Chengdu
Chengdu is the capital of Sichuan province and a sub-provincial
city, located in southwest China, and bordering Tibet. Its exact
location is between 102°54' - 104°53' east longitude and 30°5' -
31°26' north latitude.
Chengdu has an area of 12 300 km². The GDP per capita was ¥20625
(ca. US$2503) in 2004, ranked no. 52 among 659 Chinese
cities.
The city is a political and economic center of southwest China. It
is famous for its numerous hot pot restaurants and teahouses, which
can be found on many street corners.
Population
Throughout Chinese history, Chengdu has been a city with a large
number of people for hundreds of years. By 2004, as the statistical
data show, the population has reached as large as 10 596 900, which
made it to be the city with the fourth largest population in China,
just following Chongqing, Shanghai and Beijing. By the end of 2004,
there were 5 381 700 males, and 5 215 200 females.
There were close to 200 long-term foreign residents (not including
Chinese from Hong Kong or Taiwan) living in the city in late 2004
according to unofficial US Consultate estimates.
History
More than four thousand years ago, the prehistorical Bronze Age
culture of San Xing Dui (4800–3100 BP) established itself in this
region. Zizhu city (Zi Zhu Cheng) was one of the early settlements.
Some believe that this culture is related to the BA culture of West
Asia.
In the early 4th century BC, the king of the ancient Shu moved his
capital to the city's current location. He was inspired by the
ancient story of King Tai of Zhou, Grandfather of King Wu of Zhou,
moving his capital. History recorded King Tai of Zhou's move as "it
took a year to become a town; it took 2 years to become a capital".
Following this, king of Shu named the new city as "Cheng Du", which
means "become a capital" (In Chinese, word "cheng" means "become",
"du" means "capital").
After the conquest of Shu by the State of Qin in 316 BC, a new city
was founded by the Qin general Zhang Yi, which marked the beginning
of contemporary Chengdu. It was renamed Yi Zhou during the Han
Dynasty.
Liu Bei founded the kingdom of Shuhan (220-263) in this city.
During the Tang Dynasty, both the "Poet-God" Li Bai and the
"Poet-Sage" Du Fu spent some part of their lives in Chengdu. Du Fu
constructed the celebrated "Cao Tang" (or grass-hut) in the second
year of his four year stay (759-762). But today's Cao Tang, a
rather sumptuous house in the traditional style, was initially
constructed in 1078 in memory of Du Fu. Chengdu was the birthplace
of the first widely used paper money in the world (Northern Song
Dynasty, around A.D. 960).
Two more rebel leaders, one around the end of Song Dynasty, the
other near the end of Ming Dynasty, set up the capitals of their
short-lived kingdoms here, called Da Shu and Da Xi,
respectively.
In more recent times, Chengdu was the last city in mainland China
to be held by the Kuomintang. Chiang Kai-shek and his son Chiang
Ching-kuo directed the defence of the city at Chengdu Central
Military Academy, until December 10, 1949 when the People's
Liberation Army took the city and the Nationalist Chinese
government fled to Taiwan.
Alias
The Brocade City (Jin Cheng)
In the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC - 23 AD), brocade produced in
Chengdu enjoyed great popularity among the royal and elite class in
China. Emperor installed Jin-Guan (an official in charge of brocade
production) to oversee brocade production in Chengdu. Since then,
Chengdu has been called "Jin-Guan Cheng" (Brocade Official's City),
or in its short form, "Jin Cheng" (Brocade city).
and
The City of Hibiscus (Rong Cheng)
In the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period (907-960), Mengchang,
the king of the Later Shu Kingdom, ordered the planting of hibiscus
on the fortress wall surrounding the city. After this, Chengdu
started being referred as the City of Hibiscus. Nowadays, the
hibiscus is still the city flower of Chengdu.
Colleges and universities
Sichuan University (Founded in 1896)
Southwest Jiaotong University (Founded in 1896)
University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Southwestern University of Finance and Economics
Southwest University for Nationalities
Sichuan Normal University
Chengdu University of Technology
Chengdu University of TCM
Sichuan Conservatory of Music
Chengdu University of Information Technology
Chengdu Sports University
Xihua University
Chengdu University
Chengdu Medical College
Note: Institutions without full-time bachelor programs are not
listed
Du Jiang Yan Irrigation System located near
chengdu,China,became one of the World Cultural Heritage sites
together with Mount Qingcheng in 2000.
Jingjiang River and Anshun Peaceful and Fluent Bridge in
Chengdu,China
Jinli Street in Chengdu,China whitch is near Wu Hou
Ci.
Location of Chengdu
