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1 History

The territory of the province and its vicinity were the cradle of unique local civilizations, which can be dated to at least 15th century BC (i.e. later years of Shang Dynasty). Beginning from 9th century BC10th century BC 9th century BC 8th century BC other centuries) ( 900s BC 890s BC 880s BC 870s BC 860s BC 850s BC 840s BC 830s BC 820s BC 810s BC 800s BC other decades) ( 2nd millennium BC 1st millennium BC 1st millennium AD) Events Kingdom of Kush ( 900 B, Shu (today Chengdu) and Ba (today Chongqing City) emerged as cultural and administrative centres where two rival kingdoms were established.

Shu's existence was unknown until a 19861986 is a common year starting on Wednesday. Events January January 1 Spain and Portugal enter the European Community January 1 Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands and is separated from the Netherlands Antilles. January 9 After losing a pa archaeological discovery at a small village named SanxingduiSanxingdui ( san1 xing1 dui1) is an archaeological site, about 40 kilometres from Chengdu in Sichuan Province, China. The relics found at Sanxingdui astonished archaeologists, since they were in an artistic style that was completely dissimilar from Chines (三星堆 Sān Xing Dui) in Guanghan (廣漢 Guǎng Hàn) CountyOriginally, a county was the land under the jurisdiction of a count (in Great Britain, an earl, though the original earldoms covered larger areas) by reason of that office. The term has since tended to represent a tertiary geographical unit of administrat. Believed to be an ancient city of the Shu Kingdom, the excavations yielded invaluable archaeological information.

Although the Qin Kingdom destroyed the civilizations of Shu and Ba, the government accelerated the technological and agricultural advancements comparable to that of the Huanghe Valley. The Dujiangyan (都江堰 Du Jiāng Yàn) irrigation system, built in 3rd century BC under the inspection of Li Bing (李冰 Lǐ Bing), was the symbol of modernization of that period. Composed of a series of dams, it redirected the flow of Min Jiang, a major tributary of Chang Jiang (The Yangtze River), to fields and relieved the damage of seasonal floods. The construction and various other projects greatly increased the harvest of the area which thus became the main source of provision and men for Qin's unification of China.

Various ores, especially iron, were abundant. Adding to its significance, the area was also on the trade route from Huang He Valley to foreign countries of the southwest, especially India.

Military importance matches the commercial and agricultural values. As the area is actually a basin and is surrounded by the Himalayas to the west, Qinling Range to the north, and mountainous areas of Yunnan to the south, its climate is often heavily foggy. Since Chang Jiang flows through the basin and thus is upstream to areas of eastern China, whoever controlled the area could easily sail navies downstream. Therefore, the area was always the base of numerous ambitious militarians and was the refuge of Chinese governments throughout history. A few independent regimes were founded; the most famous was Shu Han of the Three Kingdoms. The Jin Dynasty first conquered Shu Han on its path of unification. During the Tang Dynasty, it was a front against Tibet. The Southern Song Dynasty established coordinated defense against the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty in Sichuan and Xiangyang, which proved successful as Mongke Khan died of illness in Sichuan. The line of defence was finally broken through after the first use of firearms in history during the six-years siege of Xiangyang. Foggy climate hindered the accuracy of Japanese bombing of the basin and Chongqing where the capital of Republic of China had moved to during World War II.

Sichuan's borders have remained relatively constant for the past 500 years. This changed in 1997 when the city of Chongqing as well as the surrounding towns of Fuling and Wanxian were formed into the new Chongqing Municipality. The new municipality was formed to spearhead China's effort to develop its western regions as well as to coordinate the resettlement of refugees from the Three Gorges Dam project.