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76-584: The Book of the Later Han (compiled in the 5th century from older sources) relates that the songs were recorded in western Sichuan and a Chinese translation presented to Emperor Ming of Han (58–75 AD). This episode is recorded in the "Treatise on the Southern Barbarians" chapter, which includes the Chinese translation, but not the original songs. The Bailang people are described as living to

152-470: A subarctic climate ( Köppen Dwc )- featuring extremely cold winters down to −30 °C and even cold summer nights. The region is geologically active with landslides and earthquakes. Average elevation ranges from 2,000 to 3,500 meters; average temperatures range from 0 to 15 °C. The southern part of the province, including Panzhihua and Xichang, has a sunny climate with short, very mild winters and very warm to hot summers. Sichuan borders Qinghai to

228-575: A competition, giving each competitor a rustic boat and swearing, "he who keeps himself afloat [on these rough waters] shall be chief!" Again Wuxiang prevailed, while all the other boats sank. So they made him chief, calling him Lord Lin. Lord Lin led the people to settle in Yicheng in present-day southwestern Hubei near Sichuan. The first Ba settlement in Sichuan was Peiling (also called Zhi), reputedly

304-491: A contest to determine who would be the chief: The clans did not yet have a leader, and they worshiped the ghosts and spirits. Together they made a pact: whosoever that could throw a dagger and have it lodged in a particular stone crevice high up a cliff would be chief. Of all the competitors, only a son of the Ba Clan, Wuxiang, was able to achieve the target, and when he did so all present sighed with admiration. Again they made

380-660: A king. The Ba clans were highly diverse, being composed of multiple tribes. Archeological evidence shows that the Ba people primarily relied on fishing and hunting, with low levels of agriculture and no evidence of irrigation . Ba originally included territory in the Han Valley and had its capital at Yicheng, Hubei; however the ascendance of Chu pushed Ba westwards and further into the Sichuan Basin . Chu expansion also forced Ba to move its capital several times. According to

456-670: Is a well-preserved 15th-century monastery complex built between 1440 and 1446 during the Zhengtong Emperor 's reign (1427–64). Dabei Hall enshrines a thousand-armed wooden image of Guanyin and Huayan Hall is a repository with a revolving sutra cabinet. The wall paintings, sculptures, and other ornamental details are masterpieces of the Ming period. In the middle of the 17th century, the peasant rebel leader Zhang Xianzhong (1606–1646) from Yan'an , Shaanxi Province, nicknamed Yellow Tiger , led his peasant troop from north China to

532-408: Is abundant where they live, pandas' diet consists of 99% bamboo, with small other plants, or small animals consisting of the other 1%. As the panda is native to China, they have become a national symbol of China. The politics of Sichuan is structured in a dual party-government system like all other governing institutions in mainland China . The governor of Sichuan is the highest-ranking official in

608-580: Is found at the Heliang site near Fengdu and is dated to 15,000 years ago. A neolithic site found at Daxi dates from 5000 to 3000 BC while a late neolithic site (c. 2000 BC) was found at Zhongba in Zhongxian . According to Book of the Later Han , the founder of the state of Ba was Lord Lin ( Chinese : 廪君 ). In this account, there were originally five clans: the Ba, Fan ( 樊 ), Shen ( 瞫 ), Xiang ( 相 ), and Zheng ( 鄭 ), and they organized

684-541: Is found in the 12th-century Tongzhi . Thus in addition to the distortion inherent in transcription, interpretation is complicated by the transmission history of the text and uncertainty about the pronunciation of Eastern Han Chinese . Several features of the text have led scholars to doubt the traditional view that the songs were translated from Bailang to Chinese: the songs reflect a Chinese world-view, contain many Chinese words and phrases (in addition to apparent loans) and generally follow Chinese word order. In addition,

760-546: Is prominent in modern Sichuan cuisine , featuring dishes—including Kung Pao chicken and mapo tofu , that have become staples of Chinese cuisine around the world. There are many panda stations in the province and large reserves for these creatures, such as the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding . Sichuan is the 6th-largest provincial economy of China, the largest in Western China , and

836-521: Is rich in mineral resources. It has more than 132 kinds of proven underground mineral resources including vanadium, titanium, and lithium is the largest in China. The Panxi region alone possesses 13.3% of the reserves of iron, 93% of titanium, 69% of vanadium, and 83% of cobalt in the whole country. Sichuan also possesses China's largest proven natural gas reserves (such as the Dazhou and Yuanba gas fields ),

