First Du Fu poetry-themed KFC restaurant opens in Chengdu

A themed KFC restaurant featuring the poetry of Du Fu, a famous Chinese poet from the Tang Dynasty, was unveiled on Feb. 27 in Chengdu, capital of southwestern China’s Sichuan Province, scol.com.cn reported on Feb. 27. The new restaurant has opened thanks to cooperation between KFC and the Du Fu Thatched Cottage Museum – a museum developed on the site of the former residence of Du Fu in Chengdu.

Located at Tianfu Square, the economic, cultural, and commercial center of Chengdu, the two-story KFC restaurant, named Tianfu Jinxiu themed restaurant, is entirely different from the typical international fast food chain restaurant, both in terms of decoration and the items for sale. The storefront is decorated with patterns of auspicious clouds in traditional Chinese style, and pictures of Du Fu’s Thatched Cottage are displayed on the French windows. The restaurant walls show pictures depicting daily life of  the Tang Dynasty, and Du Fu’s poems, paintings, and calligraphy can be seen everywhere on the tables and walls of the restaurant.

Children are drawn to the three-dimensional (3D) holographic images beside the pickup counter, which reproduce 3D scenes of the old Du Fu cottage in different seasons, together with his seasonal poetry. Besides these elements of traditional Chinese culture and Du Fu’s poems, KFC and the Du Fu Thatched Cottage Museum have also launched creative cultural products in the restaurant, including cup sleeves with famous scenic spots around the Du Fu Thatched Cottage Museum and famous Du Fu poems in the calligraphy style of Chinese Emperor Qianlong (1711-1799).

Guests have applauded the new restaurant. They expressed that this KFC restaurant has enriched its cultural attraction while the Du Fu Thatched Cottage Museum has found another way to reach more people. Liu Hong, the curator of the Du Fu Thatched Cottage Museum, disclosed that the new KFC restaurant is an attempt of development in the cultural creative industry. The Du Fu Thatched Cottage Museum is committed to carrying forward and developing traditional Chinese culture and is striving to bring it into modern life, to better promote and pass it on from generation to generation, said Liu.

(People’s Daily)