Leshan

Leshan 乐山市
Prefecture-level city
A view of Leshan
Location of Leshan City jurisdiction in Sichuan
Coordinates: 29°34′N 103°46′E / 29.567°N 103.767°E / 29.567; 103.767
Country	China
Province	Sichuan
County-level divisions	4 Counties, 2 Autonomous Counties, 1 County-level city and 4 Districts
Area
• Prefecture-level city	12,827.49 km2 (4,952.72 sq mi)
• Urban	1,918.5 km2 (740.7 sq mi)
• Metro	836.1 km2 (322.8 sq mi)
Population (2010 census)[1]
• Prefecture-level city	3,235,759
• Density	250/km2 (650/sq mi)
• Urban	1,162,080
• Urban density	610/km2 (1,600/sq mi)
• Metro	662,814
• Metro density	790/km2 (2,100/sq mi)
Time zone	China Standard (UTC+8)
Postal code	614000
Area code(s)	+86 (0)0833
Licence Plate Prefixes	川L
Website	leshan.gov.cn

Leshan (simplified Chinese: 乐山; traditional Chinese: 樂山; pinyin: Lèshān; literally: "Happy mountain"; Sichuanese Pinyin: No²san¹; local pronunciation: [nʊʔ˧sã˥]) is a prefecture-level city located at the confluence of the Dadu and Min rivers in Sichuan Province, China. Leshan is located on the southwestern fringe of the Red Basin in southern Sichuan, about 120 km (75 mi) from Chengdu. At the 2010 census, its population was 3,235,759 whom 662,814 lived in the built-up (or metro) area made of Shizhong district, as Wutongqiao and Jinkouhe districts are not conurbated yet.

Historic monuments

Stone arch bridge in Leshan

Buddhist carvings in Leshan, Sichuan, China.

Buddha Leshan

In 1996, the Mount Emei Scenic Area, including the Leshan Giant Buddha, the largest stone-carved buddha in the world, was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Mount Emei is located within the county-level city of Emeishan, which is under the administrative jurisdiction of Leshan.

The ancestral home of Chinese writer, academic and politician Guo Moruo is preserved in the Shawan District of Leshan.^[2]

Culture

Dialect

The Leshan dialect, part of the Southern linguistic system, is very different from the dialects of other cities in the province of Sichuan, which belong to the Northern system. Some researchers say the pronunciation of Leshan dialect represents an archaic form of Chinese pronunciation.

Food

Falling into the Sichuan cuisine family, Leshan is noted for its food culture in that it has all the street food from its surrounding areas, which has made it the one-stop street food city. Typical specialties include:

• Ma-La-Tang 麻辣烫 - Hot and spicy soup
• Bo-Bo-Ji 钵钵鸡 - Bobo chicken
• Shao-Kao 烧烤 - Street barbecue
• Qian-Wei Bao-Bing 犍为薄饼 - Qianwei Pancakes
• Dou-Fu-nao 豆腐脑 -

Local Card Game

A popular card game called Two, Seven, Ten (simplified Chinese: 二七十; traditional Chinese: 貳柒拾; pinyin: Èr Qī Shí) is often enjoyed by the locals as an alternative to Mahjong.

Suits — There are two suits: big and small (Chinese: 大小; pinyin: Dà Xiăo) differentiated by both colours and their characters/patterns. The big suit is red and the small suit is black.

The cards belonging to the big suit always carry three points more than those of the small suit if the meld (see below) carries points at all.

Melds — When a player discards a card, any other player may "call" for it in order to complete a meld (a certain set of three or four cards) in their own hands. When a meld is declared through a discard, the player must state the type of meld to be declared and place the meld face up. The player must then discard a card (with the exception that they are making the second meld of four of a kind), and play continues to the left.

The disadvantage of doing this is that the player must now expose the completed meld to the other players, giving them information on the availability of cards left in the deck.

• Duì (simplified Chinese: 对; traditional Chinese: 對) meaning to make use of a pair) — A Duì is a set of three identical cards. If a duì is made by calling a card, a big duì carries three points whilst a small dui carries one point. If it is made in a player's hand during the initial drawing, their carry six and three points respectively.

