Walking along Anren's streets can immediately transport you back to the early 20th century. Photo provided to China Daily

Mix of architectural styles

During the first half of the 20th century, Anren was home to many of the warlords and politicians in Sichuan, who built spacious manors along the main streets or in the back alleys. Of these, 27 compounds still remain, remnants of an East-meets-West architectural style popular at the time.

What's interesting is they do not hew to a uniform architecture such as Beijing's courtyard homes (siheyuan), but adopt a great variety of sizes and fusions. There is one with a big garden right in the middle of the compound, and another, which has been converted to a bed-and-breakfast inn, uses the front as a bookstore.

Invariably, the entrances on the main street look quite inconspicuous. Small shops flank the street, and in between them is the occasional door opening to a narrow corridor. Only when you walk up the corridor will you find a much wider row of rooms.

There are only three streets in old Anren, but rambling along them can immediately transport you to the early 20th century. The Republic of China era, with its smattering of Western influence and local Sichuan color, is preserved so thoroughly that many film and television crews shoot their period dramas here. Even a route for trolleys was constructed recently to add not just a visual touch, (a town this size probably had little need for this mode of transportation) but also the clanking that rises above the dim of the crowd.

There is also a gallery devoted to vintage films. And Cui Yongyuan, a television host who for several years did a weekly show on China's film history, has a museum that is a draw for cinephiles.