Chengdu (the brocade city or the hibiscus city) has a long history. As early of 2,500 years ago, the Shu Kingdom in the Spring and Autumn period (770-476 BC) made Chengdu its capital. (the excavations of both Shaxingdui and Jinsha Ruins prove that rulers of the ancient Shu Kingdom established its political and cultural centre in Chengdu more than 3,000 years ago) Since then, Chengdu has been the capital of six kingdoms and has been the political, economic and cultural centre in Sichuan Province.

In 256 BC, Sichuan Governor Li Bing built Dujiangyan Irrigation Project.

Thanks to the project, the Chengdu Plain bid farewell to droughts and floods and became one of China's most fertile agricultural bases. It has been known as the "land of abundance" for more than 2 millenniums now because of its rich supply of farm produce.

The city is located in 30.05 to 31.26 degrees latitude north and 102.54 to 104.53 degrees longitude east. It is typical of a sub-tropical humid monsoon climate. The annual average temperature in Chengdu is 15. 5'C and the average precipitation is 997 millimetres. Its terrain slopes from northwest to southeast. Plains, hills and mountains account for 40.30 and 30 per cent of the total area respectively. Its average elevation is 500 metres. The highest point is 5,364 metres and the lowest being 387 metres. More than 40 rivers including the Minjiang River dJ~ U and the Tuojiang River run across the city with a water volume of 26.4 billion cubic metres.

Chengdu was one of the first 24 famous historical and cultural cities of China in 1982. The city has 7 districts, 4 county-level cities and eight counties in its jurisdiction, encompassing 11,936 square kilometres with a population of 10.04 million, of whom 3.3 million living i~ the city. The eastern part of the city is the industrial quarter, home to the city's major large enterprises. The southern part is the research and education quarter, home to key higher education institutes, scientific research institutions and the Chengdu High-tech Development Zone. The western part is the trading and entertainment luarter, the northern part is the processing quarter, and the downtown area is the centre of politics, culture and finance.

Chengdu has developed industries and is an important industrial base in southwest China. Its major industries include electronics, machinery, foods, metallurgy, chemicals, textiles and construction. The city is also southwest China's powerhouse in terms of high-tech industries such as electronic information, biological pharmaceuticals, new materials, integration of photomechanic-electronic technologies, and environmental protection technologies.

Shu (Sichuan) embroidery together with Xiang (Hunan) embroidery , Yue (Guangdong) embroidery and Su (Suzhou) embroidery are reputed as the four most famous embroideries in China.

Shuangliu International Airport in Chengdu is one of the six biggest airports in China and a transport hub in the country's western areas. There are over 260 international and domestic routes. The city is one of the seven largest telecommunications switching centres in China.

During the past few decades, the city has formed a transportation network consisting of good roads, railways and airplanes. The Chengdu-Kunming, Baoji-Chengdu, Chengdu-Chongqing and Chengdu-Daxian railways converge in the city. The completion of the Nanning-Kunming Railway has made Chengdu accessible to the seaports in South China.

There are 22 colleges and universities, and more than 540,000 technicians available in the city.

Information technologies, engineering, medicine and food have become pillar industries in Chengdu.

Chengdu is also a famous tourist city. It has two State-level, seven provincial and two city-level scenic spots, three State-level and two provinciallevel forest parks, one state-level and two provincial-level natural reserves.

Du Fu Thatched Cottage

Du Fu Thatched Cottage is located in the western suburbs of Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province. Du Fu (712-770), one of the greatest Tang-dynasty poets, was born into a minor official's family in Gongxian County, Henan Province. He was studious from his childhood and acquired a wide range of knowledge. Concerning about events and the situation around him, he travelled extensively in China in his youth, and finally settled down in Chang'an (former name for Xi'an), capital of the Tang Dynasty at the time. In 759, when he was 47, he was compelled by poverty and misfortunes to move from Chang'an to the outskirts of Chengdu, Sichuan Province. Of his 1,400 extant poems, more than 240 were written during the nearly four years he lived in this humble cottage. The Tang Dynasty was on the decline in Du Fu's time. Violent social upheavals plunged him into the ranks of the suffering, a plight that gave him profound understanding of the times. A sizable proportion of his voluminous poetry reflects the misery of the people and his enlightened views toward it. One stormy night, a gale tore the roof off his thatched cottage. This prompted him to think of the many labouring people, who likely had no roof over their heads, and Du Fu expressed his wish in a poem that the people should have decent housing. The profound social content and high artistic level of Du Fu's poetry are the basis of his reputation among the Tang-dynasty poets.

