Sichuan, in China's western hinterland, covers most of the Sichuan Basin. Surrounded by mountains, it is situated at 26'03"-34'20" north latitude and 97'22"-110'10" east longitude with an area of 567,000 square kilometers, accounting for 5.1% of China's total area. Sichuan is high in the west and low in the east in terms of topography. Generally speaking, the western part is plateaus and mountainous regions some 4,000 meters above sea level, while the eastern part features basin and hilly land with an elevation between 1,000 and 3,000 meters.

Administrative Division and Population
It is divided into 5 districts, 3 autonomous prefectures, 13 prefecture-level cities, 18 county-level cities, 124 counties, and 3 autonomous counties, with a population of 83.29 million as of 2000.

Brief Introduction

Sichuan Province, Shu for short, is located in southwest China, with Chengdu as its capital city. Sichuan, generally classified as a rice region, abounds in agricultural products. It is listed as one of China's major producers of rice, wheat, cotton, rapeseeds, raw silk, oil-bearing crops, meat, and fruit, and also holds a significant place in production of medicinal herbs, pigs and cattle. Sichuan's major industrial products are metals, coal, petroleum, machinery, electric power, well salt, chemicals, electronics, textiles and foodstuff etc.
Sichuan is known as the "Land of Abundance" and has three places listed as the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, namely the Jiuzhaigou Scenic Area, the Huanglong Scenic Area, and Emei Mountain including the Leshan Giant Buddha. Visitors to this province can experience a wide variety of beautiful landscapes including plateaus, mountains, ravines, basins, hills, plains, rivers, lakes, hot springs, waterfalls and limestone caves. Most of the rivers in Sichuan belong to the Yangtze River system.
Sichuan is gifted with lush mountains and exquisite waters, and abounds in historical and cultural resources. Its main scenic spots and historical sites include Emei Mountain, Qingcheng Mountain, and Long Valley, the Dujiangyan Irrigation System, Leshan Giant Buddha, and Jiuzhaigou (Nine-Village Valley). The Wolong Nature Reserve in Sichuan is home to the Chengdu Giant Panda Research Base, one of the most important centers in the world for the captive conservation of the Giant Panda.
As one of the largest provinces, Sichuan has more than 15 minority groups living with the Han people. Among these are the Yi, Hui, Tibetan and Miao peoples. Each of these minorities has its own charm, ethnic style and folk custom. Some of the ethical festivals like Leshan Great Buddha International Tourist Festival, Southland Ice and Snow Festival, Liangshan Yi Minority Torch Festival and Zigong Lantern Festival have become Sichuan's unique tourist resources.

Tourism Resources in Sichuan

Status and Reputation
The four words can be used to describe the tourism resources of Sichuan:abundant,diverse,widely distributed, and superb in taste; there are a rare combination of attributes in China and the even in the world.

Scenic Features
Sichuan is a province well known for its wealth of tourism resources of natural landscapes, historical relics and ethnic customs. As the old saying goes:¡± Mountains and waters in Shoo are well worth watching¡± Sichuan has:
two sites included in the List of World Natural Heritages:Jiuzhaigou Valley, the ¡°fairyland ¡± on the earth; and Guangdong(or Yellow Dragon),the ¡°jasper lake in the mundane world¡±.
One site included in the World Cultural and Natural Heritages: Mt.E'mei with the Giant Buddha of Leshan, a sacred site of Buddhism.
One site included in the list of World Cultural Heritage: Dujiangyan Irrigation Project & Mt.Qingcheng.
20 State 4A-level or State 3A-Level Scenic Areas
10 National Key Tourist Resorts
67 Provincial Scenic Areas
13 National Nature Reserves
45 Provincial Nature Reserves
25 National Forest Parks
51 Provincial Forest Parks
4 National Geological Parks
Among them, the following are promising candidates for the List of World Natural Heritages or World Cultural Heritages: the Sanxingdui Ruins of Guanghan ,the Jinsha Ruins of Chengdu ,the Qiang Stockaded Village of Taoping in Aba, the Giant Panda Nature Reserve of Wolong, and Daocheng-Yading of Ganzi.

Commentary
 With a long history and splendid culture together with its beautiful landscape, Sichuan has long been praised as the ¡°Land of Abundance¡±. It is also called ¡°Home of  the Giant Panda¡±, for the number of Giant Panda accounts for over 85% of the nation's total.Sichuan has a recorded history of civilization of over4,500 years dating back to the times of Can Cong and Yu Fu. Presently Sichuan has:
5 cities  designated China Top Tourist City
7 cities designated China Key Historical and Cultural City, namely Chengdu, Zigong, Leshan, Yibin, Luzhou, Langzhong and Dujiangyan
62 sites identified as China Key Cutural Relic Unit Under Protection
24 cities,counties,or towns designated the Provincial Key Historical and Cultural City(or Town)

In addition, these resources are widely dispersed throughout the Province. In Sichuan, there are sights, old and new ,and here we list just a few: the ancient irrigation project, old towns and houses, former residences of renowned figures, Buddhist temples and Taois halls, stone carving and murals and modern art museums, and many more. As well, you will be fascinated by the ancient ¡°Southern Silk Road¡±, stories about heroes of the Three-Kingdom Period traveling along the ancient Shudao path, and stories about the Red Army during their Long March in southwest Sichuan.

