Editing Chengdu (section)

===Imperial era===
[[File:Dujiang Weir (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|The [[Dujiangyan|Dujiangyan Irrigation System]] built in 256 BC still functions today.]]
{{multiple image
| total_width       = 300
| image1            = Holding Shield and Holding Broom tomb doors, 1 of 2, China, unearthed from Lanjia Yard, Pixian County, Sichuan, Eastern Han dynasty, 25-220 AD, stone - Sichuan Provincial Museum - Chengdu, China - DSC04745.jpg
| image2            = Holding Shield and Holding Broom tomb doors, 2 of 2, China, unearthed from Lanjia Yard, Pixian County, Sichuan, Eastern Han dynasty, 25-220 AD, stone - Sichuan Provincial Museum - Chengdu, China - DSC04747.jpg
| footer            = Tomb doors from [[Pi County]] showing men in ''[[Ancient Chinese clothing|hanfu]]'', one with a shield and the other a broom (1st or 2nd century).
}}

Under the [[Western Han dynasty|Han]], the [[brocade]] produced in Chengdu became fashionable and was exported throughout China. A "Brocade Official" ({{lang-zh|labels=no|t=錦官 |p=jǐnguān}}) was established to oversee its production and transaction. After the fall of the Eastern Han, [[Liu Bei]] ruled [[Shu Han]], the southwestern of the [[Three Kingdoms]], from Chengdu. His [[chancellor (China)|minister]] [[Zhuge Liang]] called the area the "Land of Abundance".<ref>{{Cite web |title="天府之国"的由来 |url=http://scdfz.sc.gov.cn/zzfw/zzcy/content_22954 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240912154252/http://scdfz.sc.gov.cn/zzfw/zzcy/content_22954 |archive-date=2024-09-12 |access-date=2024-09-12 |website=Sichuan Provincial Local Chronicles Office}}</ref> Under the [[Tang dynasty|Tang]], Chengdu was considered the second most prosperous city in China after [[Yangzhou]].{{efn|{{lang-zh|first=t|t={{linktext|揚|一|益|二}} |s={{linktext|扬|一|益|二}} |l=Yang[zhou] 1[st], Yi[zhou] 2[nd]}}}} Both [[Li Bai]] and [[Du Fu]] lived in the city. [[Li Bai]] praised it as "lying above the [[empyrean]]." The city's present Caotang ("Grass Hall") was constructed in 1078 in honor of an earlier, more humble structure of that name erected by Du Fu in 760, the second year of his 4-year stay. The [[Taoism|Taoist]] Qingyang Gong ("Green Goat Temple") was built in the 9th century.<ref>{{cite journal |author=罗开玉 |date=2010 |title=秦汉三国时期成都商业大都会的建成 |url=http://www.cqvip.com/Main/Detail.aspx?id=35948364 |journal=《成都大学学报：社会科学版》 |issue=6 |pages=102–116 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101112459/http://www.cqvip.com/Main/Detail.aspx?id=35948364 |archive-date=2020-11-01 |access-date=2018-10-02}}</ref><ref>馬植杰（2006年）:《三國史》第十章〈蜀漢之亡和司馬氏代魏成晉〉，第二節〈姜維北伐與蜀漢的滅亡〉，第151頁－第156頁。</ref>

Chengdu was the capital of [[Wang Jian (Former Shu)|Wang Jian]]'s [[Former Shu]] from 907 to 925, when it was conquered by the [[Later Tang]]. The [[Later Shu]] was founded by [[Meng Zhixiang]] in 934, with its capital at Chengdu. Its second and last king, [[Meng Chang]] beautified the city by ordering [[hibiscus]] to be planted upon the [[Chinese city wall|city walls]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=History and Culture – The Historical Origin of Chengdu Imperial City |url=http://scdfz.sc.gov.cn/whzh/slzc1/content_63048 |access-date=2024-09-07 |website=Sichuan Provincial Local Chronicles Office}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=蜀汉故地 皇城遗迹寻踪{{!}}华西都市报 |url=http://www.wccdaily.com.cn/wapepaper/html/20230904/200828.html |access-date=2024-09-07 |website=West China City Daily}}</ref>

