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China Travel Guide » Places in China » Sichuan Province
Places in China: Sichuan Province
The place in China to find the natural home of the Giant Panda bears and to eat the hot and spicy food associated with Chinese cuisine is Sichuan Province in West Central China. The province is reported to have the most beautiful mountains and rivers on the planet. Sichuan's capital city of Chengdu beckons the world's travellers to visit and taste this outstanding province's offerings.
The province consists of 570,000 square kilometres of land area which supports a population of 114 million people at a population density of one hundred eighty persons per square kilometre. The people are ninety-five percent Han Chinese with two and a half percent Yi and Tibetan people being one and a half percent of the total population. The remaining ethnic groups include Miao, Naxi, Qiang and Hui.
The cities of Chengdu and Leshan have many tourist attractions. There are many ethnic minorities found in Leshan where you can experience Buddhist pilgrimage sites as well as the Giant Buddha. One of the most sacred Buddhist mountains (Emei Shan) in China is also near Leshan.
Chengdu, the capital of the province, has a population of just under ten million. It is near the centre of Sichuan Province. It is the home of the Chengdu Zoo where study and breeding of China's famous Giant Pandas is centred. For more then 2000 years, the city has been important in the economics and politics of China. It is a great place to experience the famous Sichuan style of Chinese cooking.
Chengdu is a central area for travel to see the Three Gorges of the Yangzi River or travel into Tibet.
Visitors with an interest in Chinese literature and calligraphy may want to visit Meishan, a smaller city about fifty miles southwest of Chengdu.
As far as the geography of the province, on the west side is the Tibetan Plateau. Most of the rest of Sichuan is fertile farmland and large forested areas. Four rivers go through Sichuan to help keep the soil in good condition for agriculture.
Twenty percent of China's wine comes from Sichuan. Other industries include iron and steel production, several automobile-producing factories and coal or other energy sources.
Neighbouring provinces are Tibet, Chongqing, Guizhou, Yunan, Shaanxi, Qinghai, Gansu, Hubei and Hunan. Chonqing used to be a part of Sichuan Province but became an independent municipality in 1997.
Weather in the province is hot in the summer but mild in the winter. If one plans a visit to the Tibetan Plateau, the better time to arrive is during the summer.
Being in Sichuan during one of the local festivals helps visitors to understand the culture and values of the local inhabitants of the province. Some of the festivals are a lantern festival, a torch festival and a flower festival. Horse races are also quite popular in the province.
In ancient times, the province was known as Bashu. The people are industrious and very friendly to visitors. They are proud of the natural beauty of the landscape of their home province as well as the many historical sites found there.
Major cities in Sichuan:
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