Thursday, October 16, 2008

Aba, Sichuan

Aba City is the main city in Aba County, within the in northwestern Sichuan, China. It is located on the Tibetan plateau at an elevation of 3200 metres. Aba County has 70,000 inhabitants, about 8,000 of them monks. There are 37 monasteries in the area, two of the largest in Aba City itself. There are mainly grasslands and forested valleys in the south.

Culture


Aba County is mainly inhabited by Tibetans. The major festivals are:

*Great Prayer Festival: January 8 to January 15 according to the Tibetan calendar
*Six-Four Festival: June 11 to June 17 according to the Tibetan calendar
*Zachong Festival: September 15 to September 17 according to the lunar calendar
*Horse Race Festival: Middle of July according to the lunar calendar

Transport


Aba County is well connected to many provincial towns and cities. Aba is the biggest transport hub within the prefecture. There are long haul buses heading for Aba from Chengdu City, Mianyang City, Songpan County, Ma'er Kang County, Jinchuan County, Wenchuan County, Hongyuan County, Heishui County and Xiangtang County daily.

Attractions


*Huanglong Valley - scenic spot very close by
*Wolong Nature Reserve - China's largest natural habitat for giant pandas
*Jiuzhaigou - scenic spot
*Miyaluo - scenic spot

Emeishan (city)

Emeishan is a county-level city in Sichuan , People's Republic of China. It is administered by the prefecture-level city Leshan. Its population in 1990 stood at 396,445.

Deyang

Deyang is a prefecture-level city in Sichuan province, China. Deyang is a mostly industrial city, with the Erzhong Heavy Machinery Company (中国二重), Dongfang Electrical Company , and various high-tech industry contributing to its economy. It has a population of around 3,810,000 in 2004 and an area of 5818 km?.

This elegant city is known for a liquor factory called ''jiannanchun'' in the county-level city of Mianzhu and the Sanxingdui museum in Guanhan City about the ancient Shu culture famous for its bronze mask. There is a lake called Jinghu Lake located in the city.

On May 12, 2008, occurred. 17,121 people were killed, 74,063 injured, and 534 still missing in this city as of June 7, 2008. Schools in Mianzhu and Shifang collapsed.

Subdivisions


*Jingyang District
*Shifang City
*Guanghan City
*Mianzhu City
*Luojiang County
*Zhongjiang County

Dazhou

Dazhou is a prefecture-level city in north-eastern Sichuan province.

Geography


Dazhou borders Shaanxi in the north and Chongqing in the south. It is centrally located between the four major cities of Western China, Chongqing, Chengdu, Xi'an and Wuhan. The area is 16,600 km?.

History


Dazhou's history goes back to the Eastern Han Dynasty when in 90 AD it was made a county by the name of Liweizhou . Then until the Liao Dynasty its name was Zaidi . During the Liao and Tang dynasties its name was again changed, this time to Tongzhou . Finally in the Song Dynasty it was given its present name of Dazhou.

Notable people from from Dazhou include the Three Kingdoms writer Chen Shou, Song Dynasty astronomer Zhang Sixun , and and Qing Dynasty philosopher and educator Tang Zhen . Dazhou also made notable contributions to the Communist Revolution. Red army heroes such as Xu Xiangqian , Li Xiannian , Xu Shiyou , Wang Weizhou , and Zhang Aiping were all from or lived in Dazhou.

Administration


It is one of Sichuan's most populous cities with 6,380,000 residents.

District:
*Tongchuan District

Counties:
*Da County
*Dazhu County
*Xuanhan County
*Kaijiang County
*Qu County

City:
*Wanyuan

Economy


Dazhou is an important river and land transportation hub for the region. Numerous national highways, expressways, and rail lines pass through Dazhou connecting it directly with major cities in China such as Chengdu, Xi'an, Wuhan, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Beijing, etc., making it one of Sichuan's important trade centers.

Dazhou has numerous natural resources including large natural gas fields and an abundance of mineral resources such as salt, coal, manganese, lithium, and limestone. Major agricultural products include pork, beef, and tea. Other industries are chemical production, coal power, metallurgy, textiles, building materials, and processed food.

Tourism


Dazhou is blessed with both cultural and natural attractions. There are several national and provincial cultural sites and many national and provincial protected forests and nature reserves. Xuanhan's Baili Gorges have scenery and rapids, leading to the nickname "Little Three Gorges". Mountains are this area's greatest attraction.

