Editing Sichuan (section)

==History==

===Prehistory===
The [[Sichuan Basin]] and adjacent areas of the [[Yangtze]] watershed were a cradle of indigenous civilizations dating back to at least the 15th century&nbsp;BC, coinciding with the [[Shang dynasty|Shang]] in northern China. The region had its own distinct religious beliefs and worldview. The earliest excavated culture found therein is the [[Baodun culture]] ({{circa}}2700–1750 BC) excavated in the [[Chengdu Plain]].<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I3XG3H_WlM8C&pg=PT164 |title=A Companion to Chinese Archaeology |editor=Anne P. Underhill |chapter=Chapter 7: The Sichuan Basin Neolithic – The Baodun Culture |isbn=978-1-118-32578-0 |publisher=Wiley |year=2013 |access-date=16 January 2019 |archive-date=14 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200114001150/https://books.google.com/books?id=I3XG3H_WlM8C&pg=PT164 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RcH7PLTz3OIC&pg=PA74 |title=Ancient Central China: Centers and Peripheries Along the Yangzi River |author=Rowan K. Flad |author2=Pochan Chen
 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-521-89900-0 |page=74 |access-date=16 January 2019 |archive-date=26 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126050941/https://books.google.com/books?id=RcH7PLTz3OIC&pg=PA74 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Ba and Shu Kingdoms===
[[File:三星堆出土青铜大立人像, 2017-09-17.jpg|thumb|upright|Bronze figure of a [[high priest]] from [[Sanxingdui]], dating from the [[Shu (kingdom)|Shu kingdom]]]]
[[File:太阳神鸟金箔片, 2017-09-17.jpg|thumb|[[Golden Sun Bird]] from [[Jinsha site]]]]
The most important native states were those of Ba and Shu.

