- Sichuan Province

Population: 103.2 million

Urban population: 28.2 million

Nationalities: Han, Yi, Tibetan, Miao, Hui, and Qiang.

Area: 560,000 square kilometers

Altitude: 300 - 700 meters in the lowlands; over 3,000 meters on the western plateau.

Climatic features: Subtropical, humid, monsoonal climate in the eastern lowlands with frequent fog; temperate-subtropical highland climate in the west, with intense sunlight but low temperatures.

Average temperature: in January, 3 - 8 C in the lowlands, -9 to -3 C on the plateau, and 8 - 13 C in the south; in July, 25 - 29 C in the lowlands, 11 - 17 C on the plateau, and 22 - 26 C in the south.

Annual Average Rainfall: 1,000 mm in the lowlands, 500 - 700 mm on the plateau, and 800 - 1,200 mm in the south.

Physical features: Basin in the east, plateau in the west, mountain in the central south, highland swamps in the central north. Known as the Sichuan Basin, the eastern lowlands are closed off by mountains and plateaus on all sides. The drainage basin is crossed by the Yangtze River and is rich with red soil.

Mountains: Minshan, Longmen, Micang, and Daba Mountains in the north; Wushan mountain in the east; Shaluli, Qionglai, and Daxue Mountains in the west.

Rivers: The Yangtze River flows along Sichuan's western and southern borders, with the southern segment called the Jinsha River. The Yangtze traverses the Sichuan Basin and is joined by several tributaries, the major ones being the Minjiang-Dadu, Tuojiang, and Jialing Rivers; on the plateau it meets another tributary, the Yalong River.

Plateau: The western Sichuan Plateau is an eastern extension of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Products: Rice, corn, sweet potatoes, wheat, sorghum, rapeseed, sugar cane, peanuts, tea; ramie, silk cocoons, cotton, jute, ambary hemp; sun-cured tobacco; tung oil, camphor, Chinese tallow tree, raw lacquer, white wax; silver fungus, bulb of fritillary, bamboo; oranges, tangerines, pears, yangtao, lychees, longans, banans,; iron, coal, manganese, natural gas, petroleum, salt, alluvial gold, copper, nickel, phosphorus, sulphur, mica.

Administrative divisions: 3 autonomous prefectures, 19 cities, 165 counties, 8 autonomous counties, and 1 industrial-agricultural district.

Capital: Chengdu

Neighboring Areas: Qinghai, Gansu, Shaanxi, Hubei, Hunan, Guizhou, and Yunnan Provinces; Tibet Autonomous Region.

Major Cities: Chengdu, Chongqing, Dukou, Zigong, Yibin, Neijinag, Wanxian, Nanchong, Leshan, Luzhou, Xichang

Source: Atlas of the Peoples Republic of China, Beijing, 1989.

Last modified: Tuesday, December 16, 2003