Xindu District 新都区

Setting and landscape

The district lies on the western Sichuan plain (川西平原) within the gravity-fed irrigation area of Dujiangyan (都江堰), and has long been known as a grain and oil producing area. The Qingbai River (清白江) runs through the north, the Pi River (毗河) through the south, and a branch canal of the Jinshui River (锦水河) through the middle.

History

Tradition holds that the Kaiming (开明) rulers of Shu built a new capital here around the seventh century BC, naming it to set it apart from the older capital at Pi (郫). The Qin state set up Xindu County in 221 BC. People's Daily calls Xindu one of the "three capitals of ancient Shu" (古蜀三都), with more than 2,800 years as a town. The county became a district of Chengdu with State Council approval in 2001, and the district formally came into being on 1 January 2002.

What to see

Guihu Park (桂湖公园), a classical garden of more than 70 mu, keeps a stretch of Ming-dynasty city wall about 800 m long. It was the study garden of Yang Shen (杨慎), known as Yang Sheng'an, the only Ming top-ranked imperial examination graduate from Sichuan, who grew lotus there; his memorial hall stands in the park. Together as the Yang Sheng'an Shrine and Guihu (杨升庵祠及桂湖) they are a nationally protected heritage site.

Baoguang Temple (宝光寺) was listed as a national key heritage site in 2001. Its 13-tier relic pagoda, first built in the Tang dynasty, leans and is called the "leaning tower of the East"; the Arhat Hall holds 557 figures of bodhisattvas, arhats and patriarchs. Longzang Temple (龙藏寺) is also nationally protected, and Xinfan Donghu (新繁东湖), the East Lake at Xinfan, is a provincial heritage site. Xindu Museum (新都博物馆) holds 1,601 items or sets, 37 of them first-grade relics, including an Eastern Han pottery storyteller figure and Han stone coffins.

Food and local products

Xinfan palm-fibre weaving (新繁棕编) is on the third national list of intangible cultural heritage. Local products include the Xindu pomelo (新都柚), five-spice Jingou dried tofu (五香金钩豆腐干), which won a gold medal at the 1915 international exposition in San Francisco, almond sweet bean paste (杏仁甜豆瓣), Qingliu pressed duck (清流板鸭), Xinfan pickles (新繁泡菜) and Baoguang Chan tea (宝光禅茶).

Getting oriented

The Xi'an–Chengdu high-speed railway stops at Xindu East station and the Baoji–Chengdu railway at Xindu station. Chengdu Metro lines 3 and 5 reach the district, as do the Chengdu–Mianyang section of the Beijing–Kunming expressway and the Chengdu ring expressway.

Highlights

• Guihu Park 桂湖公园: Classical garden with about 800 m of Ming city wall and the memorial hall of Yang Shen.
• Baoguang Temple 宝光寺: National key heritage site since 2001, with a leaning Tang-era relic pagoda and an Arhat Hall of 557 figures.
• Xinfan Donghu 新繁东湖: Provincial heritage site in the Xinfan area.
• Xindu Museum 新都博物馆: 1,601 items or sets, 37 of them first-grade relics.
• Xinfan palm-fibre weaving 新繁棕编: On the third national intangible heritage list.