichuan hotpot must be spicy. But in my hometown, there are many other kinds of hotpot.

For me, the most memorable is pig's trotters hotpot (zhutir huoguo). It does not have chili pepper and instead has a potpourri of local herbal medicines.

Also, there is an earthenware pot instead of the commonly used steel one. After dipping the meats, vegetables and other delicacies in the simmering clear soup, for seconds, one can eat them with various types of sauces.

Apart from the ordinary sesame paste sauce, garlic and chili oil sauce, another one that my fellow townsmen enjoy is a mixture of celery, fried soybeans, fermented tofu, with other local ingredients.

Besides the hotpot, there are many other locally famous snacks for visitors to sample. For those who want to share some Shifang specialty with their family back home, I suggest they buy some salted and dried duck (shifang banya), exclusively made in Shifang.

Food is not the only attraction of Shifang. The largest natural wonder in my hometown is Mount Yinghua, also known as a haven for Buddhist believers. Over the past few centuries, people have constructed about 50 temples on the mountains.

The 1,400-year-old Grand Arahats Monastery is less than 100 m away from my old home, where generations of my family lived as farmers, working a piece of land rented from the monks.

The monastery is well known among Buddhist believers in China for it is where the Eighth Generation Buddhist Zen Patriach Dao Yi, a Shifang native surnamed Ma, took the tonsure (head-shaving ceremony) and began his career as a Buddhist practitioner.

The best seasons to visit Shifang are spring and summer. In late March and early April the vast lands covered with blossoming rapeseed, peach and pear will certainly enthrall you. There are even floral fairs, a tradition going back 1,000 years.

Eating delicious local food, playing mahjong or cards in the sun, in the open fields, is a treat for any visitor to my beloved hometown.

(China Daily 03/27/2008 page19)