title: Rise of the Tomb Raider

text: One year after the events of "Tomb Raider", archaeologist Lara Croft is struggling to explain her experience of the supernatural on Yamatai and is experiencing posttraumatic stress disorder. Looking for answers, she turns to her late father Lord Croft's research on the lost city of Kitezh and the promise of immortality. Ana, Lord Croft's partner, warns Lara that her father's obsession drove him to ruin and suicide. Lara ignores her and organizes an expedition to the Forgotten Cities in northwestern Syria, hoping to uncover the tomb of the Prophet of Constantinople, a key figure in the Kitezh legend. The tomb is empty, and Lara is interrupted by Trinity—an ancient order of knights turned paramilitary organization investigating the supernatural—and their task force leader, Konstantin. As she flees, Lara discovers a symbol etched into the tomb, which she links to a book on Russian religious history in her father's study at Croft Manor. She learns of an artifact called the Divine Source, said to be capable of granting immortality. After arguing with her friend Jonah Maiava regarding the artifact's existence, a Trinity assassin infiltrates the manor and steals the book, prompting the two to go to Siberia.


title: Rise of the Tomb Raider

text: In Siberia, Lara and Jonah are separated by an avalanche. Continuing alone, Lara discovers that Trinity has made a Soviet-era installation a base of operations in their search for Kitezh. She is caught trying to retrieve the book and is imprisoned with Ana. Konstantin slowly strangles Ana in an attempt to force Lara into revealing what she knows. Upon realizing Lara does not know the whereabouts of the source, Ana reveals herself as a Trinity agent and that Konstantin is her brother. She asks Lara to join Trinity, but she refuses and is taken to the Gulag cells, where she meets a man named Jacob. Together they escape the Gulag with Trinity in pursuit. During the chase, Lara is incapacitated and nearly drowns, but Jacob saves her, and she later agrees to aid him and his people in repelling Trinity.


title: Rise of the Tomb Raider

text: Upon reaching a valley of hot springs, Lara discovers that Jacob is the leader of its inhabitants, the Remnants, and that they are descendants of the Prophet's followers. Trinity repeatedly attacks the Remnant, justifying the slaughter as God's will. However, Lara discovers that Ana suffers a terminal illness and is seeking the Divine Source to cure herself. Jacob warns Lara that the Divine Source is real but not what she expects it to be. Lara remains undeterred and sets out to find the Atlas, an artifact that shows the way to Kitezh. Sofia, Jacob's daughter, warns Lara of the Deathless Ones, the immortal guardians of Kitezh. Lara finds the Atlas located in the archives beneath the ruins of a Cathedral, and is later reunited with Jonah, who was found by the Remnant and brought to the valley. After Lara discovers the path to Kitezh, Trinity forces return to the valley, take the Atlas and capture Jonah. Lara returns to the Gulag to find Jonah, but Konstantin mortally wounds him. Lara brings Jonah to Jacob, who heals him. Upon witnessing Jonah's rapid recovery, Lara realizes that Jacob is the Prophet, given immortality by the Divine Source.


title: Rise of the Tomb Raider

text: With Trinity advancing on the glacier looming over Kitezh, Lara is forced to enter the city on a dangerous path. Reading journals written by a Trinity agent, Lara realizes the truth of Jacob's warning: the Divine Source bestows immortality at the cost of one's self. Trinity breaks through the ice and enters the chamber that houses the Divine Source. With aid from Sofia and the Remnant, Lara battles her way through Trinity towards the chamber. Konstantin ambushes Lara, but she mortally wounds him. Before he dies, Konstantin reveals that Lara's father did not commit suicide but was assassinated by Trinity. Lara enters the chamber but Ana has already retrieved the Divine Source. Jacob and Lara try to reason with Ana to no avail. As the Deathless Ones close in, Ana activates the Divine Source but is overwhelmed by its power, giving Lara a chance to pick it up and smash it to pieces, causing the Deathless Ones to perish. Jacob's immortality is lost, but he is happy his time has finally come. He assures Lara she has made a difference and peacefully disintegrates.


title: Rise of the Tomb Raider

text: Two weeks later, at Croft Manor, Lara and Jonah overlook their next expedition. Lara vows to investigate more of the world's mysteries and thwart Trinity's plans. In a post-credits scene, two weeks before Lara and Jonah leave Siberia, Lara asks Ana if she killed her father. Ana denies it, admitting that Trinity gave her the order, but she couldn't kill him because she loved him. Before she can reveal anything else, she is killed by a sniper, who asks his unseen superior about killing Lara and is ordered to stand down for the time being.


title: Rise of the Tomb Raider

text: If the player reloads their save file after finishing the game, Lara is seen telling Sofia about Jacob's passing.