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912-762: Is surrounded by the Hengduan Mountains to the west, the Qin Mountains to the north, and Yungui Plateau to the south. Since the Yangtze flows through the basin and then through the perilous Three Gorges to eastern and southern China, Sichuan was a staging area for amphibious military forces and a haven for political refugees. Qin armies finished their conquest of the kingdoms of Shu and Ba by 316 BC. Any written records and civil achievements of earlier kingdoms were destroyed. Qin administrators introduced improved agricultural technology. Li Bing , engineered

988-616: Is therefore likely that it was a close relative rather than an actual member of the family. For example, the word for "gorge" is transcribed with the character 龍 , whose Old Chinese form is reconstructed by Li Fang-Kuei as *gljung . Coblin argues that the Bailang word retains the consonant cluster of Proto-Sino-Tibetan *klu·ŋ, which has been lost in Proto-Lolo-Burmese *loŋ. However, in his ABC Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese (2007, p. 363), Axel Schuessler reconstructs

1064-647: The Chronicles of Huayang compiled in the Jin dynasty (266–420) , and the Han-dynasty compilation Chronicle of the Kings of Shu  [ zh ] . These contained folk stories such as that of Emperor Duyu  [ zh ] who taught the people agriculture and transformed himself into a cuckoo after his death. The existence of a highly developed civilization with an independent bronze industry in Sichuan

1140-685: The Daba Mountains , in the province's northeast. The Yangtze River and its tributaries flow through the mountains of western Sichuan and the Sichuan Basin; thus, the province is upstream of the great cities that stand along the Yangtze River further to the east, such as Chongqing , Wuhan , Nanjing , and Shanghai . One of the major tributaries of the Yangtze within the province is the Min River of central Sichuan, which joins

1216-690: The Dadu River caused by an earthquake gave way on 10 June 1786. The resulting flood killed 100,000 people. In the early 20th century, the newly founded Republic of China established the Chuanbian Special Administrative District ( 川邊特別行政區 ) on the province's territories to the west of the Sichuan Basin . The Special District later became the province of Xikang , incorporating the areas inhabited by Yi , Tibetan , and Qiang ethnic minorities to its west, and eastern part of today's Tibet Autonomous Region . In

1292-475: The Dujiangyan irrigation system to control the Min River , a major tributary of the Yangtze. This innovative hydraulic system was composed of movable weirs which could be adjusted for high or low water flow according to the season, to either provide irrigation or prevent floods. The increased agricultural output and taxes made the area a source of provisions and men for Qin's unification of China. Sichuan

1368-714: The Hengduan Mountains . One of these ranges, the Daxue Mountains , contains the highest point of the province Gongga Shan , at 7,556 m (24,790 ft) above sea level. The mountains are formed by the collision of the Tibetan Plateau with the Yangtze Plate . Faults here include the Longmenshan Fault which ruptured during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Other mountain ranges surround the Sichuan Basin from north, east, and south. Among them are

1444-569: The Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Chengdu , and its population stands at 83 million. Sichuan neighbors Qinghai and Gansu to the north, Shaanxi and Chongqing to the east, Guizhou and Yunnan to the south, and Tibet to the west. During antiquity, Sichuan was home to the kingdoms of Ba and Shu until their incorporation by

1520-569: The Qin . During the Three Kingdoms era (220–280), Liu Bei 's state of Shu was based in Sichuan. The area was devastated in the 17th century by Zhang Xianzhong 's rebellion and the area's subsequent Manchu conquest, but recovered to become one of China's most productive areas by the 19th century. During World War II , Chongqing served as the temporary capital of the Republic of China , and

1596-695: The Shang in northern China. The region had its own distinct religious beliefs and worldview. The earliest excavated culture found therein is the Baodun culture ( c. 2700–1750 BC) excavated in the Chengdu Plain . The most important native states were those of Ba and Shu. Ba stretched into Sichuan from the Han Valley in Shaanxi and Hubei down the Jialing River as far as its confluence with

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1672-608: The Sui dynasty , but it was during the subsequent Tang dynasty that Sichuan regained its previous political and cultural prominence for which it was known during the Han. Chengdu became nationally known as a supplier of armies and the home of Du Fu , who is sometimes called China's greatest poet. During the An Lushan Rebellion (755–763), Emperor Xuanzong of Tang fled from Chang'an to Sichuan which became his refuge. The region

