CHAPTER IX 



THE CHENGTU PLAIN 



" The Garden of Western China " 



THE plain of Chengtu is the only large expanse of level 

 ground in the great province of Szechuan ; it is also 

 one of the richest, most fertile, and thickly populated 

 areas in the whole of China. Its extreme length from Chiang- 

 kou in the south to Hsao-shui Ho beyond Mienchu Hsien in 

 the north, is about 80 miles as the crow flies ; its extreme 

 width from Chao-chia-tu in the east to Kuan Hsien in the 

 west, about 65 miles, in a straight line. From Kiung Chou in 

 the extreme south-west to its north-east limits beyond Teyang 

 Hsien is about 80 miles. The circumferential boundaries are 

 very irregular, the total area being under 3500 square miles. 

 Chengtu Fu, the provincial capital, and seventeen other walled 

 cities, are situated on this plain, together with very many un- 

 walled towns of large size. Farmhouses dot the plain in 

 every direction ; the total population probably exceeds 

 6,000,000. 



This plain is really part basin part sloping alluvial delta, 

 having an elevation ranging from about 1500 feet above sea- 

 level in the south and east to 2300 feet in the north-west and 

 west. It is bounded to the west and north-west by the steep 

 descent of a high mountainous region, which at very little 

 distance from it reaches above the snowline. In the extreme 

 north-west the snowclad Chiuting shan actually overlooks the 

 plain. On its other boundaries the sandstone hills of the 

 Red Basin rise sharply in bluffs 1000 to 1500 feet above the 

 level of the plain. The high barrier ranges protect the plain 

 from the cold northerly and westerly winds, but to these 

 must be ascribed the rapid changes in temperature, the fogs, 