title: Rise of the Tomb Raider

text: In the "Baba Yaga" downloadable content, Lara investigates a disturbance in the Soviet mine. After fighting off a Trinity patrol, she finds a young girl, Nadia, hiding in a sawmill. Nadia confides in Lara about her search for her grandfather, Ivan. Ivan disappeared while trying to enter the Wicked Vale, a valley reportedly haunted by Baba Yaga, a witch in Slavic folklore. Ivan blames the witch for the death of his wife and wants to kill her. Lara is skeptical about Baba Yaga's existence but, since Nadia is injured, agrees to enter the Wicked Vale and find Ivan.


title: Rise of the Tomb Raider

text: In the Vale, Lara is exposed to a rare pollen with potent hallucinogenic properties. After stumbling through a forest where she is tormented by visions of her father's suicide, she meets Baba Yaga and a pack of demonic wolves. Lara narrowly escapes with her life and finds herself in a small, Soviet-era outpost. She unearths evidence of a secret Soviet biological-weapons project which attempted to harness the pollen, which abruptly ended when the researchers—including Serafima, a biochemist imprisoned in a nearby gulag—succumbed to the hallucinations.


title: Rise of the Tomb Raider

text: Lara deduces that Serafima weaponized the pollen, developed an antidote, and kept her research secret from the military. With Nadia's help, Lara synthesizes a necessary antidote from Serafima's recipe and returns to the Wicked Vale. Resisting the effects of the pollen, Lara finds the injured Ivan at the entrance to Baba Yaga's lair.


title: Rise of the Tomb Raider

text: Unable to leave the Wicked Vale while Baba Yaga controls it, Lara battles the witch under the pollen's influence and destroys its source. Baba Yaga is revealed as Serafima, who was led to believe that her husband, Ivan, and daughter were dead and used the pollen to become Baba Yaga and torment her captors. With Ivan, Serafima, and Nadia reunited, Lara leaves the Wicked Vale.


title: Rise of the Tomb Raider

text: In the "Cold Darkness Awakened" content, Lara enters a decommissioned Soviet weapons bunker, which has been breached by a Trinity patrol. Trinity has inadvertently released an unstable pathogen into the air, which causes the people it infects to regress to a zombie-like state. Men are particularly vulnerable since the virus stimulates testosterone and adrenalin production. The pathogen was created to create an army of unstoppable super-soldiers by a Soviet researcher, all of whose experiments failed. He died in the facility after accidentally releasing the pathogen, proud that he had created a weapon to defend his homeland. With Sofia and Nadia providing support from a helicopter, Lara tries to find the source of the pathogen before an enormous cloud is released into the atmosphere and contaminates the Remnant valley.


title: Rise of the Tomb Raider

text: The women plan to channel the pathogen from three towers into the central tower, detonating it and burning off the toxin. Lara shuts down each tower, collecting equipment, rescuing female prisoners, and eliminating waves of the infected Trinity soldiers before entering the core tower. While fighting off the infected soldiers, she triggers a catastrophic explosion and jumps from the tower to Nadia and Sofia's helicopter. Nadia and Lara watch the explosion as they fly to safety. Although the resulting fire burns the remaining pathogen, documents found in the facility indicate that the release was no accident; Trinity reactivated the facility to acquire a sample of the pathogen, and an agent of Trinity escaped with it before the bunker was destroyed.


title: Rise of the Tomb Raider

text: "Blood Ties" begins with Lara reading a note from her uncle, who says that since her mother disappeared, he is the rightful owner of the Croft estate. With trees working their way into the side of the house and the roof caving in, Lara's childhood home desperately needs repair. She finds her father's safe and searches the manor for its combination, hoping to find his will and thus prove her ownership. She finds artifacts from her past, and finally figures out the combination; however, the safe contains no proof of her ownership. Lara finds her mother's tomb under the main staircase, and with both her parents proven dead, their property passes to her, and she moves back in.


title: Rise of the Tomb Raider

text: "Lara's Nightmare" is similar to "Blood Ties", with Lara's uncle unwilling to give her the manor. She fights off hordes of zombies and skulls before finding the master key. Lara kills a large skull in the main hallway, ending her nightmare.


title: Rise of the Tomb Raider

text: "Rise of the Tomb Raider" was developed by Crystal Dynamics, with Eidos-Montréal providing support. Development of the game began two weeks after the team finished polishing the 2013 reboot. It was led by Noah Hughes and Brian Horton, the franchise's creative and game directors respectively. Rhianna Pratchett returned as the game's writer, and Camilla Luddington reprised her role as protagonist Lara Croft. Bobby Tahouri, known for his work on "Game of Thrones", composed the soundtrack. Development was completed on October 9, 2015, with Crystal Dynamics confirming that the game was declared gold (indicating that it was being prepared for duplication and release).


