'' (;
Postal map spelling: ''Szechwan'' and ''Szechuan'') is a
province in western
China with its capital at
Chengdu. Sìchuān literally means four rivers.
History
The territory of the province and its vicinity were the cradle of unique local civilizations, which can be dated back to at least the
fifteenth century BC (i.e. 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 happened to destroy the civilizations of Shu and Ba, their cultures were preserved and inherited by people in Sichuan until today. 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 provision 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 Huang He Valley to foreign countries of the southwest, especially
India.
Military importance matches the commercial and agricultural values. As the area is actually a basin and is surrounded by the
Himalayas to the west, the
Qinling Range to the north, and mountainous areas of
Yunnan to the south, its climate is often heavily foggy. Since the Yangtze flows through the basin and thus is upstream to areas of eastern China, navies could be easily sailed downstream. Therefore the area was bases of numerous ambitious militarians and refuges 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 defense against the Mongolian
Yuan Dynasty in Sichuan and
Xiangyang. The line of defence was finally broken through after the first use of
firearms in history during the six-year
siege of Xiangyang, which ended in 1273. Foggy climate hindered the accuracy of
Japanese bombing of the basin and the
Chongqing city where the capital of
Republic of China had moved to during
World War II.
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
Avalokitesvara 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.
[1]
Sichuan's borders have remained relatively constant for the past 500 years. This changed in
1997 when the city of Chongqing as well as the surrounding towns of
Fuling and
Wanxian were formed into the new
Chongqing Municipality. The new municipality was formed to spearhead China's effort to develop its western regions as well as to coordinate the resettlement of refugees from the
Three Gorges Dam project.
Subdivisions
Main articles: List of administrative divisions of Sichuan
The current immediate administrative divisions of Sichuan consist of eighteen
prefecture-level cities and three
autonomous prefectures:
★
Chengdu (成都)
★
Mianyang (绵阳)
★
Deyang (德阳)
★
Yibin (宜宾)
★
Panzhihua (攀枝花)
★
Leshan (乐山)
★
Nanchong (南充)
★
Zigong (自贡)
★
Luzhou (泸州)
★
Neijiang (内江)
★
Guangyuan (广元)
★
Suining (遂宁)
★
Ziyang (资阳)
★
Guang'an (广安)
★
Ya'an (雅安)
★
Meishan (眉山)
★
Dazhou (达州)
★
Bazhong (巴中)
★
Aba Tibetan Qiang Autonomous Prefecture (阿坝藏族羌族自治州)
★
Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (甘孜藏族自治州)
★
Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture (凉山彝族自治州)
Geography
The area lies in the
Sichuan basin and is surrounded by the
Himalaya (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.
The climate is often heavily foggy. Several cities are quite polluted and seldom get sunny days.
Bordering provinces:
Chongqing Municipality,
Tibetan Autonomous Region,
Qinghai,
Gansu,
Shaanxi,
Guizhou and
Yunnan.
Economy
Sichuan has been historically known as the "Province of Abundance". It is one of the major agricultural production bases of China. Grain, including rice and wheat, is the major product with output that ranked first in China in 1999. Commercial crops include citrus fruits, sugar canes, sweet potatoes, peaches and rapeseeds. Sichuan also had the largest output of pork among all the provinces and the second largest output of silkworm cocoons in China in 1999. Sichuan is rich in mineral resources. It has more than 132 kinds of proven underground mineral resources of which reserves of 11 kinds including vanadium, titanium, and lithium are the largest in China. The
Panxi region alone possesses 13.3% of the reserves of iron, 93% of titanium, 69% of vanadium, 83% of cobalt of the whole country.
[1]
Sichuan is one of the major industrial bases of China. In addition to heavy industries such as coal, energy, iron and steel industry, the province has established a light manufacturing sector comprising building materials, wood processing, food and silk processing.
Chengdu and
Mianyang are the production bases for textiles and electronics products.