[[Ba (state)|Ba]] stretched into Sichuan from the [[Han River (Shaanxi)|Han Valley]] in [[Shaanxi]] and [[Hubei]] down the [[Jialing River]] as far as its confluence with the [[Yangtze]] at [[Chongqing]].<ref name=kongzi>{{cite book |title=Ancient Sichuan and the Unification of China |author=Steven F. Sage |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VDIrG7h_VuQC&pg=PA2 |publisher=State University of New York Press |pages=2–3 |year=2006 |isbn=0-7914-1038-2 |access-date=10 March 2016 |archive-date=30 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220130195606/https://books.google.com/books?id=VDIrG7h_VuQC&pg=PA2 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Shu (kingdom)|Shu]] occupied the valley of the [[Min River (Sichuan)|Min]], including [[Chengdu]] and other areas of western Sichuan.<ref name=kongzi/> The existence of the early state of Shu was poorly recorded in the main historical records of China. It was, however, referred to in the ''[[Book of Documents]]'' as an ally of the Zhou.<ref>[http://ctext.org/shang-shu/speech-at-mu Shujing] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117022051/http://ctext.org/shang-shu/speech-at-mu |date=17 November 2015 }} Original text: {{lang|zh-hant|王曰：「嗟！我友邦塚君御事，司徒、司鄧、司空，亞旅、師氏，千夫長、百夫長，及庸，蜀、羌、髳、微、盧、彭、濮人。稱爾戈，比爾干，立爾矛，予其誓。」}}</ref> Accounts of Shu exist mainly as a mixture of mythological stories and historical legends recorded in local annals such as the ''[[Chronicles of Huayang]]'' compiled in the [[Jin dynasty (266–420)]],<ref name="sanxingdui">{{Cite book |last=Sanxingdui Museum |author2=Wu Weixi |author3=Zhu Yarong |title=The Sanxingdui site: mystical mask on ancient Shu Kingdom |publisher=[[:zh:五洲传播出版社|China Intercontinental Press]] |year=2006 |pages=7–8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O0UlsHXmv9IC |isbn=7-5085-0852-1 |access-date=10 March 2016 |archive-date=30 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220130195603/https://books.google.com/books?id=O0UlsHXmv9IC |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |trans-title=[[Chronicles of Huayang]] |script-title=zh:華陽國志 |trans-chapter=Book 3 |script-chapter=zh:卷三 |author=Chang Qu |url=https://archive.org/stream/06061130.cn#page/n90/mode/2up |pages=90–91 |access-date=15 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314081232/http://archive.org/stream/06061130.cn#page/n90/mode/2up |archive-date=14 March 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> and the Han-dynasty compilation ''{{ill|Chronicle of the Kings of Shu|zh|蜀王本紀}}''.<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I3XG3H_WlM8C&pg=PT182 |title=A Companion to Chinese Archaeology |editor=Anne P. Underhill |chapter=Chapter 8: The Sanxingdui Culture of Sichuan |author=Sun Hua |isbn=978-1-118-32578-0 |publisher=Wiley |date=2013 |access-date=15 January 2019 |archive-date=17 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200117130948/https://books.google.com/books?id=I3XG3H_WlM8C&pg=PT182 |url-status=live }}</ref> These contained folk stories such as that of {{ill|Duyu|lt=Emperor Duyu|zh|杜宇}} who taught the people agriculture and transformed himself into a cuckoo after his death.<ref name="perf"/> The existence of a highly developed civilization with an independent bronze industry in Sichuan was excavated in 1986 at a small village named [[Sanxingdui]] in [[Guanghan]], Sichuan.<ref name="perf">{{cite book |title=Ta Chʻeng, Great Perfection – Religion and Ethnicity in a Chinese Millennial Kingdom |author=Terry F. Kleeman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FAJrw0yInnAC&pg=PA17 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |year=1998 |isbn=0-8248-1800-8 |pages=17–19, 22 |access-date=10 March 2016 |archive-date=30 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220130195605/https://books.google.com/books?id=FAJrw0yInnAC&pg=PA17 |url-status=live}}</ref> This site, believed to be an ancient city of Shu, was initially discovered by a local farmer in 1929 who found jade and stone artifacts. Excavations by archeologists yielded few significant finds until 1986 when two major sacrificial pits were found with spectacular bronze items as well as artifacts in jade, gold, earthenware, and stone.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sanxingdui Museum |author2=Wu Weixi |author3=Zhu Yarong |title=The Sanxingdui site: mystical mask on ancient Shu Kingdom |publisher=[[:zh:五洲传播出版社|China Intercontinental Press]] |year=2006 |pages=5–6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O0UlsHXmv9IC |isbn=7-5085-0852-1 |access-date=10 March 2016 |archive-date=30 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220130195603/https://books.google.com/books?id=O0UlsHXmv9IC |url-status=live }}</ref> This and other discoveries in Sichuan contest the conventional historiography that the local culture and technology of Sichuan were undeveloped in comparison to the technologically and culturally "advanced" [[Yellow River]] valley of north-central China.{{citation needed|date=April 2020}}

===Qin dynasty===
The rulers of the expansionist state of [[Qin (state)|Qin]], based in present-day [[Gansu]] and [[Shaanxi]], were the first strategists to realize that the area's military importance matched its commercial and agricultural significance. The Sichuan basin is surrounded by the [[Hengduan Mountains]] to the west, the [[Qin Mountains]] to the north, and [[Yungui Plateau]] to the south. Since the Yangtze flows through the basin and then through the perilous Three Gorges to eastern and southern China, Sichuan was a staging area for amphibious military forces and a haven for political refugees.{{citation needed|date=June 2015}}

Qin armies finished their conquest of the kingdoms of Shu and Ba by 316 BC. Any written records and civil achievements of earlier kingdoms were destroyed. Qin administrators introduced improved agricultural technology. [[Li Bing (Qin)|Li Bing]], engineered the [[Dujiangyan irrigation system]] to control the [[Min River (Sichuan)|Min River]], a major [[tributary]] of the Yangtze. This innovative hydraulic system was composed of movable weirs which could be adjusted for high or low water flow according to the season, to either provide irrigation or prevent floods. The increased agricultural output and taxes made the area a source of provisions and men for Qin's unification of China.{{citation needed|date=April 2020}}