title: Rise of the Tomb Raider

text: One of the game's intentions was to craft a more "personal" experience for players, and the team wanted to explore the journey in which Lara becomes the tomb raider. She becomes determined to uncover more myths, and convinces the world that they are real at the end of the 2013 reboot; this became her major driving force in the sequel. Although Lara must still struggle to survive, she is more confident and competent. The team tried to find a balance, making Lara more experienced and competent but vulnerable in crisis and appealing to players. They hoped that in the story, players could see Lara's character progression. To indicate her hunger for knowledge, the team adjusted the collectibles; players would learn new languages including Greek, Mongolian and Russian, unlocking new content and upgrades. The new crafting system reflects Lara's resourcefulness, and her ability to use the environment against her enemies highlights her intelligence.


title: Rise of the Tomb Raider

text: Rhianna Pratchett found "Rise of the Tomb Raider" more difficult to write than the 2013 reboot, figuring out Lara's initial mental state and character introduction. Its cast was significantly smaller than the reboot, so more screen time could be given to each character. To help establish the game's tone and visuals, Crystal Dynamics developed a "rippomatic" (a collection of movie scenes). Films included "", which inspired the team about the game's stealth mechanic; "", whose protagonist (Sarah Connor) and Lara Croft are "burdened with a truth that no one believes". "The Edge" and "The Grey" inspired game scenes in which Lara fought bears and wolves. "Hanna" and "The Descent" inspired the game's bows, arrows and pickaxe, and "" and "The Day After Tomorrow" helped the team conceive the game's tundra setting.


title: Rise of the Tomb Raider

text: They worked on improving the story's pacing, which Horton thought as important as the story itself. Several features with gameplay potential but not fitting its context, such as vehicles and an early scene in which Lara battled enemies in a jeep, were cut. The team listened to player feedback about the original game and made gameplay adjustments, such as reducing the number of quick time events, expanding the hunting system, and increasing the significance of traversing and stealth. Cinematic moments and action scenes were retained in the sequel. The theme of survival remained the story's core, with the team modifying gameplay accordingly; the expanded crafting system required players to use the environments more. Crystal Dynamics however avoided making it a survival game; the team felt that it would discourage player exploration. Like its predecessor, "Rise of the Tomb Raider" has a structure similar to metroidvania; the team wanted players to feel that Siberia is a living, dynamic world, and the game not merely a long sequence of events. According to design director Michael Brinker, the team decided to make the game less "grindy" than other titles; players would not be forced to complete any optional content. The skill-upgrades system was overhauled to include more player options.


title: Rise of the Tomb Raider

text: After the developers listened to player feedback, the game emphasized tomb-raiding more than its predecessors. According to Hughes, the team analyzed some of the older "Tomb Raider" titles and distilled their best features while incorporating the reboot's physics-based puzzles. They intended to add more ancient tombs, making players feel like real discoverers and inspiring awe. The tombs were made larger than the reboot, and water puzzles (featured in older "Tomb Raider" games) were included. The puzzles were often interconnected, with the team adopting a nested-puzzle approach. Optional tombs were made more meaningful, giving players unique skills and items rather than just experience points. The difficulty of each tomb slowly increases as players progress.


title: Rise of the Tomb Raider

text: The game world was designed to reflect Lara's distorted mental state, and the team introduced the concept of "ominous beauty" to achieve this. The color scheme was vibrant, reflecting the game's large scale. The team was inspired by other video games and fine art, including Russian realists. They traveled to Yosemite National Park and several locations in Turkey, including Cappadocia, Istanbul and Ephesus, researching Byzantine culture and Greek architecture to design Syria and Kitezh. The team took six months to create the game's snow technology (such as snow tracks and avalanches), which helped increase player immersion in the game. To add variety to its landscape, the team introduced the Oasis (with a dramatically-different look from Siberia).


title: Rise of the Tomb Raider

text: Bobby Tahouri's primary goal in composing the game's music was to support its narrative. Tahouri spoke to Crystal Dynamics in 2012 and contracted to write the score in late 2013, delighted to have more composition time than previous projects. He listened to the earlier games' soundtracks to "immerse [himself] in the "Tomb Raider" world". The soundtrack was recorded in Nashville by a 52-piece string-and-brass orchestra, including cello, woodwinds, dulcimer and a handpan developed by Saraz Musical Instruments. The Siberian music features an instrument similar to a gusli and low-pitched male singing. Dynamic Percussion System middleware creates music as the game is played. Crystal Dynamics signed Karen O and guitarist David Pajo to produce the game's theme song, "I Shall Rise".


