Sichuan

Sichuan (四川; Sìchuān; previously known as Szechwan), is a province in Southwest China. It is China's fourth most populous province; at 81 million (2013) it has about the population of Germany.

Historically, Sichuan has been mainly an agricultural region, though with a few important cities. Since the 1980s, it has been a major supplier of migrant labour to more prosperous coastal provinces in East China and South China. Sichuan is now developing rapidly.

The western part of the province was once part of Kham province of the Tibetan Empire, and remains ethnically and culturally Tibetan. Unlike Tibet proper, foreigners are allowed to visit the Tibetan areas of Sichuan without any special permits or being limited to a guided tour, making it an excellent place if you want to experience Tibetan culture independently. See Yunnan tourist trail for one route into Kham.

Regions

Regions of Sichuan

Aba Prefecture In the central north area of Sichuan, it is a Tibetan and Qiang autonomous prefecture

Ganzi Prefecture In the west of Sichuan, it is a Tibetan autonomous prefecture

South Sichuan Comprises Liangshan Prefecture, which is an Yi autonomous prefecture, and Panzhihua Prefecture

East Sichuan Comprises the capital Chengdu and other major cities of Sichuan

Cities

• 1 Chengdu — the capital of Sichuan with 2,000 years of history, the southeastern part is encircled by small mountains and to the north east is Chengdu Campagna
• 2 Dege — home to an amazing Tibetan library
• 3 Ganzi — rough Tibetan town and launching point for exploring local monasteries
• 4 Kangding — gateway to western Sichuan's Tibetan region
• 5 Langmusi — beautiful Tibetan border town sitting in both Gansu and Sichuan, with two monasteries, horse trekking opportunities and a sky burial site
• 6 Leshan — home of the largest stone carved Buddha in the world
• 7 Songpan — base camp for exploring Jiuzhaigou Nature Reserve and the Amdo Tibetan culture
• 8 Xiangcheng — on the high-road to Yunnan
• 9 Xichang — An ancient town on the "Southern Silk Road", a city of four seasons.

Other destinations

• 1 Beichuan — memorial city destroyed by earthquake and landslide in 2008, parts of it are open to tourists for viewing the damage and paying respect
• 2 Emeishan National Park
• Hailuogou Glacier Park
• 3 Huanglongsi -Jiuzhaigou National Park
• 4 Jianmen Shudao National Park — Jianmen Pass and Ancient Plankway of Shudao
• Kanggar Mountains National Park
• 5 Qingchengshan-Dujiangyan National Park — one of the ancient cradles of Daoism
• 6 Shunan Zhuhai National Park (lit. Bamboo Sea)
• 7 Siguniangshan National Parks
• 8 Yading Nature Reserve

Understand

Climate — See the climate table on the Chengdu page

Sichuan means Four Rivers after the four main rivers in the region. In total 1,300 rivers and streams run through the province. It has been historically and economically known as the "Province of Abundance".

Talk

The native language of most of Sichuan is a variant of Mandarin (Southwest), which differs from standard Mandarin of the northern plains around Beijing significantly in pronunciation, and use of slang which is unique to the area. Nevertheless, fluent speakers of standard Mandarin will be able to understand the local dialect with some difficulty when spoken slowly. Tibetan is still the mother tongue in most of the highland west, and is co-official with Mandarin in Ganzi and Aba prefectures. The Tibetan spoken in Sichuan is the Kham Dialect, which differs significantly from the Standard Tibetan spoken in Lhasa, and is not completely mutually intelligible. Qiangic, spoken by the Qiang minority group and closely related to Tibetan, also native to Sichuan, can also be found in isolated parts of western Sichuan. Virtually all younger people are able to speak standard Mandarin, regardless of what their native language or dialect is.

The vast majority of signage is in Chinese characters throughout the province, though signs in the western part of the province are often bilingual in Chinese and Tibetan. Many young people in Sichuan's larger cities speak some English.