===Han dynasty===
[[File:Gao Yi Que2.jpg|thumb|left|upright|A stone-carved gate pillar, or ''[[que (tower)|que]]'', {{cvt|6|m}} in total height, located at the tomb of Gao Yi in Ya'an, Sichuan, built during the [[Eastern Han|Eastern Han dynasty]] (25–220 CE)]]
Sichuan was subjected to the autonomous control of kings named by the imperial family of the Han dynasty. During the 11 years hiatus between 25 and 36 AD, Sichuan was controlled by the [[Chengjia]] Kingdom. Following the declining central government of the [[Han dynasty]] in the second century, the Sichuan basin, surrounded by mountains and easily defensible, became a popular place for upstart generals to found kingdoms that challenged the authority of Yangtze Valley emperors over China.<ref name="Haw"/>
[[File:Warlords in 194.jpg|thumb|right|Warlords in China around 194; [[Liu Bei's takeover of Yi Province]] meant he seized the positions of [[Liu Biao]] and [[Zhang Lu (Han dynasty)|Zhang Lu]] eventually]]

===Three Kingdoms===
In 221, during the partition following the fall of the [[Eastern Han]] – the era of the [[Three Kingdoms]] – [[Liu Bei]] founded the southwest kingdom of [[Shu Han]] ({{zh|labels=no|t={{linktext|蜀|漢}}}}; 221–263) in parts of Sichuan, Guizhou, and Yunnan, with [[Chengdu]] as its capital. Shu-Han claimed to be the successor to the Han dynasty.<ref name="Haw">{{cite book |title=A Traveller's History of China |first=Stephen G |last=Haw |publisher=Interlink Books |year=2008 |page=83}}</ref>

In 263, the [[Cao Wei]] of North China [[Conquest of Shu by Wei|conquered]] the Kingdom of Shu-Han as a step on the path to reuniting China. [[Salt in Chinese history|Salt production]] becomes a major business in [[Ziliujing District]]. During the [[Six Dynasties]] period of Chinese disunity, Sichuan began to be populated by non-[[Han Chinese|Han]] ethnic minority peoples, owing to the migration of [[Gelao people]] from the [[Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau]] to the Sichuan basin.{{Citation needed|date=June 2021}}

===Tang dynasty===
[[File:Leshan Giant Buddha (2).jpg|thumb|right|The [[Leshan Giant Buddha]], built during the latter half of the [[Tang dynasty]] (618–907).]]
Sichuan came under the firm control of a Chinese central government during the [[Sui dynasty]], but it was during the subsequent [[Tang dynasty]] that Sichuan regained its previous political and cultural prominence for which it was known during the Han. Chengdu became nationally known as a supplier of armies and the home of [[Du Fu]], who is sometimes called China's greatest poet. During the [[An Lushan Rebellion]] (755–763), [[Emperor Xuanzong of Tang]] fled from [[Chang'an]] to Sichuan which became his refuge. The region was torn by constant warfare and economic distress as it was besieged by the [[Tibetan Empire]].<ref name="Tara">{{cite book |title=The Territories of the People's Republic of China |first1=Tara |last1=Boland-Crewe |first2=David |last2=Lea |publisher=Psychology Press |year=2004 |pages=187–189}}</ref>

===Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms===
In the [[Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period]], Sichuan became the heart of the [[Former Shu|Shu kingdom]] with its capital in [[Chengdu]]. In 925, the kingdom was absorbed into [[Later Tang]] but would regain independence under [[Meng Zhixiang]] who founded [[Later Shu]] in 934. Later Shu would continue until 965 when it was absorbed by the [[Song dynasty|Song]].

===Song and Yuan dynasties===
During the [[Song dynasty]] (960–1279), [[Sichuanese people|Sichuanese]] was able to protect themselves from [[Tibetan people|Tibetan]] attacks with the help of the central government. There were rebellions against the Song by Li Shun in 994 and Wang Jun in 1000. Sichuan also saw cultural revivals like the great poets [[Su Xun]] ({{lang|zh-Hant|蘇洵}}), [[Su Shi]], and [[Su Zhe]].<ref name="Tara"/> Although paper currency was known in the Tang dynasty, in 1023 AD, the first true [[Banknote|paper money]] in human history ({{zh|labels=no|c=[[:zh:交子|交子]] |p=jiāozǐ}}) was issued in [[Chengdu]].<ref>Horesh Niv , 2012, "From Chengdu to Stockholm: A Comparative Study of the Emergence of Paper Money in East and West"</ref><ref>Hans G.Wiedemann & Gerhard Bayer, 1992, "Approach to ancient Chinese artifacts by means of thermal analysis", Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., Amsterdam</ref><ref>Pan Jixing, 1998, "On the origin of movable metal-type technique", Chinese Science Bulletin</ref>

