History & Culture
Chengdu the earliest settlement in Southwest China is a famous cultural city with a recorded history of more than 2,300 years, although there is evidence of human habitation there 3,700 – 4,500 years ago. This is a rare and great city. Its name has never changed and since its foundation, the city has always been the capital of Sichuan province. The geographical location of the fertile Chengdu Plain has proved beneficial to the local populace.
Ancient Shu Kingdom
|Wine vessel excavated |
from Sanxingdui Cultural Site
Some 2,300 years ago, the capital relocated to present Chengdu and for a long time, people deemed that the city built during that period was the real start of the city.
All of these add an exotic flavor to Jinsha. There do remain some unsolved mysteries, but most people would rather to believe that Jinsha is another center of ancient Shu Kingdom (late Shang Dynasty (16th - 11th Century BC) to Western Zhou Dynasty (11th Century BC - 771 BC)) after the vanishing of Sanxingdui, and Chengdu is undoubtedly the central area of the ancient kingdom.
Characteristic of Shu Culture in Warring State Period
|Gold Mask displayed in Jinsha Site Museum|
People hewed a canoe from a tree trunk. Using canoes as coffins is a unique burial custom to Ba (an ancient kingdom in present Chongqing) and Shu people. People put the deceased in a boat-like coffin hoping he can return home across the sea after death. However, boat coffins will not floating in water. Ba people usually hang them from cliffs, while the Shu people bury them deep in the earth. Generally, the bigger the boat coffin, the higher rank of the deceased occupant.
Chengdu under Qin
|Dujiangyan Irrigation System|
Concise History Thereafter
Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD) – The area became the center of world's lacquer craftwork and the birthplace of tea culture with advanced technology of Shu Brocade.
Five Dynasties period (907-960) – the emperor of Later Shu planted hibiscus all round the city wall, hence Chengdu got the nickname, Furong Cheng (Hibiscus City), or Rong Cheng for short.
Tang Dynasty (618-907) – Engraving typography was first invented and used here.
Song Dynasty (960-1279) – Chengdu led the list, being a foremost prosperous city on a par with Yangzhou which had the busiest water transport and port in China at that time. The earliest paper currency in the world 'Jiao Zi' was issued there during the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127).
Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties – The previously flourishing city vanished during the war during the late Ming Dynasty but its economy made a gradual recovery during the Qing Dynasty. Through two expansions during Kangxi and Qianlong Periods, a grand new city evolved once more. Following the Opium War, the city went into a decline and its role overtaken by Chongqing.
In modern times, the city was re-established as the capital of Sichuan Province in 1928, and has remained so following the foundation of the PRC.