Sichuan
From ChinaTravelGuide
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[edit] Overview
Sichuan is a province (shěng) in Southwestern China with its capital in Chengdu. The current name of the province, 四川 (Sìchuān), is an abbreviation of 四川路 (Sì Chuānlù), or "Four circuits of rivers", which is itself abbreviated from 川峡四路 (Chuānxiá Sìlù), or "Four circuits of rivers and gorges", named after the division of the existing circuit into four during the Northern Song Dynasty.
--from wikipedia.org
[edit] History
The province and its vicinity were the cradle of unique local civilizations, which can be dated back to at least the fifteenth century BC (coinciding with the later years of Shang Dynasty). Beginning from the ninth century BC, Shu (today Chengdu) and Ba (today Chongqing City) emerged as cultural and administrative centers where two rival kingdoms were established. Shu's existence was unknown until an archaeological discovery in 1986 at a small village named Sanxingdui (三星堆 Sān Xīng Duī) in Guanghan County. It is believed to be an ancient city of the Shu Kingdom, where excavations have yielded invaluable archaeological information. Although the Qin Dynasty destroyed the civilizations of Shu and Ba, their cultures were preserved and inherited by people in Sichuan until today.[citation needed] The Qin government accelerated the technological and agricultural advancements of Sichuan making it comparable to that of the Huang He (Yellow River) Valley. The Dujiangyan Irrigation System, built in the 3rd century BC under the inspection of Li Bing, was the symbol of modernization of that period. Composed of a series of dams, it redirected the flow of the Min Jiang, a major tributary of the Yangtze River, to fields, relieving the damage of seasonal floods. The construction and various other projects greatly increased the harvest of the area which thus became the main source of provisions and men for Qin's unification of China. Various ores were abundant. Adding to its significance, the area was also on the trade route from the Huang He Valley to foreign countries of the southwest, especially India. The area's military importance matches its commercial and agricultural significance. As a basin surrounded by the Himalayas to the west, the Qinling Range to the north, and mountainous areas of Yunnan to the south, Sichuan is prone to fog. Since the Yangtze flows through the basin and is thus upstream of eastern China, navies could be easily sailed downstream. Therefore Sichuan was the base for numerous amphibious military forces and also served as the refuge of Chinese governments throughout history. A few independent regimes were founded; the most famous was Shu Han of the Three Kingdoms. The Jin Dynasty first conquered Shu Han on its path of unification. During the Tang Dynasty, it was a battlefront against Tibet. The Southern Song Dynasty established coordinated defenses against the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty in Sichuan and Xiangyang. The line of defense was finally broken through after the first use of firearms in history during the six-year siege of Xiangyang, which ended in 1273. During the Ming Dynasty major architectural works were created in Sichuan. Bao'en Temple is a well-preserved fifteenth century monastery complex built between 1440 and 1446 during Emperor Yingzong's reign (1427-64) in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Dabei Hall enshrines a thousand-armed wooden image of Guanyin and Huayan Hall is a repository with a revolving sutra cabinet. The wall paintings, sculptures and other ornamental details are masterpieces of the Ming period.[2] The Qing general Zhang Xianzhong, nicknamed Yellow Tiger, conquered Sichuan Province in the middle of the 17th century.[3] A landslide dam on the Dadu River caused by an earthquake gave way on 10 June 1786. The resulting flood killed 100,000 people. In the 20th century, as Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, and Wuhan had all been lost to the Japanese during the Second Sino-Japanese War, the capital of the Republic of China had been temporary relocated to Chongqing. The difficulty of accessing the region overland from the eastern China and the foggy climate hindering the accuracy of Japanese bombing of the Sichuan basin and the city of Chongqing made the region the stronghold of Chiang Kai-Shek's Guomindang government during 1938-45. As the Second Sino-Japanese War was soon followed by the resumed Chinese Civil War, and the cities of the east fell to the Communists one after another, the Guomindang government again tried to make Sichuan its stronghold on the mainland. Chiang Kai-Shek himself flew to Chongqing from Taiwan in November 1949 to lead the defense. But the same month Chongqing fell to the Communists, followed by Chengdu on December 10. The Guomindang general Wang Sheng wanted to stay behind with his troops to continue anticommunist guerilla war in Sichuan, but was recalled to Taiwan, many of his soldiers making their way there as well, via Burma. On Monday, May 12, 2008 at 2:28:01 PM local time, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.9/8.0 hit just 79km northwest of the provincial capital of Chengdu. As of May 14, the official Xinhua news agency reported: 14,463 people were dead, another 14,051 were missing, 25,788 were buried in the debris and 64,746 had been injured, On May 31, the death toll was updated to 68,467 in Sichuan with a further ~17,000 people missing, and 354,045 injured.
--from wikipedia.org
[edit] Geography
The area lies in the Sichuan basin and is surrounded by the Himalayas (喜玛拉雅山脉）to the west, Qinling (秦岭) range to the north, and mountainous areas of Yunnan to the south. The Yangtze River flows through the basin and thus is upstream to areas of eastern China. The Minjiang River in central Sichuan is a tributary of the upper Yangtze River, which it joins at Yibin. Plate tectonics formed the Longmen Shan fault, which runs under the north-easterly mountain location of the 2008 earthquake. The climate is highly variable. The Sichuan Basin (including Chengdu) in eastern half of the province experiences a subtropical monsoon climate with long, warm to hot, humid summers and short, cool to cold, dry and cloudy winters, with China's lowest sunshine totals. The western areas have a mountainous climate characterized by very cold winters and mild summers, with plentiful sunshine. The southern part of the province, including Panzhihua, has a sunny, subtropical climate with very mild winters and hot summers. Bordering provinces: Chongqing Municipality, Tibet Autonomous Region, Qinghai, Gansu, Shaanxi, Guizhou and Yunnan.
