Sichuang

Chengdu

Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, lies in the hinterland of the Chengdu Plain, in the central part of Sichuan. Covering a total land area of 12,400 square kilometers, Chengdu has jurisdiction over 7 districts, 4 cities and 8 counties. By the end of 1999, Chengdu had had a population of 10.036 million, 3.30 million of which were urban residents. Chengdu enjoys a long history. 2,500 years ago, Kaiming IX, king of ancient Shu in the Zhou Dynasty (11th century – 256BC), started to set up the capital in Chengdu. "A town was built in this area in the first year and the capital in the second year", so the ancestor named the city as Chengdu, which means "to become a capital". Later on, Chengdu gradually became one of the most important centers of politics, economy and culture in China. It has been the capital for the feudal dynasties five times and twice for the peasant uprising regimes, known as Dashu and Daxi. As early as in the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD)), Chengdu began to enjoy the fame of one of the Top Five Capitals. In the Tang Dynasty (618-907), Chengdu was reputed as the Yang (Yangzhou) first, yi (Chengdu) second; it had by then became the economic center just after Yangzhou. In the Western Han Dynasty (206BC-8AD), brocades produced in Chengdu were very popular in China. So Chengdu was also called "the City of Brocade". In the Five Kingdoms Period (907-960), Mengchang, king of the Houshu Kingdom, decreed to plant hibiscuses on the protective wall of the city, so Chengdu was also called the City of Hibiscus. As one of China's famous historical and cultural cities, Chengdu enjoys rich tourist resources. 15,500 years ago, a well-known poet in the Jin Kingdom, Zuo Si extolled Chengdu as "lofty and pretty". This city has also gained the eulogium by both Li Bai, the poet immortal and Du Fu, the poet sage. With rich cultural heritage and beautiful scenic spots, Chengdu is such a city as being peaceful and prosperous.

Yibin

Passing by valleys, mountains and joining with thousands of small rivers, the Jinsha River rushes down from the Tibetan Plateau into the south of the Sichuan Basin, with the Minjiang River from the north converged, forming the great Yangtze River. Lying in the confluence of the Jinsha River and the Minjiang River, Yibin wins the fame of the First City of the Yangtze River because it is located at the top of the river.

Endowed by nature beautiful scenery, Yibin also has a lot of historic sites. In the center of the city is the Daguan Building, which was built in the fifth year of the Yuanhe reign in the Tang Dynasty (618-907); in the north bank of the Minjiang River is the Beiliu Pond and it was built when Huang Tingjian lived in Rongzhou in banishment; the Old City Tower on the site of the ancient dam was built in the third year of the Leiguan reign in the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127); on Zhenwu Mountain stands the Xuanzu Palace and the temple group of Zhenwu Mountain; halfway up Cuiping Mountain, which was said to be the birthplace of the divine warrior -- Nata, is the Memorial Hall of Zhao Yiman. The Buddha and the Arhat sculptures on the Qinfo Cliff are both of high artistic value. Yibin is the jade in the ancient Southern Silk Road.

With an average annul temperature of 17oC and a total precipitation of 1000mm, Yibin has four clearly demarcated seasons. Spring comes early, summer is much humid, autumn has a lot of rain, and winter is with a little frost or snow. The average frost-free period lasts 340 days. Yibin is a city that features the southern subtropical climate.

Zigong

Lying in the south part of the Sichuan Basin, Zigong is a famous historical and cultural city of China and a place of scenic beauty at the provincial level, winning itself world fame by the Three Rarities, namely the dinosaurs, the salt history and the lantern gathering.

The abundant resource of dinosaur fossils is rare in the mid-Jurassic Period of the world, with a great value for scientific research and tourism. The Zigong Dinosaur Museum in the site of the Dashanpu Dinosaur Fossils is the first museum for dinosaur fossil relics and one of the 40 excellent tourist spots in China.

The Zigong Lantern Gathering has a long history. The International Dinosaur Lantern Gathering of Zigong held in resent years wins itself great fame for the wonderful cultural scenery. The Zigong Colorful Lantern Museum is the place for storing and exhibiting the oriental lantern art. The unique scenic spots of Zigong is constituted by the Buddha caving in Rongxian County, the Temple of Literature in Fushun, the West Mountain Park, Xianren Mountain, the Qingshanling Forest Spot, the Tuojiang River and the Qingshan Canyon Scenic Spot.

The major souvenirs in Zigong are the fans made of bamboo strips, the tie-dye handicraft, the paper-cut and the straw-weavings. The cuisine in Zigong maintains the flavor of Sichuan; the opera is well known nationwide and the railways and roads here extend in every direction.

Today's young city was the capital of salt in ancient times. The present-day Zigong has developed into a modern city based on agriculture, focusing on economy, science education and culture, specialized in salt producing, chemistry, and mechanics and supplemented by food, electronics, building materials and metallurgy.

Dujiangyan

Dujiangyan City is one of the places inhabited by ancestors of the Shu State in ancient China. Located in the central part of Sichuan Province, Dujiangyan is not only a cultural city with a long history, but also a famous place of interest. The Dujiangyan Irrigation System on the northwest of the city is renowned far and wide.