title: Rise of the Tomb Raider

text: Camilla Luddington voiced Lara and provided motion capture at a Los Angeles studio over a two-year period. According to the actress, one of the greatest challenges in voicing Lara was having to "yell over wind and snow". Luddington trained for the role, with experts teaching her how to hold the weapons. The team wanted to ensure that Lara's first game for the eighth generation of video game consoles looked good. Spraying Mova fluorescent paint on Luddington's face, they obtained 7,000 points of reference. The team had difficulty developing Lara from motion capture, finding Luddington's footage too realistic, and tried to give the young Lara "subtle" facial expressions. They focused on Lara's physical details in cutscenes, where her muscles tensed as she climbed or her skin became blotchy from the cold. The studio used pose-based deformers to sculpt Lara's "exact shape" as she moved. The team also used wrinkle maps, allowing more natural, realistic movement for the character.


title: Rise of the Tomb Raider

text: "Rise of the Tomb Raider" was powered by the Foundation in-house game engine. The team used global illumination and physics-based rendering to create light and shadows. They used a Horizon WYSIWYG editor, editing text and graphics in a form closely resembling the finished product. The team adopted a "kit-bashing technique", quickly assembling a level with modules and rebuilding it until they were satisfied. To improve the game's graphical fidelity, the team partnered with Nixxes Software (which ported the Xbox 360 version).


title: Rise of the Tomb Raider

text: Square Enix Europe executive Phil Rogers revealed in August 2013 that a new "Tomb Raider" game was in development for the eighth generation of video game consoles. Microsoft announced the game during an E3 2014 press conference, with a scheduled late-2015 release. Later at Gamescom, the company said that "Rise of the Tomb Raider" was an exclusive for its Xbox series of video-game platforms, including Xbox 360 and Xbox One; according to Microsoft Studios executive Phil Spencer, this was a timed exclusive similar to Microsoft's deal with Capcom and Crytek on "Dead Rising 3" and "" (in which both were released for Microsoft Windows). This sparked player outrage from players, who blamed franchise owner Square Enix for the decision. Microsoft's calling the game "exclusive on Xbox for holiday 2015" caused confusion among the gaming press and players. Rogers explained in 2015 that the Microsoft timed exclusivity was primarily due to the company's strong support for the 2013 reboot. Spencer also spoke on the exclusivity stating that he is a fan of "Uncharted" and that they needed something similar in their strategy. Crystal Dynamics head Darrell Gallagher said that the partnership was important in helping the team to deliver the best game they could. Rogers called the arrangement a "natural" evolution and a "tough" decision.


title: Rise of the Tomb Raider

text: "Rise of the Tomb Raider" was released on November 10, 2015, and the Windows version was released on January 28, 2016. Microsoft Studios was the game's publisher for Xbox 360 and Xbox One. An 18-issue comic series, "Tomb Raider", began publication in early 2014. Produced by Dark Horse Comics and written by Pratchett and Gail Simone, the comics bridged the gap between the 2013 reboot and "Rise of the Tomb Raider" and explained the absence of some secondary characters in the sequel. Microsoft released a "Rise of the Tomb Raider" Xbox One bundle, including an Xbox One console, a code for "" and the game. A collector's edition included a 12-inch statue of Lara, a steelbook, a jade necklace and a replica of Lara's journal. A season pass included the base game, additional outfits, weapons and expedition cards, and access to downloadable content. GameStop preorders had exclusive access to the Holy Fire Card Pack, which can be used in the game's expeditions mode. Microsoft live-streamed a Survival Billboard marketing event on Twitch. Eight contestants standing in front of a Southwark Street billboard were subjected to different harsh weather conditions, which were voted by Twitch's viewers. The contestant enduring the weather longest received a ""Tomb Raider"-themed trip". Players could earn in-game rewards by participating (and interacting with) Twitch live-streaming in expedition mode.


title: Rise of the Tomb Raider

text: The game was supported by downloadable content, and its first post-launch update was released on December 4, a month after the game's initial release. It introduced an endurance mode, with elements of a survival game as Lara hunts and crafts items while facing hidden dangers and environmental hazards. The first story add-on, "Baba Yaga: The Temple of the Witch", was released on January 26, 2016 for Xbox One. "Cold Darkness Awakened", the third DLC, introduced a horde mode in which Lara fights waves of infected enemies. A "Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration" edition was released for PlayStation 4 on October 11, 2016. The edition (developed by Nixxes Software and Crystal Dynamics) adds several new features, including a classic outfit inspired by "Tomb Raider III"; cooperative gameplay for endurance mode; "Blood Ties", a combat-free mode in which Lara explores the Croft Manor; and "Lara's Nightmare", in which players fight infected enemies in the manor. The DLC was free of charge to season-pass holders. To promote the "20 Year Celebration" edition, the marketing team hung a jeep from the side of a building in Times Square. "Blood Ties" supported PlayStation VR when "20 Year Celebration" was released, and Oculus Rift and HTC Vive were supported on December 6, 2017. Feral Interactive released the game for macOS and Linux in April 2018.