It was also during the Song dynasty that the bulk of the native [[Ba (state)|Ba people]] of eastern Sichuan assimilated into the Han Chinese ethnicity.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fei |first=Xiaotong |date=2017-12-18 |title=The formation and development of the Chinese nation with multi-ethnic groups |journal=International Journal of Anthropology and Ethnology |volume=1 |issue=1 |page=1 |doi=10.1186/s41257-017-0001-z |s2cid=256521035 |issn=2366-1003|doi-access=free }}</ref>

In the 12th and 13th centuries, the Southern Song dynasty established coordinated defenses against the [[Mongols|Mongolian]] [[Yuan dynasty]], in Sichuan and [[Xiangzhou District, Xiangyang|Xiangyang]]. The Southern Song state monopolized the Sichuan tea industry to pay for warhorses, but this state intervention eventually brought devastation to the local economy.<ref>{{Cite book |title=A History of China |last=Roberts |first=John A.G. |isbn=978-0-230-34536-2 |series=Palgrave Essential Histories series |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rBpvOo_R854C |year=2011 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |page=109 | access-date = 15 November 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160604052529/https://books.google.com/books?id=rBpvOo_R854C | archive-date = 4 June 2016 | url-status = live}}</ref> The line of defense was finally broken through after the first use of [[firearm]]s in history during the six-year [[Battle of Xiangyang]], which ended in 1273. Allegedly there were a million pieces of unspecified types of skeleton bones belonging to war animals and both Song and Yuan soldiers who perished in the fighting over the city, although the figure may have been grossly exaggerated.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4MBZAAAAcAAJ&pg=PP728|script-title=zh:成都录|quote={{lang|zh|城中骸骨一百四十万}}|title=Yi jia tang cong shu|last1=Yu|first1=Songnian|year=1840|access-date=18 October 2020|archive-date=13 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220513003121/https://books.google.com/books?id=4MBZAAAAcAAJ&pg=PP728|url-status=live}}</ref> The recorded number of families in Sichuan dropped from 2,640,000 families,<ref>{{lang|zh|李心傳}} [Li Xinchuan], "{{lang|zh-hant|建炎以來朝野雜記}}", {{lang|zh|文海出版公司}} [Wenhai Publishing Co.], 1967. 1st set,section 7, page 15</ref> as recorded from the census taken in 1162 AD, to 120,000 families<ref>{{lang|zh|李心傳}} [Li Xinchuan], "{{lang|zh-hant|建炎以來朝野雜記}}", {{lang|zh|文海出版公司}} [Wenhai Publishing Co.], 1967. 1st set,section 7, page 16</ref> in 1282 AD.<ref>C. P. Atwood-Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire</ref> Possible causes include forced population transfer to nearby areas, evacuation to nearby provinces, census under-reporting or inaccuracy, and war-related deaths.{{Citation needed|date=August 2017}}
One instance of the deportation of Sichuanese civilians to Mongolia occurred in the aftermath of a battle in 1259 when more than 80,000 people were taken captive from one city in Sichuan and moved to Mongolia.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9SpADAAAQBAJ&pg=PA325 |title=State Power in China, 900–1325 |page=325 |isbn=978-0-295-99848-0 |last1=Ebrey |first1=Patricia Buckley |last2=Smith |first2=Paul Jakov |date=25 August 2016 |publisher=University of Washington Press |access-date=19 August 2019 |archive-date=12 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200112095010/https://books.google.com/books?id=9SpADAAAQBAJ&pg=PA325 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Ming dynasty===
[[File:"Suchuen, Imperii Sinarum provincia sexta. " (22065652598).jpg|thumb|Map of {{lang|la|Suchuen}} (Sichuan) from [[Willem Blaeu|Willem]] and [[Joan Blaeu]]'s 1659 ''[[Atlas Maior|Geographia Blaviana]]''.]]
The Ming dynasty defeated [[Ming Yuzhen]]'s Xia polity which ruled Sichuan.<ref name="MoteTwitchett1988">{{cite book |author1=Frederick W. Mote |author2=Denis Twitchett |title=The Cambridge History of China: Volume 7, The Ming Dynasty, 1368–1644 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tyhT9SZRLS8C&pg=PA125 |date=26 February 1988 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-24332-2 |pages=125–127 |access-date=2 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161128142547/https://books.google.com/books?id=tyhT9SZRLS8C&pg=PA125 |archive-date=28 November 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref>