Deyang,
Panzhihua, and
Yibin are the production bases for machinery, metallurgy industries, and wine respectively. The wine production of Sichuan accounted for 21.9% of the country’s total production in 2000. Great strides have been achieved in accelerating the development of Sichuan into a modern hi-tech industrial base by encouraging both domestic and foreign investments in electronics and information technology (such as software), machinery and metallurgy (including automobiles), hydropower, pharmaceutical, food and beverage industries. The auto industry is important and a key sector of the machinery industry in Sichuan. Most of the auto manufacturing companies are located in Chengdu, Mianyang,
Nanchong, and
Luzhou [2]. Other important industries in Sichuan include
aerospace and defense (military) industries. A number of China's rockets (
Long March rockets) and
satellites has been launched from the
Xichang Satellite Launch Center, located in the city of
Xichang. Sichuan's beautiful landscapes and rich historical relics have also made the province into a major center for tourism.
The
Three Gorges Dam, the largest
dam ever constructed, is being built on the
Yangtze River in nearby
Hubei province to control flooding in the Sichuan Basin, neighboring
Yunnan province, and downstream. The plan is hailed by some as a Chinese effort to shift towards alternate energy sources and to further develop its industrial and commercial bases but others have criticised it for its potential harmful effects, such as massive resettlement of refugees, loss of archeological sites, and ecological damage.
Sichuan's nominal GDP for
2004 was 656 billion yuan (US$81.3 billion), equivalent to 6,270 RMB (US$757) per capita. In 2005, the per capita net income of rural residents reached 2,800 yuan (US$350), up 8.6% year-on-year. The per capita
disposable income of the urbanites averaged 8,386 yuan (US$1,048), up 8.8% year-on-year.
[3]
Demographics
Tibetans as a main ethnic minority group in Sichuan.
The majority of population is
Han Chinese, who are found scattered throughout the province. Significant minorities of
Tibetans,
Yi,
Qiang and
Naxi reside in the western portion.
Culture
★
Sichuan cuisine
★
Music of Sichuan
The
Li Bai Memorial, located at his birthplace, Zhongba Town of northern
Jiangyou County in Sichuan Province, is a museum in memory of Li Bai, a Chinese poet in the Tang Dynasty (618-907). It was prepared in 1962 on the occasion of 1,200th anniversary of his death, completed in 1981 and opened to the public in October 1982. The memorial is built in the style of the classic garden of the Tang Dynasty.
Languages
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 neighbouring
Yunnan and
Guizhou provinces as well as
Chongqing Municipality. Typical features shared by many southwestern Mandarin dialects include the merger of the
retroflex consonants into the
alveolar consonants , the merger of and , as well as the merger of into .
The prefectures of
Garzê and
Aba in western Sichuan are populated predominantly by
Tibetans, who speak the
Kham and
Amdo dialects of
Tibetan. The
Qiang and other related ethnicities speak the
Qiangic languages, also 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.
Colleges and universities
★
Southwestern University of Finance and Economics (Chengdu)
★
Sichuan University (Chengdu)
★
Southwest Jiaotong University (Chengdu)
★
University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (Chengdu)
★
Southwest University of Science and Technology (Mianyang)
Tourism
UNESCO World Heritage Sites:
★
Dazu Rock Carvings, listed as property of the
Chongqing municipality
★
Huanglong Scenic and Historic Interest Area
★
Jiuzhaigou Valley Scenic and Historic Interest Area
★
Mount Emei Scenic Area, including
Leshan Giant Buddha Scenic Area
★
Mount Qincheng and the
Dujiangyan Irrigation System
★
Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries
Sports
Professional sports teams in Sichuan include:
★
Chinese Basketball Association
★
★ None
★
Chinese Football Association Jia League
★
★
Chengdu Wuniu
★
Chinese Football Association Super League
★
★
Sichuan Guancheng
See also
★
Eight Immortals from Sichuan
Footnotes
1. Chinese Architecture -- The Yuan and Ming Dynasties, , Pan, Guxi, Yale University Press, 2002, ISBN 0-300-09559-7
External links
★
中国四川 Sichuan Provincial Government
★
Large map of Sichuan
★
Li Bai Museum at Zhongba Town of northern Jiangyou County
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