1748-514: The Ten Kingdoms period (907–979). Currently, both characters for Shu and Chuan are common abbreviations for Sichuan. The region was formerly referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions . The Sichuan Basin and adjacent areas of the Yangtze watershed were a cradle of indigenous civilizations dating back to at least the 15th century BC, coinciding with

1824-583: The Yangtze at Chongqing . Shu occupied the valley of the Min , including Chengdu and other areas of western Sichuan. The existence of the early state of Shu was poorly recorded in the main historical records of China. It was, however, referred to in the Book of Documents as an ally of the Zhou. Accounts of Shu exist mainly as a mixture of mythological stories and historical legends recorded in local annals such as

1900-681: The Zhaowu , 昭武 ) dance, was first brought to prominence by Emperor Gaozu of Han, who enjoyed their war dances. Large-scale performances of the dance involved the brandishing of various weapons to the accompaniment of drums and songs in the Ba language. It remained popular through the Tang dynasty and spread as far as Central Asia. The Bashu culture developed writing systems with symbols that appear to be unrelated to Chinese characters . Three Ba–Shu scripts have been found on bronzeware, none of which have been deciphered . One apparently pictographic script

1976-417: The "Province of Abundance". It is one of the major agricultural production bases of China. Grain, including rice and wheat, is the major product with output that ranked first in China in 1999. Commercial crops include citrus fruits, sugar cane, sweet potatoes, peaches, and grapes. Sichuan also had the largest output of pork among all the provinces and the second largest output of silkworm cocoons in 1999. Sichuan

2052-472: The 100 million mark shortly after the 1982 census figure of 99,730,000. This changed in 1997 when the Sub-provincial city of Chongqing as well as the three surrounding prefectures of Fuling , Wanxian , and Qianjiang were split off into the new Chongqing Municipality . The new municipality was formed to spearhead China's effort to economically develop its western provinces, as well as to coordinate

2128-685: The 20th century, as Beijing , Shanghai , Nanjing , and Wuhan had all been occupied by the Japanese during the Second Sino-Japanese War , the capital of the Republic of China had been temporarily relocated to Chongqing , then a major city in Sichuan. An enduring legacy of this move is those nearby inland provinces, such as Shaanxi , Gansu , and Guizhou , which previously never had modern Western-style universities , began to be developed in this regard. The difficulty of accessing

2204-463: The 4th century CE Chronicles of Huayang by Chang Qu , capitals or administrative centers of Ba included Jiangzhou ( Chongqing ), Dianjiang ( Hechuan District ), and Pingdu ( Fengdu ), with its final capital at Langzhong . During the Warring States period , Qin, Chu and Shu , all more powerful states, shared a common border with Ba. The earliest evidence of human settlement in the region

2280-678: The Ba people may have practised human sacrifice, which Book of the Later Han indicates was made to the white tiger spirit of Lord Lin. Warfare played an important role in Ba society. Their warriors were often employed as mercenaries by other states; they played a role in the defeat of Xiang Yu by Liu Bang (later Emperor Gaozu of Han ), and later served the Han dynasty . Weapons were prevalent in Ba grave goods, some with distinctive curved blades. Other distinctive features of Ba culture are their boat-shaped coffin burials, and they used Ba-style bronze drums ( 錞于 , similar to Đông Sơn drums ), topped with

2356-418: The Chinese versions rhyme while the Bailang versions generally do not. Most modern authors hold that the songs were composed in Chinese and their words translated (where possible) into equivalent Bailang words or phrases, retaining the metrical structure of the Chinese original. This view is disputed by Christopher Beckwith , who claims that the Bailang version shows patterns of assonance and consonance when

Bailang language - Misplaced Pages Continue

2432-531: The Chu capital in 676 or 675 BC. The Zuo Zhuan described the Ba as one of the southern lands loyal to the Zhou. Zhou dynasty seemed to have maintained close relations with the Ba state by granting some of them use of the Royal Surname and marrying Ba wives. In 316 BC, Ba and Chu allied with Qin to invade Shu. However, after the successful conquest of Shu, Qin immediately turned on its two allies and captured

