Chengdu Attractions

Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, is the distribution centre of tourism in southwest China. It covers a total area of 12,390 square km with that of the city proper being 283.86 square km. Located in the mid-subtropical zone, it has a temperate and humid monsoon climate, which makes it a favorable tourist city all the year round. Many rivers wind their ways throughout Chengdu, such as the Tuojiang River, the Minjiang River and the Qingyi River. The superior geographical location and natural environment give birth to a colorful and charming Chengdu.

Chengdu is abundant in natural resources. It possesses as many as 80% of all the world's living wild giant pandas and the world's largest research base of giant panda breeding, taking the lead in this special field. The base is a wonderful combination of natural scenery and artificial landscape and its permanent inhabitants include such precious animals as giant pandas, lesser pandas, black-necked cranes, white cranes, white swans, black swans, wild geese, mandarin ducks and peacocks.

Chengdu has also a very long history. The Jinsha Ruins shows that Chengdu was already a mature and large urban center as early as 3,000 years ago, where over a thousand precious cultural relics have been unearthed, of which the pattern named 'The Sacred Sun Bird" has been appointed as the symbol of Chinese cultural heritages. The discovery of the Jinsha Ruins has attracted wide public attention, which in experts ‘opinion can be rated as one of the most important archaeological discoveries in Sichuan Province, next to the discovery of the Sanxingdui Site in Guanghan. The excavation of this site is of great significance for the research of Sichuan's history and culture in the ancient times. It has provided precious material that had never appeared in previous documents before, which will rewrite both Chengdu's and Sichuan's ancient history.

The world famous Dujiangyan Irrigation System is the foundation of the Land of Abundance. In 2000, Dujiangyan Irrigation System, together with the Mount Qingcheng—the cradle of Chinese Taoism, was placed on the World Cultural Heritage List by UNESCO.

The Giant Panda Culture, the Jinsha Culture, and the Mount Qingcheng & Dujiangyan Irrigation System World Cultural Heritages have become outstanding representatives of Chengdu tourism.

Besides the ecotourism represented by the giant pandas and the cultural tourism represented by the Sacred Sun Bird, Chengdu, one of the birthplace of rural tours in China, has also developed rural tourism, which have been represented by the Sansheng Flower Township, the Ancient Pingle Town in Qionglai and the Nongke Village in the Pixian County. All these tourist attractions combine natural rural scenery with modem tourism perfectly and thus enjoy highly popularity in Chengdu and even Sichuan tourism.

In February 2007, Chengdu was officially named as "China Best Tourism City" by China National Tourism Administration and UN Worid Tourism Organization. Chengdu—a modern leisure center and tourists' heaven, is welcoming visitors from all over the world!