Chengdu - History

History

The archaeological excavations in Sanxingdui-Jinsha Ruins demonstrate Chengdu's importance as a gathering place for ancient peoples for at least four thousand years. More than three thousand years ago, during the period of Shang and Zhou dynasties, it became the center of Shu culture. Two thousand and three hundred years ago, Kaiming IX, the king of ancient Shu, established the location as a capital city called Chengdu (literally means 'becoming capital') after the Chinese saying "It takes one year to form a community, two years to form a town, and three years to form a capital". Over time, Chengdu became the capital of six separatist feudal reigns. Chengdu is the only major city in China to have remained in the same location with the same name for more than 2000 years.

As a central city for at least 2000 years, Chengdu’s influence has gradually expanded from the Sichuan basin to Western China. At its height, Chengdu was once named "One of the Five Metropolis" in China and was equally famous with Yangzhou in history. During the Three-Kingdom period, Zhuge Liang, the prime minister of Shu kingdom, called Chengdu "the land of abundance". Li Bai, the famous poet during the Tang Dynasty, eulogized the city as "Chengdu lies above empyrean". Su Shi, the eminent writer during the Song Dynasty, hailed Chengdu as "the southwestern metropolis". In the Eastern Han Dynasty, brocade production was advanced here, giving Chengdu the name "the brocade city". During the Latter Shu Kingdom, it got the name "the hibiscus city" since hibiscus trees were planted throughout the city walls, quite a site during their yearly blossom.

In the early 4th century BC, the 9th king of the state of Shu moved his capital to the city's current location from today's nearby Pixian. The Song Dynasty geographical work Tai Ping Huan Yu Ji states that the king was inspired by King Tai of Zhou's statement that a settlement needed "one year to become a town; two years to become a capital." Following this, the king named the new city Cheng Du: literally, "become the capital". There are, however, several versions of why the capital was moved to Chengdu, and more recent theories of the name's origin point to it as stemming from, or referring to, earlier non-Han inhabitants and/or their languages.

After the conquest of Shu by the State of Qin in 316 BC, a new city was founded by the Qin general Zhang Yi (who as a matter of fact had argued against the invasion). This can be seen as the beginning of the Chinese Chengdu.

During the partition following the fall of the Eastern Han Dynasty, i.e. the era of the Three Kingdoms, Liu Bei founded the southwest kingdom of Shu-Han (蜀汉; 221-263) with Chengdu as its capital.

During the Tang Dynasty, both the "Poet God" Li Bаí (李白) and the "Poet Sage" Dù Fǔ (杜甫) spent some part of their lives in Chengdu. Du Fu constructed the celebrated "Caotáng" (thatched cottage or grass-hut) in the second year of his four-years stay (759-762). But today's Caotang, a rather sumptuous house in the traditional style, was only constructed in 1078 in memory of Du Fu. As early as the Tang dynasty more than 1,200 years ago, Chengdu became one of the foremost commercial cities in China, second only to Yangzhou.

Chengdu was also the birthplace of the first widely used paper money in the world (Northern Song Dynasty, around 960 AD). The Qingyang Gong Taoist temple was built in Chengdu in the 9th century, meaning "Green Goat".

At around the end of the Song Dynasty, a rebel leader set up the capital of a short-lived kingdom in Chengdu, called Dàshu (大蜀). In the 13th century, Marco Polo wrote about several bridges in China and the Anshun Bridge (or an earlier version of it) in Chengdu was one of them. He referred to Chengdu as "Sindafu" ("Cheng-Tu_Fu") as the capital of the province of the same name.

In 1279 the Mongols sacked Chengdu, killing 1.4 million inhabitants in the process. In 1644, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, another rebel leader, Zhang Xianzhong, established a short-lived Daxi (大西) Dynasty in Sichuan with Chengdu, which he renamed Xijing (西京, Western Capital), as the capital. Zhang was said to have massacred large number of people in Sichuan with Chengdu reduced to a virtual ghost town frequented by tigers, and resulted in the resettlement of millions of people from other provinces during the Qing Dynasty.

During the Second World War the Kuomintang (KMT, Chinese Nationalist Party) government under Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek fled to Sichuan province to escape the invading Japanese forces. They brought with them businesspeople, workers and academics, who founded many of the industries and cultural institutions which continue to make Chengdu an important center.

In 1944 the American XX Bomber Command launched Operation Matterhorn, an ambitious plan to base B-29 Superfortresses in Chengdu and strategically bomb the Japanese Home Islands. Because the operation required a massive airlift of fuel and supplies over the Himalayas, it was not a significant military success, but it did earn Chengdu the distinction of launching the first serious retaliation against the Japanese homeland.

During the Chinese Civil War, Chengdu was the last city on the Chinese mainland to be held by the Kuomintang-controlled government. R.O.C. President Chiang Kai-shek and his son Chiang Ching-kuo directed the defence of the city from Chengdu Central Military Academy until 1949, when the city fell into Communist hands. The People's Liberation Army took the city without any fights after a deal was negotiated between the People's Liberation Army and the commander of the KMT Army guarding the city. On December 10 and the remnants of the Nationalist Chinese government fled to Taiwan.

The industrial base is very broad, including light and heavy manufacturing, aluminum smelting and chemicals. The textile industry remains important, with cotton and wool milling added to the traditional manufacturing of silk brocade and satin.

Chengdu is the headquarters of the Chengdu Military Region.

On May 12, 2008, a magnitude 8.0 earthquake struck causing damage to the area, killing about 80,000 people and injuring 26,413 as of May 12, 2008. 4,021 of the casualties and most of the property damage were from Dujiangyan and Pengzhou, two cities within the administration of Chengdu, the sub-provincial city. Chengdu did not suffer any discernible damage. The reason why many people died in the surrounding areas had to do with poor construction. Though only 75 kilometers (47 mi) from the epicenter, Chengdu itself was built to earthquake specification, and most buildings there remained intact.