Sichuan means "four rivers," which refers either to four major local tributaries to the
Chang Jiang (
Yangtze), or to the Chang Jiang itself and three tributaries. Although its heart is a region of fertile plains,
mountains made access to the area hard in earlier days, and so an old phrase meaning "road to Sichuan" now indicates something that's very difficult.
Although still sometimes considered a frontier region by many central-coastal Chinese, its capital,
Chengdu, is a major city, and Sichuan has the largest population of any province in China.
Chongqing (
Chun King) was formerly a large Sichuan city, but in
1997, Sichuan lost 10% of its area and 25% (!!) of its population when Chongqing was enlarged and made administratively independent of the province as a so-called "
municipality."
Sichuan is famous for its
pandas--85% of the world's panda population live in Sichuan, including a major panda preserve in
Wolong. There's also a forest preserve called
Jiuzhaigou.
Famous Sichuanese include
Deng Xiaoping,
Zhao Ziyang, the poet
Li Bai, and the poet
Du Fu, whose
cottage is a major
tourist attraction for domestic travelers.
Famous Sichuan dishes include
mapo dofu,
gongbao chicken, and
fish-flavored pork.
Sichuan is a fascinating province with lots offirst-rate history, scenery, culture and cuisine. Major advancements in early Chinese technology were made here, too (mostly in
Chengdu). Don't miss it just because it doesn't have
Beijing or
Shanghai!