Leshan da fo Flickr feet-head modified.jpg

Leshan, formerly known as Jiading or Jiazhou, is a prefecture-level city located at the confluence of the Dadu and Min rivers in Sichuan Province, China. Leshan is located on the southwestern fringe of the Sichuan Basin in southern Sichuan, about from Chengdu.Leshan is an important industrial city in Sichuan, a regional center city in the south of Chengdu Economic Zone, an important hub city, an important transportation node and a port city in Chengdu-Chongqing.As of the 2020 census, its population was 3,160,168, of whom 1,236,188 lived in the built-up (''or metro'') area made of Shizhong, Wutongqiao, Shawan and Jinkouhe districts.

Leshan is a famous historical and cultural city with the reputation of "Begonia Fragrance Country". It is the first open-door city, model green city, excellent tourist city, national garden city and national health city. Leshan has three world-class heritage sites - world natural and cultural heritage Emei Mountain and Leshan Buddha, world irrigation project heritage Dongfengyan and so on.

History

The area of present day Leshan was the seat of historical Jiading city, which the historical Jiading city covered not entirely the same area with modern day Leshan city. Some of the area of Leshan county, was ceded to Emeishan city in 1958. In 1978, Leshan as a county-level city was formed. In 1985, the Leshan prefecture-level city was formed, which Emeishan and other county level cities were under the administration of Leshan. Before 1978, Leshan county-level city had Shizhong (means ''city centre''), Wutongqiao (literally ''5-"tong"-bridge'') and Shawan (literally ''sand bay'') three districts. The establishment of Leshan prefecture-level city, also saw the disestablishment of Leshan ''Dìqū'', an administrative area that supervisee Leshan, as well as other county-level cities and counties.

Xinchang town, Jiading city, was known for late Qing uprising against the government.

Culture

Tourist attractions

In 1996, the Mount Emei Scenic Area, including the Leshan Giant Buddha, the largest stone-carved buddha in the world, which was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Next door to the Leshan Giant Buddha is the Oriental Buddha Park, a privately run cultural theme park, featuring thousands of reproductions of Buddha statues and Buddhist themed carvings.

Mount Emei is located within the county-level city of Emeishan, which is under the administrative jurisdiction of Leshan.

The ancestral home of Chinese writer, academic and politician Guo Moruo is preserved in the Shawan District of Leshan.

Dialect

The Leshan dialect, part of the Southern linguistic system, is very different from the dialects of other cities in the province of Sichuan, which belong to the Northern system. Some researchers say the pronunciation of Leshan dialect represents an archaic form of Chinese pronunciation.

Food

Falling into the Sichuan cuisine family, Leshan is noted for its food culture in that it has all the street food from its surrounding areas, which has made it the one-stop street food city. Typical specialties include:
*Malatang () - Hot and spicy soup
*Boboji () - Bobo chicken
*Shaokao () - Street barbecue
*Qianwei Baobing () - Qianwei Pancakes
*Doufunao () - Leshan Style DouFu Soup
*Tianpiya () - Sweet-Skinned Duck
*Qiaojiao Niurou () Leshan Style Beef Hotpot
*Xiba Doufu () Xiba Tofu
* Mi Liang Gao () - A snack made with rice

Transport

There are Chengdu–Mianyang–Leshan intercity railway and Chengdu–Guiyang high-speed railway serving Leshan.

The Chengdu-Leshan Freeway with a total length of 160 kilometers, was finished on January 14, 2000. This Freeway has since become very important to the city's development.

Education

Leshan Normal University () and Leshan Vocational & Technical College () are two government-fund colleges in the city.

The Engineering&Technical College of Chengdu University of Technology () is a non-government college, which was established in 2003.

Administrative divisions

Geography and climate

Leshan City is located in central Sichuan Province, southwest of the Sichuan Basin. Meishan borders on the north, Zigong and Yibin in the east, Liangshan in the south, and Ya'an in the west.Leshan city is located in the transition zone from Sichuan basin to southwest mountainous area, the overall trend is high in southwest, low in northeast, with wide difference in height.Landforms are mountainous, hilly, Pingba three types, mainly mountainous.

Leshan has a monsoon-influenced humid subtropical climate ( Köppen ''Cwa'') and is largely mild and humid. Winter is short, mild and dry, with a January average of , and while frost may occur, snow is rare. Summers are long, hot and humid, with highs often exceeding , yet extended heat waves are rare. The daily average in July and August is around . Rainfall is light in winter and can be heavy in summer, and more than 70% of the annual total occurs from June to September.

Water resources

Leshan City borders on numerous rivers, with Minjiang River, Dadu River, Qing Yi River and many small and medium-sized rivers, is a water-rich area.

Gallery

File:JPG 3726.JPG, Night view
File:烏尤寺內.jpg, Buddhist temple
File:Leshan Buddha Statue View.JPG, The Leshan Giant Buddha
File:Leshan China Buddhist-Monk-01.jpg, Buddhist Monk in Leshan
Image:Lingbao Pagoda1.jpg, Lingbao Pagoda

Sister cities

* Hervey Bay, Queensland, Australia
* Gilbert, Arizona, United States
* Ichikawa, Chiba, Japan, established due to Leshan native Guo Moruo residing there for 10 years with his wife, Sato Tomiko.City of Ichikawa
Leshan City

Notable person

* Dylan Wang
* Guo Moruo
*Zheng Shaoxiong
* Ding Youjun
*Huang shanglian

See also

* 1786 Kangding-Luding earthquake

Notes

References

External links

*
Official Government Website

{{Authority control

Cities in Sichuan
Prefecture-level divisions of Sichuan