Chengdu

History

How the city came to be

Chengdu's city history runs over two thousand three hundred years. The Kaiming dynasty of ancient Shu moved its capital here, naming it Chengdu from the saying "in one year a settlement, in two years a town, in three years a capital (chengdu)". After the Qin conquered Shu it set up Shu Commandery, and Li Bing, as governor, built Dujiangyan, making the Chengdu Plain the "Land of Abundance". In the Han, Chengdu's brocade (Shu jin) ranked it among the five great metropolises; in the Tang it shared the glory of "Yang first, Yi second". In the Five Dynasties, Meng Chang of Later Shu planted hibiscus all along the city walls, giving Chengdu its alias "City of Hibiscus". In the Northern Song, Chengdu's jiaozi was born — one of the world's earliest paper currencies. In modern times Chengdu has been the capital of Sichuan and a key city of the southwest; more than three million Sichuan soldiers went out to fight in the War of Resistance. Today Chengdu is known for its park-city programme and leisure culture, and has hosted the Universiade and the World Games in succession.

1. c. 5th century BCThe Kaiming dynasty of ancient Shu moved its capital to Chengdu; the name "Chengdu" arose
2. 256 BCLi Bing and his son presided over the building of Dujiangyan
3. Han dynastyChengdu ranked with Luoyang, Handan and others as one of the "five capitals"; Shu brocade was famous across the realm
4. 1023The Northern Song set up the Yizhou Jiaozi Office in Chengdu, issuing the world's earliest official jiaozi paper money
5. 759Du Fu arrived in Shu and built his thatched cottage beside Huanhua Stream
6. Ming–QingAfter the great migrations into Sichuan, Chengdu became the commercial and cultural centre of the southwest
7. 1949Chengdu was liberated on 27 December
8. 2007Chengdu was approved as a National Comprehensive Reform Pilot Zone for coordinated urban–rural development; rural tourism such as the "Three Saints Flower Village" rose