title: Rise of the Tomb Raider

text: "Rise of the Tomb Raider" received "generally positive reviews" according to review aggregator Metacritic.


title: Rise of the Tomb Raider

text: The game's graphics were praised by critics. Kimberly Wallace of "Game Informer" called them "stunning" and praised Crystal Dynamics for creating detailed environments for players to explore, although she noted several frame rate issues. Spencer Campbell of "Electronic Gaming Monthly" agreed, describing the areas as "gorgeous" and noting that every location in the game looked unique. Justin Towell of GamesRadar praised the game's presentation and appreciated its animation, noting that it was a AAA production. Steven Hansen of "Destructoid" called it one of the best-looking games on the market, although he considered some of the lighting unrealistic.


title: Rise of the Tomb Raider

text: Wallace praised the story for several memorable moments, although she thought it was predictable except for the ending scene. She liked the writers' decision to explore the relationship between Lara and her father and with Trinity, which she found interesting. Campbell criticized the story for being simple and formulaic; it "took too many cues" from "Raiders of the Lost Ark", and its characters were undeveloped and forgettable. Mike Mahardy of GameSpot wrote that the story was emotional and the characters grounded and believable; its mysticism "makes sense within the world they occupy", and he called the story tragic but uplifting. Towell praised the story for several surprising moments and was largely impressed by the voice acting, but was disappointed that the story was so similar to the 2013 reboot. Peter Paras of Game Revolution singled out Luddington's performance as Lara, saying that she imbues the character with a sense of wonderment and determination. Lucy O'Brien of IGN called Lara an "endearing" character driven by "complex ambitions", and described the game's villains as "strong".


title: Rise of the Tomb Raider

text: Wallace found "Rise of the Tomb Raider" combat entertaining overall, and enjoyed the stealth section. She liked the upgrade trees (which accommodate different styles of play), but found later combat sections repetitious. Campbell called the stealth section satisfyingly challenging, and enjoyed the range of player choices. He noted the combat's more-strategic nature, due to its larger arsenal. Mahardy called the combat "superb", praising the game for giving players the freedom to experiment with gameplay mechanics. He found the resource-gathering tedious, but the crafting system well-executed. Towell liked the game's combat and stealth, comparing it to "" and noting that Lara often felt like a "cold-blooded killer" due to the abundance of combat. He felt that there were too many items to collect. O'Brien found some combat sections uninspired, but the new crafting abilities made them more enjoyable. She called the stealth component enjoyable but redundant. Although Hansen liked the addition of stealth, he said that "Rise" did not address the problems with the 2013 reboot (in which Lara was too violent, causing narrative dissonance).


title: Rise of the Tomb Raider

text: Wallace praised the game's abundant side content, finding it intriguing enough to lure her away from the main story. She liked the Metroidvania world design, and the large hubs encouraged her to explore. Wallace enjoyed the expanded tombs and the puzzles, which were deeper and more intricate than those in the previous game. Campbell praised its hunting mechanic, which enhanced the game world. He wrote that the narrative shortcomings were balanced by gameplay complexity, particularly the optional tomb puzzles. Mahardy praised the open hubs' "waterfall structure", where every player action may unlock new possibilities; however, Towell found the hubs filled with aimless, unappealing content. O'Brien called the challenge tombs the game's highlight (paying homage to the older "Tomb Raider" games), despite its shortage of puzzles. Hansen found much of the content "open world busywork", which he compared to the "Assassin's Creed" game series. Paras wrote that the expedition mode was a "real treat", but Oli Welsh of Eurogamer criticized it, saying that there was no reason for the mode to exist other than to please YouTubers and generate revenue from microtransactions.


title: Rise of the Tomb Raider

text: Wallace called "Rise of the Tomb Raider" "better in every way" than the 2013 reboot, and said that the game had high replayability. Campbell was disappointed by the story, but considered the game an overall improvement on its predecessor. Towell called the game a "safe sequel" which took few risks, but had a successful formula; O'Brien agreed that it succeeded in refining its predecessor's formula. Hansen found much of the game's content bloated; although it was an improvement, he criticized it for not fixing many of the original's shortcomings. According to Paras, the "Tomb Raider" franchise surpassed gaming classics such as "Resident Evil 4" and "" after 20 years with "Rise of the Tomb Raider".