2508-727: The Communists one after another, the Kuomintang government again tried to make Sichuan its stronghold on the mainland, although it already saw some Communist activity since it was one area on the road of the Long March . Chiang Kai-shek himself flew to Chongqing from Taiwan in November 1949 to lead the defense. But the same month Chongqing switched to the Communists, followed by Chengdu on 10 December. The Kuomintang general Wang Sheng wanted to stay behind with his troops to continue

2584-626: The Ju was a state in north central Sichuan, while the Dan were said to live on water, and the Rang were a people from the southeastern part of the Ba state known for their cliff burials. Mentions of a "Ba country" appeared in Shang dynasty oracle bones from the 13th century BC where the king of Shang contemplated attacking the Ba. The state of Ba may have aided the founders of the Zhou dynasty in its overthrow of

2660-615: The Kingdom of Shu-Han as a step on the path to reuniting China. Salt production becomes a major business in Ziliujing District . During the Six Dynasties period of Chinese disunity, Sichuan began to be populated by non- Han ethnic minority peoples, owing to the migration of Gelao people from the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the Sichuan basin. Sichuan came under the firm control of a Chinese central government during

2736-619: The People's Government of Sichuan. However, in the province's dual party-government governing system, the Governor has less power than the Sichuan Communist Party of China's Party Committee Secretary , colloquially termed the "Sichuan CCP Party Chief". Sichuan is the 6th-largest provincial economy of China, the largest in Western China and the second largest among inland provinces after Henan . As of 2021, its nominal GDP

2812-704: The Shang at the Battle of Muye in 1046 BC. However, Ba's first definitive appearance in recorded history occurred in 703 BC; the Zuo Zhuan records that Ba took part in a joint military operation with Chu against Deng . Although Chu sometimes encroached on Ba territory, Ba shared a complex relationship with Chu, with strong trade and marriage ties. Chu also employed many Ba mercenaries as soldiers in its own army. This practice sometimes caused problems for Chu; in one instance, Ba mercenaries employed by Chu rebelled and besieged

2888-434: The Sichuan tea industry to pay for warhorses, but this state intervention eventually brought devastation to the local economy. The line of defense was finally broken through after the first use of firearms in history during the six-year Battle of Xiangyang , which ended in 1273. Allegedly there were a million pieces of unspecified types of skeleton bones belonging to war animals and both Song and Yuan soldiers who perished in

2964-475: The Yangtze at Yibin . There are also a number of other rivers, such as the Jialing River , Tuo River , Yalong River , Wu River , and Jinsha River , and any four of the various rivers are often grouped as the "four rivers" that the name of Sichuan is commonly and mistakenly believed to mean. Due to great differences in terrain, the climate of the province is highly variable. In general, it has strong monsoonal influences, with rainfall heavily concentrated in

3040-417: The anticommunist guerilla war in Sichuan, but was recalled to Taiwan. Many of his soldiers made their way there as well, via Burma . The People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, and it split Sichuan into four areas and separated Chongqing municipality. Sichuan was reconstituted in 1952, with Chongqing added in 1954, while the former Xikang province was split between Tibet in the west and Sichuan in

3116-461: The area into four during the Northern Song dynasty , which were Yizhou , Lizhou , Zizhou , and Kuizhou . The word chuan ( 川 ) here means 'plain', not its typical meaning of 'river' as popularly assumed. In addition to its postal map and Wade–Giles forms, the name has also been irregularly romanized as Szű-chuan and Szechuen . In antiquity, the area of modern Sichuan including

Bailang language - Misplaced Pages Continue

3192-526: The authority of Yangtze Valley emperors over China. In 221, during the partition following the fall of the Eastern Han – the era of the Three Kingdoms – Liu Bei founded the southwest kingdom of Shu Han ( 蜀 漢 ; 221–263) in parts of Sichuan, Guizhou, and Yunnan, with Chengdu as its capital. Shu-Han claimed to be the successor to the Han dynasty. In 263, the Cao Wei of North China conquered

3268-542: The burial ground of the earliest Ba kings. The Ba absorbed other tribes it encountered, such as the Pu ( 濮 ), Zong ( 賨 ), Ju ( 苴 ), Gong ( 龔 ), Nu ( 奴 ), Rang ( 獽 ), Yi ( 夷 ) and Dan ( 蜑 ) tribes, therefore Ba was in reality a confederation of different groups. The Pu for example were a widespread tribe ranging from Henan to Guizhou and referred to as the Hundred Pu ( 百濮 ) due to their variety, and

