Mere China Language   

Fun Chinese Lessons - 10: 

Names and Locations of China's Provinces and Cities: Sichuan

Sichuan literally means "Four Rivers." The character chuan is a good example that illustrates the pictographic origin of the Chinese language. In this case, the three strokes in the character depict flowing water.

As its name indicates, this province, located in Southwest China, is known for the rivers that flow through its land. This is for a good reason: a big part of this province is a basin, surrounded in all directions by mountain ranges and plateaus as high as 12,000 feet above the sea level; it is here, therefore, the major watercourses in the region converge.

The greatest river of Sichuan - indeed that of whole China - is the Yangtze (Yangzi) River. The famous Three Gorges is located at the eastern end of the Sichua basin, where the Yangtze winds its way through a mountainous area, creating a sharp contrast between the rapid flowing water in deep valleys and the towering peaks that rise above the river, almost vertically at some places. The Three Gorges used to be a part of Sichuan, but in the 1990s, in order to facilitate the construction of the Three Gorges Reservoir, the central government of China elevated the status of Chongqing City to that of a province. As result, Chongqing City and Sichuan Province are now two administrative units of equal standing, both answering directly to the central government.

In the West, of course, Sichuan is probably best known for its spicy cuisine.

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