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Sichuan

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Sichuan (四川; Sìchuān; also known as Szechwan), is a province in the west of the Southern Central Region of China.

[edit] Regions

[edit] Cities

  • Chengdu - the capital of Sichuan has 2,000 years of history, the southeastern part is encircled by small mountains and to the north east is Chengdu Campagna.
  • Dege - home to an amazing Tibetan library.
  • Ganzi - rough Tibetan town and launching point for exploring local monasteries.
  • Kangding - gateway to western Sichuan's Tibetan region.
  • Langmusi - beautiful Tibetan border town sitting in both Gansu & Sichuan, with two monasteries, horse trekking opportunities and a sky burial site.
  • Leshan - home of the largest stone carved Buddha in the world.
  • Songpan - base camp for exploring Jiuzhaigou Nature Reserve and the Amdo Tibetan culture.
  • Xiangcheng- On the high-road to Yunnan
  • Xinlong
  • Langzhong - ancient town in north-east Sichuan

Chongqing Municipality is administratively separate, but culturally and historically still Sichuanese. See List of Chinese provinces and regions.

[edit] Other destinations

[edit] Understand

Climate - See the climate table on Chengdu page

[edit] Talk

The language of Sichuan is a variant of Mandarin, which differs from standard Mandarin significantly in pronunciation, and uses slang words which are unique to the area. Nevertheless, native speakers of Mandarin will be able to understand the local dialect albeit with some difficulty. Tibetan is still the mother tongue in most of the highland west. Many young people in the western regions are bi-lingual in both Tibetan and Mandarin. Qiangic, native to the Qiang minority group, also native to Sichaun, is to be found in west Sichuan. The vast majority of signage is always in Chinese throughout the province.

[edit] Get in

[edit] Get around

[edit][add listing] See

  • Dacheng Lamo Kerti Gompa - located at Langmusi, temple where traditional Tibetian sky-burials are still practiced
  • Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries

[edit][add listing] Do

[edit][add listing] Eat

Sichuan cuisine is well-known worldwide, including dishes like Kung Pao Chicken (宮保雞丁) and Twice Cooked Pork (回鍋肉). It is also famously spicy, with liberal use of chilies and the indigenous Sichuan pepper (花椒; huājiāo).

One of the other specialty of the area is the Hot Pot (火锅; Huoguo）, cheap but extremely spicy.

[edit][add listing] Drink

[edit][add listing] Sleep

[edit] Stay safe

The province of Sichuan suffered a catastrophic earthquake on May 12, 2008 centered on Wenchuan County, about 100km north of Chengdu city. Many cities were nearly completely destroyed and over 80,000 people are dead or missing with hundreds of thousands more injured or homeless. Government response was fast, but reconstruction will take years.

Many of West Sichuan's main attractions are located at altitudes above 3,000 meters and thus altitude sickness is a threat. Make sure to monitor your own health and take it easy for a day or two if moving from the low lands to higher elevations.

To help combat this sickness, many local Chinese eat medicine known as Hong Jing Tian. These are red capsules that the soldiers of the People's Liberation Army use to help them quickly adjust to altitude conditions in the Western Chinese provinces. Local tour companies will have a ready supply of this medicine if you ask.

There is also tension in Western Sichuan between the Chinese government and the mainly Tibetan people there and travel restrictions may apply to this area. See the warnings under Tibet.

[edit] Get out

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