• Kāi (simplified Chinese: 开; traditional Chinese: 開) — A Kāi is a set of four identical cards. A kāi in the big suit carries nine points and six points in the small suit if exposed; or they both gain three extra points for being concealed in a player's hand.

If a player is forming a second set of kāi all cards (both concealed in their hands and exposed on the table) considered, they should not discard any cards for that particular turn or they will not be able to win the game.

• Chī (Chinese: 吃) — A Chī is a meld of three suited tiles in sequence or any three cards of the same number. They do not carry any points unless they are formed by the numbers two, seven and ten.

When a chī is formed by calling, any melds that contains the card being called need to be exposed to other players as well.

• 2-7-10 The meld 2-7-10 is a special type of chī which can only be formed if they are of the same suit. A black or small 2-7-10 carries three points when exposed, and six if not; a red or big set carries six or nine points depending on its visibility to other players.

• Jiang (simplified Chinese: 将; traditional Chinese: 將) — The pair, while not a meld (and thus cannot be declared or formed with a discard, except if completing the pair completes the hand), is the final component to the standard hand. It consists of any two identical cards.

Gameplay — The game starts by a chosen player (if the first game) or the winner (of the previous game) drawing the first two cards. Each player then draws two cards until the lead has 20 cards in their hand and announces the end of the drawing phase by drawing one last card and discarding the first card. So each player has 20 cards to start with.

Transport

There is a passenger rail line that serves the Mianyang–Chengdu–Leshan inter-city area.

The Chengdu-Leshan Freeway with a total length of 160 kilometers, was finished on January 14, 2000. This Freeway has since become very important to the city's development.

Education

Leshan Normal University is in the city.

Administrative divisions

Leshan from the Dadu River

Map
#	Name	Hanzi	Hanyu Pinyin	Population (2004 est.)	Area (km²)	Density (/km²)
1	Shizhong District	市中区	Shìzhōng Qū	560,000	825	679
2	Shawan District	沙湾区	Shāwān Qū	200,000	617	324
3	Wutongqiao District	五通桥区	Wǔtōngqiáo Qū	320,000	474	675
4	Jinkouhe District	金口河区	Jīnkǒuhé Qū	60,000	598	100
5	Emeishan City	峨眉山市	Éméishān Shì	430,000	1,168	368
6	Qianwei County	犍为县	Qiánwéi Xiàn	570,000	1,375	415
7	Jingyan County	井研县	Jǐngyán Xiàn	410,000	841	488
8	Jiajiang County	夹江县	Jiājiāng Xiàn	350,000	749	467
9	Muchuan County	沐川县	Mùchuān Xiàn	260,000	1,401	186
10	Ebian Yi Autonomous County	峨边彝族自治县	Ébiān Yízú Zìzhìxiàn	140,000	2,395	58
11	Mabian Yi Autonomous County	马边彝族自治县	Mǎbiān Yízú Zìzhìxiàn	180,000	2,383	76

Geography and climate

Leshan has a monsoon-influenced humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cwa) and is largely mild and humid. Winter is short, mild and dry, with a January average of 7.1 °C (44.8 °F), and while frost may occur, snow is rare. Summers are long, hot and humid, with highs often exceeding 30 °C (86 °F), yet extended heat waves are rare. The daily average in July and August is around 26 °C (79 °F). Rainfall is light in winter and can be heavy in summer, and more than 70% of the annual total occurs from June to September.

Gallery

• Leshan
• 

  Night view

• 

  Buddhist temple

• 

  The Leshan Giant Buddha

• 

  Buddhist Monk in Leshan

• 

  Giant Buddha

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  Giant Buddha

• 

  Lingbao Pagoda

• 

  Stairway to temple

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  Buddhist temples

Sister Cities.

• Hervey Bay, Queensland, Australia
• Gilbert, Arizona, United States

See also

• 1786 Kangding-Luding earthquake

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Leshan.

• Official Government Website