At the cottage where Du Fu resided is an impressive life-size statue of the poet with one hand pensively stroking his beard. Outside, across a small bridge and up some steps is Du Fu's Memorial Hall. On show here are steles, stone tablets, and clay sculptures of the poet done as early as the 14 th century. Displayed in his study at the back of the cottage are over 150 copies of various editions of his poems, including woodblock-printed texts, hand-written copies from past dynasties, editions published after the new China was founded, and also translated versions in English, French, Russian, Japanese and 11 other languages. There are also a collection of 2, 700 biographies, booklets and literary commentary on his life, and his poems published in Chinese and other languages. The more than thousand books and paintings exhibited in Du Fu thatched cottage reflect his contribution to the enrichment of Chinese and world literature.

The humble cottage is now surrounded by a 20-hectare (50 acres) garden with more than thirty varieties of plum trees besides magnolias, crabapples, camellias, azalea, laurel, and other flowers and plants. The flowers in the garden are in bloom throughout the four seasons, scenting the air with their fragrance.

Du Fu Thatched Cottage Museum

The museum is the sacred land of poetry and a national treasure. It is dedicated to one of China's greatest poets, and is also a great place to relax. Encompassing-16 hectares (39.5 acres), the museum boasts different flowers in different seasons.- Even in the coldest winters, its evergreen bamboo groves give a hint of spring. An archaeological discovery is currently arousing the attention of both the public and academics. On October 14, 2001, 14 workers repairing drainage pipes near the museum's main entrance, found a pit believed to have been used from the Tang Dynasty. In the following weeks, museum employees excavated more than 30 ceramic articles and building components of the Tang Dynasty. Since then, archaeologists from the Chengdu Relics and Archaeological Institute have worked on the site, and have found plenty of ceramic utensils of the Tang Dynasty. Of these utensils 106 are intact, including bowls, trays, basins, jars, vases, Cups, chess pieces, pottery balls, tiles, eaves titles, bricks iron, copper and stone ware. The eaves tiles and bricks display exquisite designs of animals· and flowers, while some ceramic utensils have characters. Near the bottom of the pit, archaeologists found rotten pieces of lacquer ware. On one piece are two vermilion characters the size of about 1. 5 square centimetres. The words look like huanhua, or flower bathing in Chinese. The large number of relics unearthed at the site has added more authenticity to the museum. Although Chengdu boasts a history of more than 2,500 years, the discovery of the Tang relics-daily utensils in this case-is still considered a rare find in the city. In addition to Tang relics, archaeologists have also unearthed the pedestal of a stone baldachin weighing 1.5 tons. It has a length of one metre, a width of 60 centimetres and a height of 80 centimetres. The pedestal dates back to the Ming Dynasty. The leg of porcelain incense burner, which was among relics used by later generations ,appears to be unique because it has the design of a human face resembling that of a bronze human mask, unearthed in the Sanxingdui Ruins, 40 kilometres from Chengdu. At the Du Fu Thatched Cottage Museum, archaeologists found that the ancient Chinese people of different dynasties have left traces of their existence at the museum site. More than 1,000 years ago, the ancients in the Tang Dynasty buried the utensils in the lower layer of the site and later on, people of the Ming and Qing dynasties between the 14 th and 19 th centuries piled up their own essentials upon the Tang construction. Fortunately, very little damage has been done to the two boundaries, which showed that people of different dynasties took care to protect Du Fu's former residence as the sacred place of Chinese literature.

The Temple of Zhuge Liang

Encompassing 37,000 square metres, the Temple of Zhuge Liang is located in the southern suburbs of Chengdu, enclosed by red walls where there are spacious buildings shaded by towering old cypresses. Typical of ancient Chinese architecture, these from the temple dedicated to the memory of Zhuge Liang (181-234), the Chinese famous statesman and strategist of the 3rd century who personified wisdom in Chinese legends. By helping to establish the State of Shu (221 c 263) and serving as its Prime Minister, he contributed to the unification of southwest China and so to its economic and cultural development. It contains also the tomb of Liu Bei (161-223, reigned 221223), the first ruler of the State of Shu. Tourists will find statues of Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang as well as a multitude of steles, wooden inscriptions placed on lintels, charcoal braziers, bronze tripod vessels, bells, and a drum used by Zhuge Liang in battle. These articles are important in studying the history of the State of Shu.

Wangjiang (Overlooking the River) Tower Park

The 12-hectare (29. 6-acre) park lies east of the Zhuge Liang Memorial Temple and beyond the campuses of Southwest China Institute for Nationalities, Sichuan University and other institutions of higher learning. The Tang-dynasty poetess Xue Tao (? -c.834) lived here and is said to have used water from a well that has remained to this day for making the darkred paper she wrote her poetry on. This paper, called "Xue Tao Paper ," became very popular.

A path lined with green bamboo leads to the ancient overlooking tower.

Both the flowers and bamboo in the park flourish in great variety. The bamboo includes every valuable species native to Sichuan Province and more than 30 kinds from South China and Japan. Some species have thick foliage, others have nodes at the roots, while one species has straight slender leaves, resembling the tail of the legendary phoenix. Every path here is shaded with bamboo, and every pavilion surrounded by groves of it. The very rays of sunlight that filter through the bamboo seem to be tinted green.