China's southwestern city of Chengdu is known for its laid-back lifestyle, delicious food, and other attractions. It's also a great place to spend the 7-day National Day holiday. CGTN's Wei Lynn Tang takes us to one of Chengdu's most time-honored attractions: Kuanzhai Alley.

Whether it's the folk music, exotic street food or the laidback locals, many flock to Kuanzhai Alley to sip a cup of tea, or two. Said to span over 5-thousand years of history, tea-drinking remains an integral part of people's lives in China, including those who meticulously serve tea for a living. Interestingly, this tea house tells me that more foreign faces have started to appreciate this local custom.

XIAO LIE, OWNER CHENGDU KE JU TEA CULTURE DEVELOPMENT CO. LTD "There's a Chinese saying here: Chengdu is a big tea house, and in a tea house you will find a small Chengdu. Over the years we have found that our foreign patrons are particularly respectful of the tea culture. It touches us. It's an area we locals can improve on, seeing as we've gotten used to the culture and may sometimes take it for granted."

WEI LYNN TANG CHENGDU "Kuanzhai Alley is said to be one of the top five favourite tourist spots in all of China during the country's National Day holidays. This alley has a history dating back to the Qing Dynasty of more than 300 years. But it was only a decade ago that the renovated commercial street opened its doors to the public."

You'll still find centuries-old Sichuan staples in the alley, such as the trade of ear-cleaning, spicy, delicious hotpot with foods like duck intestine for the dipping.

And for opera lovers, the famous Sichuan face-changing performance is alive and well. Thankfully, our cameraman was quick enough to capture the rapid face change.

Over time though, Kuanzhai Alley has attracted new businesses. This Sanlian Taofen bookstore, the chain's first non-Beijing location, opened earlier this year, capitalizing on Chengdu as the city with the second highest number of bookstores in China.

HU XIAOYAN, DEPUTY GENERAL MANAGER SANLIAN BOOKSTORE (CHENGDU) CO. LTD "Chengdu culture consumption is on the rise. We focus on carrying books about culture, history and philosophy because we believe inheriting humanity is important as the foundation of technological development."

Kuanzhai Alley attracted over 700-thousand visitors during last year's week-long holidays.

STUDENT AT TSINGHUA UNIVERSTIY "I love it; you know I think it is unique being here during the holiday, we're seeing Chinese crowds that we've heard so much about. But at the same time we've tried new food. Food is really incredible, but it's much more of a slow-paced life."

Featuring both the old and modern side of life in Chengdu, Kuanzhai Alley can be your next multicultural escape. WLT, CGTN, Chengdu, Sichuan province.