Population: about 83.7 million

Sichuan fills the Sichuan Basin in southwest China, ringed by mountains that climb westward to the Tibetan Plateau. Its fertile soil and mild climate earned it the name "Land of Abundance". Long before China was unified, an advanced bronze-age culture at Sanxingdui cast strange masks with protruding eyes, often linked to the ancient kingdom of Shu. In 256 BC the Dujiangyan irrigation system was built on the Min River, and it still waters the Chengdu plain. Chengdu was the capital of Shu Han in the Three Kingdoms period, and the poet Du Fu lived here in the 8th century. Sichuan is the home of the giant panda and of a famous cuisine built on chili and Sichuan pepper. Chongqing, once part of the province, became a separate municipality in 1997. Today Chengdu is western China's leading centre for technology and culture.

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