title: Rise of the Tomb Raider

text: Some gaming journalists were concerned about "Rise of the Tomb Raider" sales, since it was released on the same day as "Fallout 4" (a highly anticipated game from Bethesda Game Studios, which also had Microsoft as its marketing partner). However, Microsoft believed that the games would not compete with one another. It was the fourth-bestselling game in the UK and Ireland in its week of release, debuting at number four in the UK retail software sales chart (behind "Fallout 4", "" and "FIFA 16"). The game however did not sell well enough in the month after its release to appear on the NPD Group chart. According to Square Enix, its initial commercial performance was "solid"; game director Brian Horton and Microsoft executive Aaron Greenberg said that Microsoft Studios and Square Enix were satisfied with the game's sales. Digitally, the Windows version sold three times better than the Xbox One version in the first month of release. The game had sold over one million copies by the end of 2015,


title: Rise of the Tomb Raider

text: In honor of the 25th anniversary of "Tomb Raider", Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics celebrated each game and spin-off of the franchise with community features, nostalgia, and unseen contents throughout 2021. On its dedicated month, it was revealed that "Rise of the Tomb Raider" had sold 11.8 million in November 2021.


title: Rise of the Tomb Raider

text: Some plot elements from "Rise of the Tomb Raider" were incorporated into the 2018 film adaptation of "Tomb Raider". An announced sequel for that film, which was delayed due to COVID-19, was considered to adapt "Rise". The sequel was cancelled in July 2022 as Metro-Goldwin Meyer lost the film rights to the franchise after its expiration.


title: Rise of the Tomb Raider

text: "Shadow of the Tomb Raider" was confirmed by Square Enix. It is the third game in the rebooted origin story. Eidos-Montréal replaced Crystal Dynamics as the game's lead developer. It was released worldwide on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows on September 14, 2018.


title: Saul

text: Saul (; , ; , ; ) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the first monarch of the United Kingdom of Israel. His reign, traditionally placed in the late 11th century BCE, supposedly marked the transition of Israel and Judah from a scattered tribal society to organized statehood.


title: Saul

text: The historicity of Saul and the United Kingdom of Israel is not universally accepted, as what is known of both comes from the Hebrew Bible. According to the text, he was anointed as king of the Israelites by Samuel, and reigned from Gibeah. Saul is said to have died by suicide when he "fell on his sword" during a battle with the Philistines at Mount Gilboa, in which three of his sons were also killed. The succession to his throne was contested between Ish-bosheth, his only surviving son, and David, his son-in-law; David ultimately prevailed and assumed kingship over Israel and Judah.


title: Saul

text: According to the Hebrew text of the Bible, Saul reigned for two years, but Biblical commentators generally agree that the text is faulty and that a reign of 20 or 22 years is more probable.. In the New Testament book of Acts 13:21, the Apostle Paul indicates that Saul’s reign was forty years.


title: Saul

text: According to the Tanakh, Saul was the son of Kish, of the family of the Matrites, and a member of the tribe of Benjamin, one of the twelve Tribes of Israel. It appears that he came from Gibeah.


title: Saul

text: Saul married Ahinoam, daughter of Ahimaaz, with whom he sired at least seven sons (Jonathan, Abinadab, Malchishua, Ishvi, Armani, Mephibosheth and Ish-bosheth) and two daughters (Merab and Michal).


title: Saul

text: Saul also had a concubine named Rizpah, daughter of Aiah, who bore him two sons, Armoni and Mephibosheth.


title: Saul

text: Saul died at the Battle of Mount Gilboa, and was buried in Zelah, in the region of Benjamin. Three of Saul's sons – Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua – died with him at Mount Gilboa. His surviving son Ish-bosheth became king of Israel, at the age of forty. At David's request Abner had Michal returned to David. Ish-bosheth reigned for two years, but after the death of Abner, was killed by two of his own captains.


title: Saul

text: During a famine, God told king David that the famine happened because of how Saul treated the Gibeonites. The Gibeonites told David that only the death of seven sons of Saul would compensate them for losing their livelihood after the priests at Nob were killed under Saul's orders. David then granted the Gibeonites the jurisdiction to individually execute Saul's surviving two sons and five of Saul's grandsons (the sons of Merab and Adriel). The Gibeonites killed all seven, and hung up their bodies at the sanctuary at Gibeah. For five months their bodies were hung out in the elements, and the grieving Rizpah guarded them from being eaten by the beasts and birds of prey. Finally, David had the bodies taken down and buried in the family grave at Zelah with the remains of Saul and their half-brother Jonathan. Michal was childless.


title: Saul

text: The only male descendant of Saul to survive was Mephibosheth, Jonathan's lame son, who was five years old at the time of his father's and grandfather's deaths. In time, he came under the protection of David. Mephibosheth had a young son, Micah, who had four sons and descendants named until the ninth generation.


title: Saul

text: The First Book of Samuel gives three accounts of Saul's rise to the throne in three successive chapters:


title: Saul

text: André Lemaire finds the third account probably the most reliable tradition. The Pulpit Commentary distinguishes between a private and a public selection process.