Protest of January 2007


Dazhou gained notoriety for the corruption of Dazhu county that caused mass protest in January 2007. The incident involved a 16-year old waitress at the KTV rooms of Laishide Hotel.

Laishide Hotel was a four-star hotel built with investment from local officials and local police, and the sentiment against the hotel among the local populace existed long before the mass protest in January 2007 because of illegal and corrupt activities behind the closed doors of the hotel.

Miss Yang Daili , a 16 years old young girl working at the hotel's karaoke rooms was famed for her beauty and height, 1.70 metres. On December 29, 2006, three high ranking provincial officials went to the Laishide Hotel and asked Miss Yang Daili to have dinner with them, and took her out at the same night. The next morning, Miss Yang Daili was found dead in a suite at the hotel. According to the police report, Miss Yang was drugged and raped, and she suffered brutal torture, including her tongue being cut, teeth broken due to beating, nipples cut off, and privates mutilated.

Miss Yang Daili's family started a protest outside the hotel on January 12, 2007. After they received no explanation from the hotel despite repeated requests, sympathizers and those who resented corruption gathered around the family to show their support. Their number first increased by dozens daily, then by hundreds, and eventually by thousands. The attempt of Laishide Hotel to settle before catching the real killer only increased public outrage even further, because previously, two waitresses and a security guard working at the hotel had been killed and no suspects had been found. The official local governmental news website, however, failed to mention anything on these three previous murders and it once again attempted do the same for the most recent murder.

By the afternoon of January 17, 2007, more than ten thousand protesters had gathered outside the hotel, and as the news of Laishide Hotel offering Miss Yang Daili's family half a million Renminbi to settle before the killers were found, and rejection of the offer by family members reached the crowd, the people finally had had enough. Angry protesters rushed into the hotel, damaged everything inside, and eventually set fire to the hotel. The fire was not put out until five hours later.

As the number of protesters and public outrage increased, the official local government could no longer keep the murder as a secret and was forced to release the police findings on January 18, 2007. However, the official local governmental news release only publicized the police report of the crime scene, and attempted to blame the crime on a male hotel employee named Liu . This action is unanimously viewed by the local populace as an attempt to cover up the involvement of three high ranking governmental officials of provincial level. Government officials were involved in all of the previous three murders that had been kept secret by the local government but were forced into the open due this event. The enraged protesters continued to gather after the fire was put out and clashed with riot police who were sent in.

Bazhong

Bazhong is a prefecture-level city in north-eastern Sichuan province.

Geography


Bazhong borders Shaanxi province in the north and Dazhou City in the south. Its area is 12,301 km?. The area is mountainous with elevations ranging from 208 to 2,507 meters above sea-level.

History


Bazhong was made a city in 1993. Its history, however, goes make much further. During the and Dynasties, it was purportedly a vassal territory of the . In the Spring and Autumn Period, it was called Bazi . In the and dynasties it was called Ba County . In the Eastern Han Dynasty around the year 100 AD it was changed to Hanchang County . One hundred years later it reverted to Baxi County . Since then, it has usually either been called Liang County or Yi County .

Administration


Bazhong has 1 city, 3 counties, 250 township, and 2,355 villages. The population is 3,561,000 with 455,000 of that urban.

City District:
*Bazhong City

Counties:
*
*Nanjiang
*Pingchang

Economy


Tourism


Bazhong has beautiful mountain scenery, waterfalls, forests, and historic landmarks.

Langzhong

Langzhong is a 2300 year old city located in Nanchong, Sichuan province.

The town's perimeter is 1.5 km?. In 1986 the State Council named it a famous and historical town.

Jianyang, Sichuan

Jianyang is a county-level city in Ziyang prefecture in the Sichuan Province, in south central China.

It has an area of 2,215 square kilometers and a population of 1,430,000.

Textile industry


On November 11, 2007, Sinorich and Sanli Holdings, led by the Fapai Group, announced a 2.5 billion yuan investment in the construction of a clothing manufacturing base, the largest in western China. This is the biggest civilian investment in Jianyang City, Sichuan Province to date. This clothing base is expected to generate revenues of around 6 billion yuan for Sichuan Province every year, with an annual tax of 1 billion yuan and provide more than 20,000 jobs. The project will mainly produce Fapai branded clothes. The first phase of construction which has already begun will mainly produce suits, children's clothes, wool sweaters, casual and silk clothes, jeans, under garments, and work wear. About 30 percent of these products will be exported to foreign countries.