3344-490: The characters are read in a southwestern variety of Eastern Han Chinese. A vocabulary of some 134 words and phrases has been extracted from the text, including 21 Chinese loanwords. Some 80 of the remaining words have been compared, with varying levels of confidence, to possible Tibeto-Burman cognates. Most authors conclude that Bailang is Lolo-Burmese . However, Coblin argues that some Bailang words appear to be more conservative than reconstructed Proto-Lolo–Burmese, and that it

3420-497: The contemporary Eastern Han Chinese pronunciation as *lioŋ, and reconstructions of the (pre-Han) Old Chinese pronunciation by other scholars differ markedly (see Wiktionary). Beckwith (2008: 106–107) lists the following Bailang words with clear Tibeto-Burman etymologies. Works cited Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China , occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau —between

3496-446: The conventional historiography that the local culture and technology of Sichuan were undeveloped in comparison to the technologically and culturally "advanced" Yellow River valley of north-central China. The rulers of the expansionist state of Qin , based in present-day Gansu and Shaanxi , were the first strategists to realize that the area's military importance matched its commercial and agricultural significance. The Sichuan basin

3572-461: The deportation of Sichuanese civilians to Mongolia occurred in the aftermath of a battle in 1259 when more than 80,000 people were taken captive from one city in Sichuan and moved to Mongolia. The Ming dynasty defeated Ming Yuzhen 's Xia polity which ruled Sichuan. During the Ming dynasty , major architectural works were created in Sichuan. Buddhism remained influential in the region. Bao'en Temple

3648-476: The east. The province was deeply affected by the Great Chinese Famine of 1959–1961, during which period some 9.4 million people (13.07% of the population at the time) died. In 1978, when Deng Xiaoping took power, Sichuan was one of the first provinces to experiment with the market economic enterprise. From 1955 until 1997, Sichuan had been China's most populous province; the population hit

3724-470: The end of the year 2017, the total population is 83.02 million. Sichuan consists of two geographically very distinct parts. The eastern part of the province is mostly within the fertile Sichuan basin (which is shared by Sichuan with Chongqing Municipality). The western Sichuan consists of numerous mountain ranges forming the easternmost part of the Tibetan Plateau , which are known generically as

3800-419: The fighting over the city, although the figure may have been grossly exaggerated. The recorded number of families in Sichuan dropped from 2,640,000 families, as recorded from the census taken in 1162 AD, to 120,000 families in 1282 AD. Possible causes include forced population transfer to nearby areas, evacuation to nearby provinces, census under-reporting or inaccuracy, and war-related deaths. One instance of

3876-423: The figure of a tiger, to communicate in battle. As in other states of ancient China, they made beautiful bronze dings or sacrificial tripods , sometimes with writing on them. The Ba people were known for the musical abilities and gave the Chinese a distinctive dance style and music that was popular for many centuries after the state had ceased to exist. The dance, called Ba Yu (Chinese: 巴渝 , later renamed

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3952-724: The first true paper money in human history ( 交子 ; jiāozǐ ) was issued in Chengdu . It was also during the Song dynasty that the bulk of the native Ba people of eastern Sichuan assimilated into the Han Chinese ethnicity. In the 12th and 13th centuries, the Southern Song dynasty established coordinated defenses against the Mongolian Yuan dynasty , in Sichuan and Xiangyang . The Southern Song state monopolized

4028-399: The last Ba king. The Ba state was extinguished and converted into a Qin commandery. Unlike its management of Shu, Qin allowed the Ba elite to retain direct rule and did not force large-scale migrations of Qin people into Ba territory. The Ba elite would later be marginalized through a policy of divide and rule . As the state of Chu expanded westward up the Han and Yangtze valleys it pushed

4104-533: The majority of which are transported to more developed eastern regions. Sichuan is one of the major industrial centers of China. It was a major recipient of China's investment in industrial capacity during the Third Front campaign. In addition to heavy industries such as coal, energy, iron, and steel, the province has also established a light industrial sector comprising building materials, wood processing, food, and silk processing. Chengdu and Mianyang are

4180-623: The neighboring Huguang Province (modern Hubei and Hunan) and other provinces during the Qing dynasty. Sichuan was originally the origin of the Deng lineage until one of them was hired as an official in Guangdong during the Ming dynasty but during the Qing plan to increase the population in 1671 they came to Sichuan again. In 1904 Deng Xiaoping was born in Sichuan. During the Qing dynasty , Sichuan