title: Saul

text: Having been anointed by Samuel, Saul is told of signs indicating that he has been divinely appointed. The last of these is that Saul will be met by an ecstatic group of prophets leaving a "high place" and playing the lyre, tambourine, and flutes. Saul encounters the ecstatic prophets and joins them. Later, Saul sends men to pursue David, but when they meet a group of ecstatic prophets playing music, they are overcome by the Spirit of God and join in giving prophetic words. Saul sends more men, but they too join the prophets. Eventually, Saul himself goes and also joins the prophets.


title: Saul

text: After relieving the siege of Jabesh-Gilead, Saul conducts military campaigns against the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Aram Rehob and the kings of Zobah, the Philistines, and the Amalekites. A biblical summary states that "wherever he turned, he was victorious".


title: Saul

text: In the second year of his reign, King Saul, his son Jonathan, and a small force of a few thousand Israelite soldiers defeated a massive Philistine force of 3,000 chariots, 6,000 horsemen, and more than 30,000 infantry in the pass of Michmash. After the battle, Saul instructs his armies, by a rash oath, to fast. Methodist commentator Joseph Benson suggests that "Saul's intention in putting this oath was undoubtedly to save time, lest the Philistines should gain ground of them in their flight. But the event showed it was a false policy; for the people were so faint and weak for want of food, that they were less able to follow and slay the Philistines than if they had stopped to take a moderate refreshment". Jonathan's party were not aware of the oath and ate honey, resulting in Jonathan realising that he had broken an oath of which he was not aware, but was nevertheless liable for its breach, until popular intervention allowed Jonathan to be saved from death on account of his victory over the Philistines.


title: Saul

text: During Saul's campaign against the Philistines, Samuel said that he would arrive in seven days to perform the requisite rites. When a week passed with no word of Samuel, and with the Israelites growing restless, Saul prepares for battle by offering sacrifices. Samuel arrives just as Saul is finishing sacrificing and reprimands Saul for not obeying his instructions.


title: Saul

text: Several years after Saul's victory against the Philistines at Michmash Pass, Samuel instructs Saul to make war on the Amalekites and to "utterly destroy" them including all their livestock in fulfilment of a mandate set out:


title: Saul

text: Having forewarned the Kenites who were living among the Amalekites to leave, Saul goes to war and defeats the Amalekites. Saul kills all the men, women, children and poor quality livestock, but leaves alive the king, Agag, and best livestock. When Samuel learns that Saul has not obeyed his instructions in full and tries to justify it by using the livestock to perform animal sacrifices in a self-righteous manner, he informs Saul that God has rejected him as king. As Samuel turns to go, Saul seizes hold of his garments and tears off a piece; Samuel prophesies that the kingdom will likewise be torn from Saul. Samuel then kills Agag himself. Samuel and Saul each return home and never meet again after these events.


title: Saul

text: After Samuel tells Saul that God has rejected him as king, David, a son of Jesse, from the tribe of Judah, enters the story: from this point on Saul's story is largely the account of his increasingly troubled relationship with David.


title: Saul

text: Saul offered his elder daughter Merab as a wife to the now popular David, after his victory over Goliath, but David demurred. David distinguishes himself in the Philistine wars. Upon David's return from battle, the women praise him in song:


title: Saul

text: implying that David is the greater warrior. Saul fears David's growing popularity and henceforth views him as a rival to the throne.


title: Saul

text: Saul's son Jonathan and David become close friends. Jonathan recognizes David as the rightful king, and "made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul." Jonathan even gives David his military clothes, symbolizing David's position as successor to Saul.


title: Saul

text: On two occasions, Saul threw a spear at David as he played the harp for Saul. David becomes increasingly successful and Saul becomes increasingly resentful. Now Saul actively plots against David. Saul offered his other daughter, Michal in marriage to David. David initially rejects this offer also, claiming he is too poor. Saul offers to accept a bride price of 100 Philistine foreskins, intending that David die in the attempt. Instead, David obtains 200 foreskins and is consequently married to Michal. Jonathan arranges a short-lived reconciliation between Saul and David and for a while David served Saul "as in times past" until "the distressing spirit from the Lord" re-appeared. Saul sends assassins in the night, but Michal helps him escape, tricking them by placing a household idol in his bed. David flees to Jonathan, who arranges a meeting with his father. While dining with Saul, Jonathan explains David's absence, saying he has been called away to his brothers. But Saul sees through the ruse and reprimands Jonathan for protecting David, warning him that his love of David will cost him the kingdom, furiously throwing a spear at him. The next day, Jonathan meets with David and tells him Saul's intent. The two friends say their goodbyes, and David flees into the countryside. Saul later marries Michal to another man.


title: Saul

text: Saul is later informed by his head shepherd, Doeg the Edomite, that high priest Ahimelech assisted David, giving him the sword of Goliath, which had been kept at the temple at Nob. Doeg kills Ahimelech and eighty-five other priests and Saul orders the death of the entire population of Nob.