--from wikipedia.org
[edit] Cities
[edit] Other Places
[edit] Video
| Sichuan |
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| charming sichuan |
[edit] Attractions
- Jiuzhaigou Valley
- Mount Emeishan
- Great Buddha of Leshan (Dafo, 大佛)
- Guo Moruo Memorial Museum (郭沫若纪念馆)
- Pagoda of Souls (Lingbao Ta, 灵宝塔)
- Rock Tombs (麻浩岩墓)
- Wuyou Temple (Wuyou Si, 乌尤寺)
[edit] Culture
[edit] Language
Most dialects of the Chinese language spoken in Sichuan, including the Chengdu dialect of the provincial capital, belong to the southwestern subdivision of the Mandarin group, and are therefore very similar to the dialects of neighboring Yunnan and Guizhou provinces as well as Chongqing Municipality. Typical features shared by many southwestern Mandarin dialects include the merger of the retroflex consonants /tʂ tʂʰ ʂ/ into the alveolar consonants /ts tsʰ s/, the merger of /n/ and /l/, as well as the merger of /ɤŋ iɤŋ/ into /ən in/. The prefectures of Garzê and Ngawa (Aba) in western Sichuan are populated predominantly by ethnic Tibetans, who speak the Kham and Amdo dialects of Tibetan. The Qiang and other related ethnicities speak the Qiangic languages, which are part of the Tibeto-Burman languages. The Yi of Liangshan prefecture in southern Sichuan speak the Yi language, which is more closely related to Burmese; Yi is written using the Yi script, a syllabary standardized in 1974. --from wikipedia.org
[edit] Cuisine
he Sichuanese are proud of their cuisine, known as one of the Four Great Traditions of Chinese cuisine, which now is famous all over the world. Sichuan cuisine is of "one dish, one shape, hundreds of dishes, hundreds of tastes", as the saying goes, to describe its acclaimed diversity. The most prominent traits of Sichuanese cuisine are described by four words: spicy, hot, fresh and fragrant.[17] Two famous Sichuan chefs are Chen Kenmin and his son Chen Kenichi, who was Iron Chef Chinese on the television series "Iron Chef". --from wikipedia.org
[edit] Music
[edit] Notables
[edit] Ethnic Groups
The majority of the province's population is Han Chinese, who are found scattered throughout the region. Significant minorities of Tibetans, Yi, Qiang and Naxi reside in the western portion. Sichuan was China's most populous province before Chongqing was carved out of it, making Henan the current most populous. However, when including migrants, Guangdong has a higher population than Henan.
--from wikipedia.org
[edit] Colleges and Universities
- Chengdu Institute of Technology
- Sichuan University (Chengdu)
- Southwestern University of Finance and Economics (Chengdu)
- Southwest Jiaotong University (Chengdu)
- University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (Chengdu)
- Southwest University of Science and Technology (Mianyang)
- Sichuan Normal University (Chengdu)
- Sichuan Union University
- West China University of Medical Sciences
- Southwest University of Finance & Economics
- Sichuan Agricultural University
- Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine
- Sichuan Institute of Technology
- Southwest Institute of technology (Mianyang)
- Chengdu Institute of Information Technology
- Mianyang Economy & Technology College
- Neijiang Normal University
- Luzhou Medical College
- Sichuan University Of Physics
[edit] Area and Postal Codes
| City | Area Code | Postal Code | City | Area Code | Postal Code | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aba (阿坝) | 837 | 624000 | Bazhong (巴中) | 827 | 636600 | |
| Chengdu (成都) | 28 | 610000 | Dazhou (达州) | 818 | 635000 | |
| Deyang (德阳) | 838 | 618000 | Ganzi (甘孜) | 836 | 626000 | |
| Guang'an (广安) | 826 | 638500 | Guangyuan (广元) | 839 | 628000 | |
| Jiuzhaigou (九寨沟) | 836 | 626000 | Leshan (乐山) | 833 | 614000 | |
| Liangshan (凉山) | 834 | 615000 | Luzhou (泸州) | 830 | 646000 | |
| Meishan (眉山) | 833 | 620000 | Mianyang (绵阳) | 816 | 621000 | |
| Nanchong (南充) | 817 | 637000 | Neijiang (内江) | 832 | 641000 | |
| Panzhihua (攀枝花) | 812 | 617000 | Suining (遂宁) | 825 | 629000 | |
| Xichang (西昌) | 834 | 615000 | Ya'an (雅安) | 835 | 625000 | |
| Yibin (宜宾) | 831 | 644000 | Zigong (自贡) | 813 | 643000 | |
| Ziyang (资阳) | 832 | 641300 |
[edit] Tips & Practical Info
The province of Sichuan suffered a catastrophic earthquake on May 12, 2008 centered on Wenchuan County, about 100km north of Chengdu city. Many cities were nearly completaly destroyed and over 80,000 people are dead or missing with hundreds of thousands more injured or homeless. Government response was fast, but reconstruction will still take years.
Many of Sichuan's main attractions are located at altitudes above 3,000 meters and thus altitude sickness is a threat. Make sure to monitor your own health and take it easy for a day or two if moving from the low lands to higher elevations.
To help combat this sickness, many local Chinese eat medicine known as Hong Jing Tian. These are red capsules that the soldiers of the People's Liberation Army use to help them quickly adjust to altitude conditions in the Western Chinese provinces. Local tour companies will have a ready supply of this medicine if you ask.
There is also tension in Western Sichuan between the Chinese government and the mainly Tibetan people there and travel restrictions may apply to this area. See the warnings under Tibet. --from wikitravel.org