The [[Song dynasty|Song]] conquered the city in 965, introducing the first widely used [[paper money]] in the world. [[Su Shi]] praised it as "the southwestern metropolis". At the fall of the Song, a rebel leader set up a short-lived kingdom known as [[Shu (state)|Great Shu]] ({{lang-zh|{{linktext|大蜀}}}}, ''Dàshǔ''). Allegedly the [[Mongolian Empire|Mongols]] called for the death of a million people in the city but the city's population had less than 30,000 residents (not Chengdu prefecture). The aged males who had not fled were killed while in typical fashion, the women, children and artisans were enslaved and deported. During the [[Yuan dynasty]], most of Sichuan's residents were deported to Hunan during the insurgency of the western ethnic tribes of western Sichuan. [[Marco Polo]] visited Chengdu<ref name="marco">{{cite book|last=Quian|first=Jack|title=Chengdu: A City of Paradise|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8M4hnwEACAAJ|year=2006|publisher=AuthorHouse|isbn=978-1-4259-7590-6|page=109|access-date=4 July 2019|archive-date=24 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624212850/https://books.google.com/books?id=8M4hnwEACAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Mayhew|first1=Bradley|last2=Miller|first2=Korina|last3=English|first3=Alex|title=South-West China|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sm-2FZavr9QC|edition=2nd|year=2002|publisher=Lonely Planet|isbn=978-1-86450-370-8|page=19|access-date=6 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160408083853/https://books.google.com/books?id=sm-2FZavr9QC|archive-date=8 April 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> and wrote about the [[Anshun Bridge]] or an earlier version of it.{{efn|"Let us now speak of a great Bridge which crosses this River within the city. This bridge is of stone; it is seven paces in width and half a mile in length (the river being that much in width as I told you); and all along its length on either side there are columns of marble to bear the roof, for the bridge is roofed over from end to end with timber, and that all richly painted. And on this bridge there were houses in which a great deal of trade and industry is carried on. But these houses were all of wood merely, and they are put up in the morning and taken down in the evening. Also there stands upon the bridge the Great Kaan's _Comercque_, that is to say, his custom-house, where his toll and tax were levied."<ref name=yule>{{citation |editor-last=Yule |editor-first=Henry |editor-link=Henry Yule |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12410 |title=The Travels of Marco Polo, ''Vol. II'' |last=Polo |first=Marco |author-link=Marco Polo |display-authors=0 |editor2=Henri Cordier |display-editors=1 |at=Ch. XLIV |access-date=16 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090924190642/http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/12410 |archive-date=24 September 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref>}}

At the fall of the [[Ming dynasty|Ming]], the rebel [[Zhang Xianzhong]] established his Great Western Kingdom ({{lang-zh|{{linktext|大西}}}}) with its capital at Chengdu; it lasted only from 1643 to 1646.<ref name="eccp">{{cite ECCP |title=Chang Hsien-chung}}</ref> Zhang was said to have massacred a large number of people in Chengdu and throughout Sichuan. In any case, Chengdu was said to have become a virtual ghost town frequented by tigers<ref name="dai2">{{cite book |author=Yingcong Dai |title=The Sichuan Frontier and Tibet: Imperial Strategy in the Early Qing |year=2009 |publisher=University of Washington Press |pages=22–27 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DYHfVVAAf_kC&pg=PA22 |isbn=978-0-295-98952-5 |access-date=4 July 2019 |archive-date=24 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624213404/https://books.google.com/books?id=DYHfVVAAf_kC&pg=PA22 |url-status=live }}</ref> and the depopulation of Sichuan necessitated the resettlement of millions of people from other provinces during the [[Qing dynasty]]. Following the [[Columbian Exchange]], the [[Chengdu Plain]] became one of China's principal sources of [[tobacco cultivation in China|tobacco]]. [[Pi County]] was considered to have the highest quality in Sichuan, which was the center of the country's [[cigar]] and [[cigarette]] production, the rest of the country long continuing to consume [[snuff (tobacco)|snuff]] instead.<ref name=Britannica1878/>