Travel Guide Chengdu 成都

Chengdu is a capital of the province of Sichuan (大路) and has been an administrative, cultural and scientific center since the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368).HistoryThe city is also one of the oldest capitals in the country: his founder, the king of the kingdom Shu had installed his capital at the time of the Kingdoms (453-221 B.C.) and wanted to make it a «perfect metropolis», hence his name, Chengdu. As perfection should not make this demanding king wait, he would have announced his willingness to make Chengdu «a city in one year, a metropolis in three years.»This splendid city does not stand up to the assault of the Mongols, nor that of the cultural revolution, and Chengdu suffers the same prospect of urbanism as Beijing: destruction of the ramparts of the XIV century and the royal palace replaced by another palace, that of Exhibitions, designed with Soviet aid in the center of the city, dominating the triumphant north-south axis, Renmin Lu.The current agglomeration covers 12,600 km ² and houses a population of 14 million. A crossroads between the Tibetan plateau and the rich plain of Sichuan, the city is composed mostly of Han, but also counts many Tibetans, Hui (Muslims), Mongols, Qiang and Yi (south minorities).An artisanal industry, still alive today, develops under the Han dynasty (the iie century BC in the iie century AP. ): to the wonderful brocade is the work of gold, money and stove.Chengdu is one of the active cradles of Chinese culture. The secular school was born there under the Han of the West, in 170 BC.TodayThe metropolis is still one of China's first cultural centers with 19 academic institutions and an astonishing amount of publishing houses. Unfortunately, unbridled modernization caused the disappearance of most of the traditional neighborhoods that made the city charm. The narrow streets in which tea houses spread were replaced by large avenues lined with glass buildings. And there's a lot to bet that it's just the beginning… But the favorable climate (which tends towards humid subtropical) and the Jinjiang River make it a pleasant city.