Chengdu

Chengdu has a population of 9.9 million and an area of 12,300 square kilometers.

The name "Chengdu" was first used in the early 4th century BCE, when the king of the ancient Shu moved his capital to the city's current location. He was inspired by the ancient story of the King of Zhou moving his capital. The King of Zhou was considered one of China's great kings with high moral and intellectual standards. Classic history recorded King of Zhou's move as "it took a year to become a town; it took 2 years to become a capital". Following this, king of Shu named the new city as "Cheng Du", which means "become a capital" (In Chinese, word "cheng" means "become", "du" means "capital").

Chengdu was the birthplace of the first widely used paper money in the world (Northern Song Dynasty, around A.D. 960).

Alias

• The Brocade City (Jin Cheng, 锦城)

  In Western Han Dynasty (206 BC- AD 23), brocade produced in Chengdu enjoyed great popularity among the royal and elite class in China. Emperor installed Jin-Guan (an official in charge of brocade production) to oversee brocade production in Chengdu. Since then, Chengdu has been called "Jin-Guan Cheng" (Brocade Official's City), or in its short form, "Jin Cheng" (Brocade city).

• The City of Hibiscus (Rong Cheng, 蓉城）

  In Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period (907-960), Mengchang, the king of the Later Shu Kingdom, ordered to plant hibiscus on the fortress wall surrounding the city. After this, Chengdu started being referred as the City of Hibiscus. Nowadays, hibiscus is still the city flower of Chengdu.

Colleges and universities

• Sichuan University
• Southwest Jiaotong University
• University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
• Southwest Minorities Institute

Referenced By