During the [[Ming dynasty]], major architectural works were created in Sichuan. Buddhism remained influential in the region. [[Bao'en Temple (Pingwu)|Bao'en Temple]] is a well-preserved 15th-century monastery complex built between 1440 and 1446 during the [[Emperor Yingzong of Ming|Zhengtong Emperor]]'s reign (1427–64). Dabei Hall enshrines a thousand-armed wooden image of [[Guanyin]] and Huayan Hall is a repository with a revolving [[sutra]] cabinet. The wall paintings, sculptures, and other ornamental details are masterpieces of the Ming period.<ref name="pan">{{cite book |first=Pan |last=Guxi |year=2002 |title=Chinese Architecture – The Yuan and Ming Dynasties |edition=English |publisher=Yale University Press |pages=[https://archive.org/details/chinesearchitect0000unse/page/245 245–246] |isbn=0-300-09559-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/chinesearchitect0000unse/page/245}}</ref>

In the middle of the 17th century, the peasant rebel leader [[Zhang Xianzhong]] (1606–1646) from [[Yan'an]], [[Shaanxi]] Province, nicknamed ''Yellow Tiger'', led his peasant troop from north China to the south and conquered Sichuan. Upon capturing it, he declared himself emperor of the Daxi dynasty ({{lang|zh|大西王朝}}). In response to the resistance from local elites, he massacred a large number of people in Sichuan, killing around one in three people.<ref>{{cite book|last=Dillon|first=Michael|title=China: A Cultural and Historical Dictionary|publisher=Routledge|year=1998 |isbn=978-0700704392 |page=379 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VA5tKw11K8YC&pg=PA379 }} from J.B. Parsons, The Peasant Rebellions of the Late Ming Dynasty (University of Arizona Press). 1970</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://app1.chinadaily.com.cn/star/2002/0411/cn8-3.html |title=Skeletons of massacre victims uncovered at construction site |date=11 April 2002 |publisher=[[Shanghai Star]] | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060422024601/http://app1.chinadaily.com.cn/star/2002/0411/cn8-3.html | archive-date = 22 April 2006 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> As a result of the massacre as well as years of turmoil during the [[Qing conquest of the Ming|Ming-Qing transition]], the population of Sichuan fell sharply, requiring massive resettlement of people from the neighboring [[Huguang Province]] (modern Hubei and Hunan) and other provinces during the Qing dynasty.<ref name="parsons">{{cite journal |title=The Culmination of a Chinese Peasant Rebellion: Chang Hsien-chung in Szechwan, 1644–46 |author=James B. Parsons |journal=The Journal of Asian Studies |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=387–400 |year=1957 |doi=10.2307/2941233 |jstor=2941233 |s2cid=162377335}}</ref><ref name="Dai"/><ref name="Dai2009">{{cite book |author=Yingcong Dai |title=The Sichuan Frontier and Tibet: Imperial Strategy in the Early Qing |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DYHfVVAAf_kC&pg=PA16 |year=2009 |publisher=University of Washington Press |isbn=978-0-295-98952-5 |pages=16– |access-date=2 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161128213258/https://books.google.com/books?id=DYHfVVAAf_kC&pg=PA16 |archive-date=28 November 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Qing dynasty===
{{see also|Hakka people#Sichuan}}
Sichuan was originally the origin of the Deng lineage until one of them was hired as an official in Guangdong during the Ming dynasty but during the Qing plan to increase the population in 1671 they came to Sichuan again. In 1904 [[Deng Xiaoping]] was born in Sichuan.<ref name="Dai2009 2">{{cite book |author=Yingcong Dai |title=The Sichuan Frontier and Tibet: Imperial Strategy in the Early Qing |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DYHfVVAAf_kC&pg=PA25 |year=2009 |publisher=University of Washington Press |isbn=978-0-295-98952-5 |pages=25– |access-date=20 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161128154047/https://books.google.com/books?id=DYHfVVAAf_kC&pg=PA25 |archive-date=28 November 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref>