 On this vast and charming land, there are fascinating landscapes ranging from highlands, mountainous areas, and valleys to basins, hills, and plains; from rivers and lakes to hot springs and waterfalls; from karts zones to Danxia landforms, named after the Danxia Mountain in Guangdong Province, the latter of which won the title of ¡°landscape province ¡±for Sichuan. The Hengduan Range, which is one of the three major forests and one of the five major grazing lands in China, is particularly worthy of  recommendation. Its snow-capped peaks, flourishing forests, and rivers such as the Jinsha River, the Yalong River, the Daduhe River and the Mingjiang River create a great many mysterious ,precipitous and marvelous views which would definitely intrigue tourists from home and abroad.

Situated in the subtropical belt, with diverse landforms and varying climates, Sichuan has an abundance of plants and wild animals. In the forests, which cover 7.46 million hectares, flourish many precious trees, such as ¡°living fossils¡±metasequoia and yinshan, accounting for 1/5th of China's total forestation area. There are over 1,100 kinds of vertebrates in Sichuan, accounting  for 40% of all the wild animals in China. Half of all of China's many different species of birds and rare animals can be seen here, among which 55 species are under state protection. The internationally loved Giant Panda is one of them ,living mainly in 36 counties and preservation areas within the 4 mountain systems of Sichuan, earning Sichuan the well deserved designation ¡°home of the Giant Pandas¡±.

 Sichuan Province is home to 15 ethnic groups, such as Tibetan, Qiang, Yi, Miao and Naxi. In terms of population ,the Sichuan Tibetans rank second nationally, and Yi, first. What is more remarkable is that the Qiang people live nowhere else except in Sichuan. Aa a result, Sichuan is culturally enhanced by their exotic ethic traditions, customs and festival. There are 40 famous largescale festival activities in the Province ,including: Leshan World Travel &Giant Buddha Festival, Ice&Snow Festival of South China, Zigong Dinosaur Lantern Festival, Liangshan Yi Nationality Torch Festival, and Panzhihua Yangtze River Drifting Festival International, as well as the Water Discharge Festival of Dujiangyan.

 With a history of more than 4,500 years, Sichuan possesses a deeply imbedded and diverse culture, involving such elements as: the Three-Kingdom legend, local opera, tea, ine ,bamboo ,the Hakka nationality, the Sanxingdui Ruins, and many more. The Three-Kingdom culture is found in many places, such as the Wuhou Temple of Chengdu, Pang Tong Temple of Deyang , Zhangfei Temple of Langzhong, and Mt. Fule of Mianyang. Sichuan Opera ,a splendid cultural legacy, is famous for its unique and cunning skill of ¡°Changing Faces¡±. Mt.Mengding is one of the origins of world tea culture. The saying ¡°The best wateris from Yangtze River where as the best tea is from Mt.Mengding¡± reflects the time-honored reputation of the Sichuan tea culture. The Luodai Town of Chengdu,¡± the typical town of the Hakka nationality of west China¡±, is the best representation of the architectural culture of the Hakka people. The Shunan Bamboo Sea is the only summer resort in China featuring bamboos, and is also the only museum in China with collections and displays of bamboo samples and documents concerning bamboo culture. The Sanxingdui Ruins reveal the highly developed civilization of the ancient Shu State and its objects represent the highest achievement of the ancient Shoo culture, and convincingly demonstrate that the Chinese civilization stemmed from carried sources before it achieved its own identity. The advanced civilization as represented by the Sanxingdui Ruins  and its ancient mysteries are comparable to the Egyptian pyramids.

 Sichuan abounds with local and special products, which total more than 3,000 kinds and fall into four main categories: liquors and wines, handicrafts, medicinal herbs and teas, and agricultural proucts and their byproducts such as food.

To name just a few:
Liquors and wines: Sichuan is home to China's famous wines, with yeast liquor, white spirits, fruit wine, medicial liquor and so on totaling more than 1,000 varieties, among which the domestically and internationally known ones are the Wuliangye Liquor and Jiannanchun Liquor.

Handicrafts: Sichuan embroidery is a traditional handicraft which has received international acclaim. Besides ,the bamboo articles of Chongqing are very popular as is the new-year picture of Mianzhu.

Medicinal herbs and teas: Sichuan has a great many kinds of herbs and plants that are used for making Chinese medicine. The great output makes Sichuan one of the three biggest bases of medicinal herb production in China. Indigenous pharmaceutical plants include: the rhizome of chuangxiong, fritillaria thunbergii, the bark of eucommia, Chinese caterpillar fungus, etc. Almost as world famous as the traditional Chinese medicine is the Chinese tea culture of which the tea of Mt.Mengding is arguably the best.