Get in

Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan has a fairly large modern airport with domestic connections to many cities all over China and also some international connections. Internationally you can fly from Europe (KLM), Singapore, Japan, Korea and Hong Kong, and many people arrive and depart using the very good air services available.

China has an extensive railway network and Chengdu is well connected to many cities by rail. A fast train connects Chongqing and Chengdu. Chongqing is a very large city which was part of Sichuan until 1997 but now is an independent municipality. Many trains shuttle every day between Chongqing and Chengdu. Not so long ago, the journey took 4 to 8 hours depending on stops. Now a fast bullet train (over 200 km/h) runs several times a day.

Buses run between Chongqing and Chengdu taking about 4 hours.

The bus network within Sichuan is quite extensive and the highways are good. Buses also seem to mostly run on time. Many popular tourist destinations such as Leshan and Jiuzhaigou National Park are served by buses.

Air travel is available within Sichuan if you want to go to Jiuzhaigou National Park, which is over 300 km from Chengdu.

See

Panda bears

• 

  Jiuzhaigou Valley

  Dacheng Lamo Kerti Gompa — located at Langmusi, temple where traditional Tibetan sky-burials are still practiced
• Giant Panda Sanctuaries — Wolong, Mt Siguniang and Jiajin Mountains" are an UNESCO World Heritage Site
• Jiuzhaigou Valley
• Huanglong
• Mount Qincheng

Do

Go hike and camp in Yading National Nature Reserve of China, where Joseph Rock fell in love with the Chinese landscape and natural world.

Chengdu hotpot

Eat

Kao Jiang

Sichuan cuisine is well-known worldwide, including dishes like Kung Pao Chicken (宫保鸡丁 / 宮保雞丁, gōngbǎo jīdīng) and Twice Cooked Pork (回锅肉 / 回鍋肉, huíguōròu). It is also famously spicy, with liberal use of chilies and the indigenous Sichuan pepper (花椒, huājiāo). Sichuan peppers are used to make málà (麻辣) food, which is not just spicy but produces a unique numbing sensation—it makes your mouth feel tingly or numb.

One specialty of the area is the Hot Pot (火锅 / 火鍋, huǒguō), a sort of wide-mouthed soup pot into which an assortment of vegetables and thinly sliced meats are dropped to cook. Typically, the pot has two parts separated by a partition; one side is extremely spicy, the other milder.

Sichuan food plays approximately the role in China that Mexican or Italian food does in the US or Indian food in the UK. It is found more-or-less everywhere and in every style of restaurant from cheap hole-in-the-wall to very fancy indeed.

In the mountainous western part of the province Tibetan cuisine is predominant, meaning that you can try various Tibetan dishes like butter tea and tsampa.

Drink

Wuliangye (五粮液 Wǔliángyè), a representative Chinese liquor.

Chapanda (茶百道). A local tea drink chain brand in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, insisting on the original leaf freshly extracted to ensure that the tea soup removes both the astringent flavor and retains the tea aroma, and through the combination of tea, fresh fruits and these ingredients are innovative, presenting a delicious taste of life that is worth waiting for.

Chapanda (茶百道)

Stay safe

Sichuan suffered a catastrophic earthquake in 2008 centered on Wenchuan County, about 100 km north of Chengdu. Many towns were nearly completely destroyed and over 80,000 people killed with hundreds of thousands more injured or homeless. Reconstruction is now complete, but there is always a risk of another quake.

Many of West Sichuan's main attractions are located at altitudes above 3,000 meters and thus altitude sickness is a threat. Make sure to monitor your health and take it easy for a day or two if moving from the lowlands to higher elevations.

To help combat this sickness, many local Chinese eat medicine known as Hong Jing Tian. These are red capsules that the soldiers of the People's Liberation Army use to help them quickly adjust to altitude conditions in the Western Chinese provinces. Local tour companies will have a ready supply of this medicine if you ask.

There is also tension in Western Sichuan between the Chinese government and the mainly Tibetan people there, and travel restrictions may apply to this area. See the warnings under Tibet.