With it's long history of over 2,300 years, Chengdu was proclaimed one of the 24 cultural and historical cities by the State Council at the first batch. Early in the 4th century BC, Kaiming IX, king of ancient Shu, moved the capital from Guangdu Fanxiang (now called Shuangliu) to Chengdu.
In 311 B.C, people of Qin Dynasty (221 BC-208 BC) built a protective wall around Chengdu city according to the construction standard practiced in Xianyang, capital of Qin Dynasty. Thus, the wall was erected with a height of 3.5 meters and a perimeter of 6 kilometers, marking the beginning of Chengdu City.
Through the history, Chengdu was a city densely covered by rivers and dotted with bridges, while trees grew in profusion and flowers bloomed all year around. No wonder that a traveler from France in the 19th century praised Chengdu as Oriental Paris. Over 2,000 years, Chengdu has remained a city of military importance in Southwest China on politics, economy and military affairs.
During the Eight-year Anti-Japanese War (1937-1945), many associations, societies and celebrities moved to Chengdu, added later by another 27 colleges and Universities, thus making Chengdu a cultural center at that time. Between 1945 and 1949, with the liberation in Southwest China, many cadres came to Sichuan from all over China. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, when three important railways were under construction in Southwest China, a large number of professionals and other technicians were transferred into Chengdu to offer help.
Todays, Chengdu is a railroad hub in South-west China, and has convenient highway and air transport. Chengdu is now the center of science and technology, commerce, finance as well as communication and transport in Southwest China.
