The Chinese often refer to Sichuan as the Heavenly Kingdom(Tianfu Zhiguo),a reference to the province s abundance in natural resources and cultural heritage.Its name ,Four Rivers,refers tjo four of the more than 80 mighty rivers spilling across the Chuanxi plain in the east.
Sichuan is the largest province in the south-west, with a population displaying as much diversity as its landscape.While the east supports one of the densest rural populaion in the world, the west rises in giant steps to the Tibetan plateau, where green tea becomes butter tea and Confucianism yields to Buddhism.These windswept grasslands and deep forests are home to the Qiang and Tibetans.
Sichuans mountainous terrain and fast rivers have kept it relatively isolated until the present era, with much of the western fringe still fairly remote.Such inaccessibility has given Sichuan its own food,dialect and character and made it the site of various breakaway kingdoms throughout Chinese history.It was here that the Kingdom of Shu ruled as an independent state during the Three Kingdoms Period(AD 220-80) and the Kuomintang Party spent its last days before being vanquished and fleeing to Taiwan.The latest breakaway region is Chongqing,which split from Sichuan in March 1997.
Sichuan became famous during the Warring States period(475-221 BC),when a famed engineer,Li Bing,managed to harness Du He on the Chuanxi plain with his weir systerm, allowing Sichuan some 2200 continuous years of irrigation and prosperity.
Today the province continues to get rich,having palyed an active role in Chinas labouring economic reforms-most specifically as the site where the Communist Party first instituted its pioneering agriculture reforms.
Worlds away from the scenes of urban renewal and economic reform,the remote mountains of Sichuan,bordering Gansu and Qinghai provinces,are the natural habitat of the giant panda.This shy animal is the one that Westerners are quick to associate with China,landing it a new job as little ambassador for the Chiese goverment.