During the [[Qing dynasty]], Sichuan was merged with [[Shaanxi]] and [[Shanxi]] to create "Shenzhuan" during 1680–1731 and 1735–1748.<ref name="Tara"/> The current borders of Sichuan (which then included [[Chongqing]]) were established in the early 18th century. In the aftermath of the [[Sino-Nepalese War]] on China's southwestern border, the Qing gave Sichuan's provincial government direct control over the minority-inhabited areas of Sichuan west of [[Kangding]], which had previously been handled by an [[amban]].<ref name="Dai">{{cite book |title=The Sichuan Frontier and Tibet: Imperial Strategy in the Early Qing |first=Yingcong |last=Dai |publisher=University of Washington Press |year=2009 |pages=19–26, 145}}</ref>

A [[landslide dam]] on the [[Dadu River (Sichuan)|Dadu River]] caused by an earthquake gave way on 10 June 1786. The resulting flood killed 100,000 people.<ref>Schuster, R.L. and G. F. Wieczorek, "Landslide triggers and types" in ''Landslides: Proceedings of the First European Conference on Landslides'' 2002 A.A. Balkema Publishers. p.66 [https://books.google.com/books?id=psFSK_nUqqMC&dq=10+June+1786+dadu&pg=RA1-PA66] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151031073437/https://books.google.com/books?id=psFSK_nUqqMC&pg=RA1-PA66&lpg=RA1-PA66&dq=10+June+1786+dadu&source=web&ots=baUnVQRMZA&sig=q7ExeDUuAmFl0JdFjZY0r-LthDc&hl=en|date=31 October 2015}}</ref>

===Republic of China===
[[File:Japanese bombing chinese main road.jpg|thumb|upright|Japanese bombers bombing a road in [[Chongqing]], then part of Sichuan province, during WW2]]
In the early 20th century, the newly founded [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]] established the Chuanbian Special Administrative District ({{lang|zh-hant|川邊特別行政區}}) on the province's territories to the west of the [[Sichuan Basin]]. The Special District later became the province of [[Xikang]], incorporating the areas inhabited by [[Yi people|Yi]], [[Tibetan people|Tibetan]], and [[Qiang people|Qiang]] ethnic minorities to its west, and eastern part of today's [[Tibet Autonomous Region]].{{citation needed|date=April 2020}}

In the 20th century, as [[Beijing]], [[Shanghai]], [[Nanjing]], and [[Wuhan]] had all been occupied by the Japanese during the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]], the capital of the Republic of China had been temporarily relocated to [[Chongqing]], then a major city in Sichuan. An enduring legacy of this move is those nearby inland provinces, such as [[Shaanxi]], [[Gansu]], and [[Guizhou]], which previously never had [[History of education in China|modern Western-style universities]], began to be developed in this regard.<ref>{{cite book |title=Teachers' Schools and the Making of the Modern Chinese Nation-State, 1897–1937 |first=Xiaoping |last=Cong |publisher=UBC Press |year=2011 |page=203}}</ref> The difficulty of accessing the region overland from the eastern part of China and the foggy climate hindering the accuracy of the [[Sichuan invasion|Japanese bombing]] of the Sichuan Basin made the region the stronghold of [[Chiang Kai-shek]]'s [[Kuomintang]] government during 1938–45 and led to the [[Bombing of Chongqing]].{{citation needed|date=April 2020}}

The [[Second Sino-Japanese War]] was soon followed by the resumed [[Chinese Civil War]], and the cities of East China are obtained by the Communists one after another, the Kuomintang government again tried to make Sichuan its stronghold on the mainland, although it already saw some Communist activity since it was one area on the road of the [[Long March]]. Chiang Kai-shek himself flew to Chongqing from [[Taiwan]] in November 1949 to lead the defense. But the same month Chongqing switched to the Communists, followed by Chengdu on 10 December. The Kuomintang general [[Wang Sheng (soldier)|Wang Sheng]] wanted to stay behind with his troops to continue the anticommunist guerilla war in Sichuan, but was recalled to Taiwan. Many of his soldiers made their way there as well, via [[Burma]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Marks |first=Thomas A. |title=Counterrevolution in China: Wang Sheng and the Kuomintang |publisher=Frank Cass |location=London |year=1998 |isbn=0-7146-4700-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=04QiOlNKQGEC&pg=PA116 |pages=116–117 |access-date=2 July 2020 |archive-date=2 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200702194757/https://books.google.com/books?id=04QiOlNKQGEC&pg=PA116 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===People's Republic of China===
The People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, and it split Sichuan into four areas and separated Chongqing municipality. Sichuan was reconstituted in 1952, with Chongqing added in 1954, while the former [[Xikang]] province was split between [[Tibet Autonomous Region|Tibet]] in the west and Sichuan in the east.<ref name="Tara"/>