Around 250BC during the Warring States Period (475-221BC), Li Bing, a governor of Shu in the Qin state (present Sichuan Province) with his son directed the construction of Dujiangyan. The governor gave up the old ways of dam building which was simply try to catch the floodwaters. Instead he employed a new method by channeling and dividing the water to harness the Minjiang River. He accomplished this by separating the project in to two main parts: the headwork and the irrigation system. The project effectively put the flooding waters under control. For over two thousand years the whole system has functioned perfectly, serving as not only as flood prevention but also as an immense source for irrigation as well as a means to facilitate shipping and wood drifting. It has contributed greatly to the richness of Chengdu Plain and helps it earn its reputation as "The Land of Abundance".

What's more, the scenery in the area is very fascinating, and there are many key points of interest and ancient relics, making it really an ideal tourist resort. On the Yulei Mountain there is the Erwang Temple built to commemorate Li Bing and his son.

The headwork consists of three projects: Yuzui, Feishayan, Baopingkou. Yuzui is a long and narrow dyke built in the center of the Minjiang River, dividing Minjiang into the inner river and the outer. The inner river diverts water into Chengdu Plain through Baopingkou. And the outer is the main flow, which carries off 80% of silt. Feishayan is spillway for releasing flood and silt from inner river to outer river. Baopingkou is the main diversion gate to draw in water for irrigation in shape of bottleneck. In construction of irrigation system, Li Bing had a canal cut through the Yulei Mountain toward Chengdu Plain. Baopingkou marks the inlet of the man-made river. It works for conducting water and controlling the volume of inflowing water. The Dujiangyan Irrigation System receives numerous foreign tourists every year, including quite a lot of water conservancy experts, who sing highly of the scientific level of the irrigation system.

There are many historic sites in the area. The Dragon-Taming Temple is located on the top of a small hill in Dujiangyan of Sichuan Province. There are three palaces now in the temple. A stone figure of Li Bing is in the middle of the main palace. It was unearthed in 1974. This figure is made of white sandstone, wearing a hat and is dressed in a long cloth. The stone figure was made in the early years of the Emperor Lingdi of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220) and the earliest round carving stone figure. On the back hall is displayed an electric model of the Dujiangyan irrigation area. On the left of the temple is Baopingkou, where the water in the river surges forward and forms a majestic spectacle. A pavilion called Guanlan Pavilion is at the highest point behind the temple, from which you can see many beautiful views such as the Minjiang River.

First built in the Southern and Northern Dynasties (386-581) and named the Chongde Ancestral Temple, the temple was renamed the Erwang Temple after Li Bing and his son were appointed as kings in the Song Dynasty (960-1279). The extant buildings were rebuilt in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The buildings in the temple were arranged according to the terrain of the mountain, and are magnificent and elegant.

Leshan

Leshan, called Jiazhou in ancient times, lies at the confluence of three rivers -- the Dadu, the Qingyi and the Minjiang. As one of the most culturally developed areas in Sichuan, Leshan is now a national level historical and cultural city. From the objects unearthed from the 10,000 cliff tombs of the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD), one can look into the social and cultural development levels in the Leshan area at that time. Of these excavated articles, relic of Han Dynasty litterateur Guo Sheren annotating Er Ya, an early dictionary, in Wuyou Mountain is the most representative. In the Tang Dynasty (618-907), the Giant Buddha was constructed in Leshan. In the Song Dynasty (960-1279), Leshan fostered three most outstanding celebrities – Su Dongpo, his father and his younger brother. In the modern and contemporary histories, Guo Moruo, the great litterateur, came from here. The Jiazhou School of Painting developed its own characteristics and enjoyed a high reputation in the circle of traditional Chinese painting in Sichuan.

The particular natural scenery and human cultures form the tourist resources of Leshan. In the city, tourists can see with their own eyes the uncanny workmanship of the nature, which shaped the dignity of Leshan Sleeping Buddha; and the power of Buddhism, which created the artistic atmosphere like the Leshan Grand Buddha with efforts of several generations.

It is no wonder that Song Dynasty litterateurs Shao Bo and Su Dongpo wrote down famous poems to extol the fantastic scenery in Leshan.

Luzhou

Luzhou, called Jiangyang in ancient times, is situated in the south of Sichuan Province, and its downtown is located where the Tuojiang River and the Yangtze River meet. Jiangyang has had a history of more than 2,130 years since it was established as a prefecture in 135BC. It has all along been a distributing center of materials in the bordering area of Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, and an important supplementary to the economic centers in South Sichuan and China's southwestern areas.

The time-honored Luzhou City is a Chinese historical and cultural city. The more than two thousand years of history left over many cultural relics and historic sites and memory places with heroic anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism stories. For instance, the Cliffside stone statues on Yuchan Mountain present vivid expressions and postures, the Bao'en Tower is full of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) architectural characteristics, the Spring and Autumn Ancestral Temple contains the essence of carvings in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the Camphol Bridge is famous for refined stone carvings, magnificent outlook and particular layout, and the Luzhou Ancient Vault built in the Wanli reign of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) is famed far and wide across the globe. Besides, the revolutionary sites include the Ancient Battlefield at the Cotton Slope, the Memorial Hall of Zhu De, the former site of headquarters where Marshal Liu Bocheng commanded the Lushun Uprising, and so on. All of these are listed as cultural relics sites under the state, province or city-level protection.

The whole city is within the sub-tropical humid climate zone, and its southern mountainous area features distinct three-dimensional climate. Luzhou has a long frost-free period and distinct monsoonal climate with warm spring and autumn, torrid summer and moderately cold winter.

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