Zigong

Zigong is a shining pearl of Chengdu, called “The Land of Abundance”. Zigong is a prefecture-level city and one of the industry centers in Sichuan Province. It is 215 kilometers away from Chengdu or about 3 hours by car. The Zigong metropolitan area occupies 4,372 square kilometers and the city proper occupies 814 square kilometers. The total population of Zigong is 3,255,800. The area code for Zigong is 0813 and the zip code is 643000. 

The salt industry in Zigong has a history of more than 2,000 years, so Zigong is renowned as the “Salt City”. Since a vast collection of dinosaur fossils have been excavated here, Zigong is also known as the “Home of the Dinosaur”. Additionally, as Zigong is the originator of the Chinese Lantern Festival, Zigong is also called “Lantern Town in South China”.

Zigong is famous for salt and there is a Salt History Museum in the city. The Zigong Salt History Museum is the only Salt History Museum in China. Exhibits in the museum show visitors the history of the technological development of well salt (a kind of salt intustry: first drill a well then extract salt from water in the well) production.

Zigong is also famous for its dinosaur fossils. It is known as the “Home of the Dinosaur”. Zigong Dinosaur Museum, which enjoys an equal reputation to the National Dinosaur Museum of America and the Canada Dinosaur Park, is one of the three most famous Dinosaur Museums in the world.

Furthermore, Zigong is acclaimed for its lantern exhibition, which is one of “Three Wonders” of Zigong. The local government has built a “Chinese Lantern Museum” in Zigong Lantern Park. At night, all the lanterns are lit. The lantern designs are very exquisite and the paintings on them are very rich. With the surrounding pavilions and decorated wooden windows, the scenery is so wonderful that it takes travelers’ breath away and leads them into a night fantasy.

History

Zigong has a long history of more than 2,400 years. It can be found in history records from early in the East Han dynasty. It is famous for its salt industry and renowned as “Salt City”. Today the salt industry is still one of the major industries in Zigong. The Salt History Museum in Zigong is the only such museum in China. Exhibits in the museum show visitors the history of the technological development of well salt production.