The province was deeply affected by the [[Great Chinese Famine]] of 1959–1961, during which period some 9.4 million people (13.07% of the population at the time) died.<ref name="cao">{{cite book |last1=Cao |first1=Shuji (曹树基) |script-title=zh:大饑荒：1959－1961年的中国人口 |trans-title=Great Famine: China's population from 1959 to 1961 |publisher=香港時代國際出版有限公司 |location=Hong Kong |language=zh-hant |year=2005}}</ref>

In 1978, when [[Deng Xiaoping]] took power, Sichuan was one of the first provinces to experiment with the market economic enterprise.

From 1955 until 1997, Sichuan had been China's most populous province; the population hit the 100 million mark shortly after the 1982 census figure of 99,730,000.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.citypopulation.de/China-UA.html |title=Citypopulation.de:China |access-date=19 October 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150704001241/http://www.citypopulation.de/China-UA.html |archive-date=4 July 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> This changed in 1997 when the [[Sub-provincial city]] of Chongqing as well as the three surrounding prefectures of [[Fuling]], [[Wanxian]], and [[Qianjiang District|Qianjiang]] were split off into the new [[Chongqing|Chongqing Municipality]]. The new municipality was formed to spearhead China's effort to economically develop its western provinces, as well as to coordinate the resettlement of residents from the reservoir areas of the [[Three Gorges Dam]] project.

In 1997, when Sichuan split, the sum of the two parts was recorded to be 114,720,000 people.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.stats.gov.cn/english/statisticaldata/yearlydata/YB1998e/D4-3E.htm |title=National Statistics Agency Tables:4-3 Total Population and Birth Rate, Death Rate and Natural Growth Rate by Region (1997) |access-date=19 October 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091113223314/http://www.stats.gov.cn/english/statisticaldata/yearlydata/YB1998e/D4-3E.htm |archive-date=13 November 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref> As of 2010, Sichuan ranks as both the [[List of Chinese administrative divisions by area|3rd largest]] (the largest among Chinese [[List of People's Republic of China administrative divisions by population|provinces with a population greater than 50 million) and 4th most populous province]] in China.<ref name="bare_url">{{cite web |url=http://thechinaperspective.com/topics/province/sichuan-province/ |title=Sichuan Province: Economic News and Statistics for Sichuan's Economy |publisher=Thechinaperspective.com |access-date=2011-10-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111008050304/http://thechinaperspective.com/topics/province/sichuan-province/ |archive-date=8 October 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref>

On 12 May 2008, [[2008 Sichuan earthquake|an earthquake]] with a magnitude of 7.9/8.0 hit just {{cvt|79|km}} northwest of the provincial capital of Chengdu. Official figures recorded a death toll of over 87,000 people, and millions of people were left homeless.<ref name="data">{{cite news |url=http://news.sina.com.cn/pc/2008-05-13/326/651.html |date=2008-06-08 |access-date=2008-07-06 |title=Casualties of the Wenchuan Earthquake |publisher=[[Sina.com]] |language=zh-hans |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080519003228/http://news.sina.com.cn/pc/2008-05-13/326/651.html |archive-date=19 May 2008 |url-status=live}}, and {{cite news |url=http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2008-07-06/162615881691.shtml |date=2008-07-06 |access-date=2008-07-07 |title=Wenchuan Earthquake has already caused 69,196 fatalities and 18,379 missing |publisher=[[Sina.com]] |language=zh-hans |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610125546/http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2008-07-06/162615881691.shtml |archive-date=10 June 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref>