An Introduction to Sichuan Province 四 川 省 简 介

Abbreviation: Chuan 川or Shu蜀
Capital: Chengdu
Area: Approximately 480,000 square kilometers
Population: 84.74 million
Location: In southwest China and the upper reaches of the Yangtze River

People often refer to Sichuan as “the heaven-endowed land” (or “the Land of Abundance”) 四川被认为是天府之国. The terrain of Sichuan Province varies in elevation, sloping from west to east and is divided into two sections—Western Plateau of Sichuan and the Sichuan Basin. The western plateau is one of the combinative sections of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, with an average altitude of more than 4,000 meters. Low hillocks and plains dominate the Sichuan Basin. Rivers in the province mainly include the Yangtze River and its tributaries. The basin in east Sichuan belongs to subtropical and humid monsoon climate and the western part belongs to subtropical and plateau climate.

The province is China’s third most populous province, trailing Henan (92.56 million) and Shandong (90.79 million). It is known as the “paradise in China or a land of abundance” or “heavenly-endowed land” because of the rich natural resources and beautiful scenery.
With favoured natural conditions, Sichuan Province has a well-developed agriculture and is China’s famous agricultural zone for commercial products. Crops are of a great variety and high output. Economic agricultural produce is famous for the great variety of species, mainly including oilseeds, cotton, peanuts, sesame and sugar cane. Among the fruits, orange yields the highest output. The province owns a relatively complete industrial system, such as iron and steel, coal, electronics, petrochemical, electric power, machinery, construction materials, paper, industry, food, and brewery. The province boasts a rich reserve of natural gas and is the most important natural gas industrial base in China. The iron reserve accounts for 13 per cent of China’s total reserve and ranks the second biggest in China. Besides, The province has lots of animals and plants. Examples of them are the species of birds and animals account for half of China’s total. The province is the home to the national treasure—the Giant Panda.

The province boasts a lot of mountains, rivers and historic relics. UNESCO inscribed Jiuzhaigou, Yellow Dragon scenic area, Mount Emei with the Leshan’s Giant Buddha, and Mount Qingcheng-Dujiangyan Irrigation Project on the World Heritage List in 1992, 1996 and 2000 respectively.

The province has 42 institutes of higher learning, hundreds of scientific and research institutions and 1.1 million scientific and technological professionals. Sichuan has abundant tourism resources. More than 850 pandas (about 85 per cent of the world’s rare giant pandas) inhabit in the province. The province has eight national scenic areas and 40 national nature reserves.

The Yangtze River (6,300 kilometers)—the world’s third longest river (The Nile—6,690 kilometers—is the longest, followed by the Amazon—6,570 kilometers)—flows through the province from west to east.

The Xichang Satellite Launch Center is located there.

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