Sichuan Xichang Travel Guide

Xichang, the capital of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan Province, is located in the Anning river valley area of southwest Sichuan Province, covering an area of 2,655 square kilometers, and has jurisdiction over 7 subdistricts, 11 towns, 5 townships and 2 ethnic townships. The permanent population is 955,041. Xichang city is about 450km/5.5 hour transfer from Chengdu, the the capital city of Sichuan Province.

Xichang is a tropical plateau monsoon climate area, known as a small "Spring City", warm in winter and cool in summer, the four seasons like spring. Xichang is rich in tourism resources and an important node of the grand Shangri-La tourism loop and Sichuan-Yunnan tourism goldenline. 

There are many scenic spots in and around the region, including Qionghai Lake-Lushan Mountain, Qionghai Lake National Wetland Park, Luoji Mountain, Lugu Lake, Lingshan Temple, Xichang Satellite Launch Center, Educated Youth Museum and Huanglian Soil Forest. 

Xichang is the country's largest grain county, the country's largest pig county, China's onion town, China's flower and wood town, China's winter strawberry town, the world famous Sun City, Moon City, Aerospace City and a “Spring Habitat City". It has been honored as a national forest city, China's excellent tourism city, China's top ten most beautiful ancient City, China's five most beautiful health habitat, China's most desirable place for tourism, one of the top ten small cities worth visiting in China, national tourism resort and so on.

Xichang was called Qiongdu in the ancient time, became a county of the   Qin Dynasty(221BC to 207BC). It has a history of more than 2,200 years.

● Top things to do in Xichang

● Luoji Mountain Scenic Spot: it was rated as a national 4A scenic spot. Located 5 kilometers south of Xichang city, Qionghai Lake is near the Lushan Mountain, 2,317 meters above sea level. It forms one of the scenic spots in southwest Sichuan with Qionghai Lake and is praised as the "Famous Scenic Spot in South Sichuan”.

● Qionghai is the second largest fresh water lake in Sichuan province, 7 kilometers away from the city center of Xichang. Qionghai lies at the northeastern foot of Lushan Mountain. The water in the lake is clear and transparent, covering an area of about 31 square kilometers. There are many scenic spots by the lake, such as the Qionghai Lake Park, Qionghai Lake Hotel, the Moon Town, the View Bay, Qinglong Temple, Moon Bay and new beach landscape, Lotus Pond, the Sunshine Resort, Rosa Rose Garden, the old sea pavilion site, the walnut village garden and the provincial water sports school and so on.

● Luoji Mountain is 30 kilometers away from Xichang City, across two counties and one city of Xichang, Dechang and Puge, the main peak 4,359 meters above sea level, stretching 100 kilometers from north to south. The mountain is named after the shape of a spiral bun(a hair style in ancient China, women of the Han nationality wore their hair in a knot on the top of their heads).

● Xichang Satellite Launch Center (also called Xichang Satellite City), founded in 1970, is one of the three space Launch centers in China. Xichang and Wenchang(in Hainan Province) are two Launch sites of Xichang Satellite Launch Center. The Xichang launch site was put into use in 1982 and is located in Mianning County, Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province.

● Xichang Food&Drinks

Suckling Pig Tuotuo Meat

Tuotuo meat is a traditional dish in the Yi people's area, which means big pieces of pork. Because of the weight of each piece of meat is about 100g to 150g, into "Tuotuo(big pieces)" shape, so the name. It is the main form of meat cooking of the Yi people in Diqing. The pork, sheep and beef are cut down and cooked in hot water without any seasonings, not even salt. After the meat is cooked, sprinkle garlic water, salt and pepper and eat. Eat meat with both hands. It's very delicious.

Chicken soup with pickled vegetables and potatoes

A characteristic cuisine of the local Yi people to stew chicken and potato cubes with pickled vegetables.

Jianchang salted duck

A specialty of Dechang County, Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, is China's national geographic indication product, one of the four famous salted ducks in China. Jianchang salted duck has hundreds of years of processing history.

● Special local products

Liangshan bitter buckwheat tea, a specialty of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province, is China's national geographic indication product. It's a kind of fried rice tea. Modern clinical medical observation shows that bitter buckwheat powder and its products have the effect of lowering blood sugar, lowering blood lipid, enhancing human immunity, and have auxiliary therapeutic effect on patients with diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, coronary heart disease and apoplexy.

Daxing garlic shoot, a specialty of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province, is China's national geographic indication product. Through scientific testing, it is confirmed that Daxing garlic is rich in nutrients and superior in quality to other production areas.

Xichang goose, a specialty of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province, is China’s national agricultural geographical symbol.

Xichang high mountain black pig, a specialty of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province, is China’s national agricultural geographical symbol.

● Xichang Transportation

Qingshan Airport is the airport of Panxi region, which is a large all weather airport with the longest runway in southwest China.

Xichang Station of Chengdu-Kunming Railway is set up here.

Ya’an-Xichang expressway and Panzhihua-Xichang expressway have been completed and open to traffic. More expressways have been planned and will pass here.

The national highway No.108 takes Xichang as a link, passing through Chengdu, Shimian, Xichang, Panzhihua, Kunming, connecting the north and the south into one.

● Xichang Weather

Xichang belongs to the tropical plateau monsoon climate area, known as a small "Spring City", contains rich climate resources, with warm winter and cool summer,  abundant rainfall, concentrated rainfall, sufficient sunshine, abundant light and heat resources. Strong solar radiation during the day and big temperature difference between day and night.