Foods :In addition to the local and special products, Sichuan cuisine is also worth mentioning. Sichuan Food stands for one of China's four major culinary schools, famous for its diversity in appearance and taste. There are over 2,000 kinds of dishes and snacks in Sichuan, such as huiguorou,mapodoufu,gongbao jiding ,chicken with chili pepper and peanuts, yuxiang rousi, etc. Visitors can well enjoy the food here.

Since 1978,Sichuan has seen a steady improvement in the infrastructures that support tourism. Advanced transportation and communications offer visitors easier and speedy access to Sichuan, which has an increasingly larger accommodation capacity . Chengdu, a metropolis of West China ,is t he center of Sichuan tourism. By air, Shuangliu International Airport of Chengdu, with over 160 flight routes, is one of the four biggest airports of China, offering direct flight to 9 overseas cities and regions :Singapore, Hong Kong, Macao, Seoul, Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, Katmandu, Bangkok, and Kuala Lumpur. The Jiuhuang Airport at Jiuzhaigou Valley and Huanglong Scenic Area has been completed, and is now in operation, with charter plane service available directly to Kuala Lumpur of Malaya, Moscow and Irkutsk of Russia, Katmandu of Nepal, Almaata of Kazakhstan. By Railway, Chengdu is linked to the rest of China by Baoji-Chengdu Railway, Chengdu-Kunming Railway, Chengdu-Chongqing Railway, Dazhou-Chengdu Railway, etc. Furthermore ,there is a water transportation route linking Leshan, Yibin, Luzhou to Chongqing via the Mingjiang River and by water make it convenient and fast to travel in Sichuan. The International Direct Dialing(IDD) service is available in major cities and scenic areas of Sichuan, connecting over 200countries and regions in the world.

In order to further promote tourism Sichuan is recenic giving priority to the development of the following four tourism gareas: Chengdu port tour areas ,west Sichuan natural and ecotour areas, Leshan-Mt.Emei tour area and  Zigong-Yibin banboom forest tour area. More specifically, efforts are being made to create superb tour areas. A total investment of over billion yuan is planned for the construction of five international tour areas: ¡±the First Mountain in China¡± Tour Area, the Great Jiuzhaigou Valley Tour Area, Wolong Giant Panda EcoTour  Area,Sanxindui Ruins Tour Area and Mt.Qingchen-Dujiangyan Tour Area.Besides ,focus will be given to the construction and promotion of four superb tour routes:

Charming Landscape Tour and Tibetan and Qiang Ethic Tour (Jiuzhaigou-Huanglong-Great Prairie itinerary);
Buddhist Culture, Longevity Culture and Recreation Tour(Leshan Giant Buddha-Mt.Emei-Former Residence of Su Xun, Su Shi and Su Zhe itinerary;
Sightseeing and Recreation Tour(Dujiangyan Irrigation Project-Mt.Qingchen-Wolong-Mt.Siguniang-Fengtongzhai of Baoxing itinerary;
Sightseeing and Recreation Tour(Zigong Dinosaur-Yibin Shunan Bamboo Sea-Luzhou Fobao).

Sichuan tourism has enjoyed a rapid development in the last 20 years and is now an integrated industry featuring a combination of hospitality, accommodation, transportation, sightseeing , shopping and recreation, with a strong comprehensive capacity to receive many tourists. Sichuan presently has 235 star-rated hotel, and 428 travel agencies engaged in domestic and overseas tour business. Many excellent route has been developed featuring natural and ecological tour ,as well as those  with historical and cultural features. Great success has been achieved in the promotion of the three¡± international brands¡±: Giant Panda, the national treasure; Jiuzhaigou Valley, the world natural heritage, and the Sanxingdui Ruins. In 2002,the tourism industry generated for Sichuan revenue a total of 38 billion yuan, and for 3 consecutive years Sichuan's revenue from tourism remains the highest in west china, with an annual average increase rate of 24.2% in domestic tour income, almost twice the national average increase rate for the past fice years. Presently the total tourism revenue of Sichuan accounts for 7.8% of its GDP, and is expected to reach 15% by 2010,transforming Sichuan from a province with rich tourism resources into one with an even more dynamic tourism economy.

 Located in southwest China, Sichuan has become one of the most fascinating tourist destinations in China and in the world at large ,thanks to its many excellent diverse tourism resources ,such as the Shunan Bamboo Sea, the Jianmen  Shudao Path of the Three-Kingdom Period ,the Sanxingdui Ruins, the Jinsha Ruins, the Dinosaur Museum of Zigong, the Stellite Launch Vase of Xichang, the ¡°Female Kingdom¡± of Lugu Lake ,which still keeps customs of matriarchy, the Hauluogou, which features a modern glacier hot springs and virgin forests; the Ertan Hydropower Station, whose dam is the highest in Asia and the third highest in the world; the Ice and Snow World of South China, and ,the unique folk customs of minority nationalities of south west China. Sichuan ,a land of natural wonders and rich cultural and historical heritages, welcomes visitors at any time, from anywhere.