4256-416: The northwest, Gansu to the north, Shaanxi to the northeast, Chongqing to the east, Guizhou to the southeast, Yunnan to the south, and the Tibet Autonomous Region to the west. Giant pandas live in bamboo forests and low mountainous areas such as the Minshan Mountains in Sichuan. The majority of the panda population lives in Sichuan, with their range spreading into Shaanxi and Gansu . As it

4332-420: The now separated Chongqing Municipality was known to the Chinese as Ba–Shu , in reference to the ancient state of Ba and the ancient kingdom of Shu that once occupied the Sichuan Basin . Shu continued to be used to refer to the region to the present day; several states formed in the area used the same name, for example, the Shu of the Three Kingdoms period (220–280), and Former Shu and Later Shu of

4408-463: The people of Ba west toward Shu. In the 5th and 4th centuries BCE in Sichuan archaeologists hold that this interaction helped create Ba–Shu culture . The tiger was an important part of Ba mythology, with the white tiger being held in highest esteem. According to legend, the first king of Ba, Lord Lin, transformed into a white tiger upon his death. Artifacts from Ba archaeological sites often employ tiger motifs. Archaeological evidence also suggests

4484-753: The production centers for textiles and electronics products. Deyang , Panzhihua , and Yibin are the production centers for machinery, metallurgical industries, and wine, respectively. Sichuan's wine production accounted for 21.9% of the country's total production in 2000. Great strides have been made in developing Sichuan into a modern hi-tech industrial base, by encouraging both domestic and foreign investments in electronics and information technology (such as software), machinery and metallurgy (including automobiles), hydropower, pharmaceutical, food and beverage industries. Ba (state) Ba ( Chinese : 巴 ; pinyin : Bā ; lit. 'a pictograph for "elephant-eating snake', Old Chinese : *Pˤra )

4560-437: The province's major rivers: the Jialing , Jinsha (or Wu ), Min , and Tuo . According to historical geographer Tan Qixiang , 'four rivers' is an erroneous interpretation of the name. The name of the province is a contraction of the phrases 'Four Plain Circuits ' ( 四川路 ; Sìchuān lù ) and 'Four Circuits of Chuanxia' ( 川峽四路 ; chuānxiásìlù ), referring to the division of the existing imperial administrative circuit in

4636-491: The provincial capital of Chengdu. Official figures recorded a death toll of nearly 70,000 people, and millions of people were left homeless. Sichuan consists of twenty-one prefecture-level divisions : eighteen prefecture-level cities (including a sub-provincial city ) and three autonomous prefectures : The twenty prefectures of Sichuan are subdivided into 183 county-level divisions (53 districts , 17 county-level cities , 109 counties , and 4 autonomous counties ). At

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4712-407: The region overland from the eastern part of China and the foggy climate hindering the accuracy of the Japanese bombing of the Sichuan Basin made the region the stronghold of Chiang Kai-shek 's Kuomintang government during 1938–45 and led to the Bombing of Chongqing . The Second Sino-Japanese War was soon followed by the resumed Chinese Civil War , and the cities of East China are obtained by

4788-466: The resettlement of residents from the reservoir areas of the Three Gorges Dam project. In 1997, when Sichuan split, the sum of the two parts was recorded to be 114,720,000 people. As of 2010, Sichuan ranks as both the 3rd largest (the largest among Chinese provinces with a population greater than 50 million) and 4th most populous province in China. In May 2008, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.9/8.0 hit just 79 km (49 mi) northwest of

4864-410: The second-largest among inland provinces after Henan . As of 2021, its nominal GDP was CN¥5,385 billion (US$ 847.68 billion), ahead of that of Turkey ($ 815 billion). If it were its own country, Sichuan would be the 18th-largest economy and 19th-most populous as of 2021. It is commonly believed that the name Sichuan means 'four rivers '; in folk etymology , this is usually taken to mean four of

4940-424: The south and conquered Sichuan. Upon capturing it, he declared himself emperor of the Daxi dynasty ( 大西王朝 ). In response to the resistance from local elites, he massacred a large number of people in Sichuan, killing around one in three people. As a result of the massacre as well as years of turmoil during the Ming-Qing transition , the population of Sichuan fell sharply, requiring massive resettlement of people from

