Get to know Qingyang District

The entrance to Qingyang Palace in Qingyang District, Chengdu. Photograph date recorded by the source: 21 June 2006 (according to Exif data). · No machine-readable author provided. Dice~commonswiki assumed (based on copyright claims). · CC BY-SA 3.0
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Administrative area: District · 市辖区
Part of: Chengdu
Chinese name: 青羊区
Local areas: District guide

Area & population

Area in the source: 67.78 km²
Population · 2020 census: 955,954
Administrative seat: Caoshijie Subdistrict

Source: cited geographic source, as of the dates shown.

History

Formerly called the Western City District (西城区), Qingyang contains close to three-fifths of the walled city of old Chengdu. The core of the palace of the Tang and Ming princes of Shu, known as the Imperial City (皇城), lay where the Sichuan Science and Technology Museum (四川科技馆) now stands. In the Qing dynasty the Eight Banners garrison lived in the Manchu City, or Shaocheng (少城), between today's Tongren Road (同仁路) and Dongchenggen Street (东城根街). China Police Network reported that the district holds nearly 70 per cent of the museum and heritage resources of central Chengdu.

What to see

The Jinsha Site (金沙遗址), found in February 2001 beside the Modi River (摸底河), is a Bronze Age site of more than 5 square kilometres dated to roughly 1250–650 BC and a national protected site since 2006. The Jinsha Site Museum (金沙遗址博物馆), built on it in 2007, shows the excavated sacrificial area; its finds include a gold mask and the Sun and Immortal Birds gold ornament, now the emblem of Chinese cultural heritage.

Du Fu Thatched Cottage (杜甫草堂) marks the spot by the Huanhua Stream (浣花溪) where the Tang poet Du Fu (杜甫), arriving in 759, built a cottage and wrote more than 240 poems in about four years. Most of its buildings date from rebuilding in 1500 and 1811, and a five-bay thatched house was reconstructed in 1997. Qingyang Palace, beside the Jin River (锦江), was rebuilt between 1667 and 1671; two bronze goats stand before its Hall of the Three Pure Ones (三清殿), and the one-horned goat combines features of all twelve zodiac animals.

Kuanzhai Xiangzi (宽窄巷子) is three parallel old lanes, Wide Lane, Narrow Lane and Well Lane, in the former Banner quarter; redeveloped from 2007, the area formally opened on 14 June 2008. Wenshu Monastery (文殊院), People's Park (人民公园) and Baihuatan Park (百花潭公园) are also in the district.

Getting oriented

Chengdu West railway station (成都西站), the starting point of the Chengdu–Ya'an railway, is in the district, and Chengdu Metro lines 1, 2, 4 and 7 all pass through it. The Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, Chengdu Library and the Guanghua campus of Southwestern University of Finance and Economics are also here.

Highlights

Jinsha Site Museum 金沙遗址博物馆: Built in 2007 over the Bronze Age Jinsha site, showing its sacrificial area and gold finds.
Du Fu Thatched Cottage 杜甫草堂: Where Du Fu built a cottage on the Huanhua Stream after arriving in 759; national protected site since 1961.
Qingyang Palace 青羊宫: Taoist temple rebuilt in 1667–1671 that gives the district its name, with two bronze goats.
Kuanzhai Xiangzi 宽窄巷子: Three old lanes of the Qing Banner quarter, formally opened in 2008 after redevelopment.
Wenshu Monastery 文殊院: Sichuan provincial protected site in the district.