5016-645: The summer. Under the Köppen climate classification , the Sichuan Basin (including Chengdu ) in the eastern half of the province experiences a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cwa or Cfa ), with long, hot, wet summers and short, mild to cool, dry, and cloudy winters. Consequently, it has China's lowest sunshine totals. The western region has mountainous areas producing a cooler but sunnier climate. Having cool to very cold winters and mild summers, temperatures generally decrease with greater elevation. However, due to its high altitude and its inland location, many areas such as Garze County and Zoige County in Sichuan exhibit

5092-476: The west of Wenshan, a mountain of the Minshan range in the southern part of modern Mao County . According to the oldest extant commentary on the Book of the Later Han , by Li Xian (651–684), the Chinese translation was taken from the Dongguan Hanji , which also included a transcription of the Bailang version in Chinese characters . Only a few fragments of the Dongguan Hanji are extant, but Li included this transcription in his commentary, and another variant

5168-497: Was heavily bombed . It was one of the last mainland areas captured by the People's Liberation Army during the Chinese Civil War , and was divided into four parts from 1949 to 1952, with Chongqing restored two years later. It suffered gravely during the Great Chinese Famine (1959–1961) but remained China's most-populous province until Chongqing was again separated from it in 1997. The Sichuanese people speak distinctive dialects of Mandarin Chinese . The spicy Sichuan pepper

5244-473: Was 5,385 billion yuan (US$ 847.68 billion), ahead of the GDP of Turkey of 815 billion. Compared to a country, it would be the 18th-largest economy as well as the 19th most populous as of 2021. As of 2021, its nominal GDP per capita was 64,357 RMB (US$ 10,120). In 2021, the per capita net income of rural residents was 17,575 yuan (US$ 2760). The per capita disposable income of the urbanites averaged 41,444 yuan (US$ 6510). Sichuan has been historically known as

5320-420: Was absorbed by the Song . During the Song dynasty (960–1279), Sichuanese was able to protect themselves from Tibetan attacks with the help of the central government. There were rebellions against the Song by Li Shun in 994 and Wang Jun in 1000. Sichuan also saw cultural revivals like the great poets Su Xun ( 蘇洵 ), Su Shi , and Su Zhe . Although paper currency was known in the Tang dynasty, in 1023 AD,

5396-410: Was an ancient state in eastern Sichuan , China. Its original capital was Yicheng ( Enshi City ), Hubei . Ba was conquered by Qin in 316 BC. The historical Bo people and the modern Tujia people trace some of their origins back to the people of Ba. Ba, often described as a loose confederation or collection of chiefdoms , consisted of several loosely affiliated independent clans who recognized

5472-526: Was excavated in 1986 at a small village named Sanxingdui in Guanghan , Sichuan. This site, believed to be an ancient city of Shu, was initially discovered by a local farmer in 1929 who found jade and stone artifacts. Excavations by archeologists yielded few significant finds until 1986 when two major sacrificial pits were found with spectacular bronze items as well as artifacts in jade, gold, earthenware, and stone. This and other discoveries in Sichuan contest

5548-544: Was merged with Shaanxi and Shanxi to create "Shenzhuan" during 1680–1731 and 1735–1748. The current borders of Sichuan (which then included Chongqing ) were established in the early 18th century. In the aftermath of the Sino-Nepalese War on China's southwestern border, the Qing gave Sichuan's provincial government direct control over the minority-inhabited areas of Sichuan west of Kangding , which had previously been handled by an amban . A landslide dam on

5624-493: Was subjected to the autonomous control of kings named by the imperial family of the Han dynasty. During the 11 years hiatus between 25 and 36 AD, Sichuan was controlled by the Chengjia Kingdom. Following the declining central government of the Han dynasty in the second century, the Sichuan basin, surrounded by mountains and easily defensible, became a popular place for upstart generals to found kingdoms that challenged

5700-575: Was torn by constant warfare and economic distress as it was besieged by the Tibetan Empire . In the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period , Sichuan became the heart of the Shu kingdom with its capital in Chengdu . In 925, the kingdom was absorbed into Later Tang but would regain independence under Meng Zhixiang who founded Later Shu in 934. Later Shu would continue until 965 when it

5776-415: Was used to decorate weapons found in Ba graves in eastern Sichuan. The second script is found in both western and eastern Sichuan, on weapons, a belt buckle and on the base of a bronze vessel. Some scholars believe this script to be phonetic , pointing to similarities between some of the symbols and symbols of the later Yi script . The third script (possibly also phonetic) is known only from an inscription on

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