title: Saul

text: David had left Nob by this point and had amassed some 300 dissatisfied men, including some outlaws. With these men David rescues the town of Keilah from a Philistine attack. Saul realises he could trap David and his men by laying the city to siege. David realizes that the citizens of Keilah will betray him to Saul. He flees to Ziph pursued by Saul. Saul hunts David in the vicinity of Ziph on two occasions:


title: Saul

text: The Philistines make war again, assembling at Shunem, and Saul leads his army to face them at Mount Gilboa. Before the battle he goes to consult a medium or witch at Endor. The medium, unaware of his identity, reminds him that the king has made witchcraft a capital offence, but he assures her that Saul will not harm her. She conjures a spirit which appears to be the prophet Samuel, and tells him that God has fully rejected him, will no longer hear his prayers, has given the kingdom to David and that the next day he will lose both the battle and his life. Saul collapses in fear, and the medium restores him with food in anticipation of the next day's battle.


title: Saul

text: Saul's death is described by the narrator (and also in 1 Chronicles 10) but a conflicting account is given by a young Amalekite who lies, thinking to win David's favour. The defeated Israelites flee from the enemy and Saul asks his armour bearer to kill him, but the armour bearer refuses, and so Saul falls upon his own sword. But the Amalekite tells David he found Saul leaning on his spear after the battle and delivered the "coup de grâce." David has the Amalekite put to death, advancing the theme that David will never kill the Lord's anointed king (c.f. 1 Samuel 24, 26).


title: Saul

text: The victorious Philistines recover Saul's body as well as those of his three sons who also died in the battle, decapitate them and display them on the wall of Beth-shan. They display Saul's armour in the temple of Ashtaroth (an Ascalonian temple of the Canaanites). But at night the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead retrieve the bodies for cremation and burial. Later on, David takes the bones of Saul and of his son Jonathan and buries them in Zela, in the tomb of his father. The account in 1 Chronicles summarises by stating that:


title: Saul

text: There are several textual or narrative issues in the text, including the aforementioned conflicting accounts of Saul's rise to kingship and his death, as well as plays on words, that biblical scholars have discussed.


title: Saul

text: The birth-narrative of the prophet Samuel is found at 1 Samuel 1–28. It describes how Samuel's mother Hannah requests a son from Yahweh, and dedicates the child to God at the shrine of Shiloh. The passage makes extensive play with the root-elements of Saul's name, and ends with the phrase "hu sa'ul le-Yahweh", "he is dedicated to Yahweh." Hannah names the resulting son Samuel, giving as her explanation, "because from God I requested him." Samuel's name, however, can mean "name of God," (or "Heard of God" or "Told of God") and the etymology and multiple references to the root of the name seems to fit Saul instead. The majority explanation for the discrepancy is that the narrative originally described the birth of Saul, and was given to Samuel in order to enhance the position of David and Samuel at the former king's expense.


title: Saul

text: The Bible's tone with regard to Saul changes over the course of the narrative, especially around the passage where David appears, midway through 1 Samuel. Before, Saul is presented in positive terms, but afterward his mode of ecstatic prophecy is suddenly described as fits of madness, his errors and disobedience to Samuel's instructions are stressed and he becomes a paranoiac. This may indicate that the David story is inserted from a source loyal to the House of David; David's lament over Saul in 2 Samuel 1 then serves an apologetic purpose, clearing David of the blame for Saul's death.


title: Saul

text: God's change of mind in rejecting Saul as king has raised questions about God's "repentance", which would be inconsistent with God's immutability.


title: Saul

text: In the narrative of Saul's private anointing in 1 Samuel 9:1-10:16, Saul is not referred to as a king ("melech"), but rather as a "leader" or "commander" ("nagid") Saul is only given the title "king" ("melech") at the public coronation ceremony at Gilgal.


title: Saul

text: Various authors have attempted to harmonize the two narratives regarding Saul's death. Josephus writes that Saul's attempted suicide was stalled because he was not able to run the sword through himself, and that he therefore asked the Amalekite to finish it. Later biblical criticism has posited that the story of Saul's death was redacted from various sources, although this view in turn has been criticized because it does not explain why the contradiction was left in by the redactors. But since 2 Samuel records only the Amalekite's report, and not the report of any other eye-witness, some scholars theorize that the Amalekite may have been lying to try to gain favor with David. On this view, 1 Samuel records what actually happened, while 2 Samuel records what the Amalekite "claimed" happened.


title: Saul

text: Two opposing views of Saul are found in classical rabbinical literature. One is based on the reverse logic that punishment is a proof of guilt, and therefore seeks to rob Saul of any halo which might surround him; typically this view is similar to the "republican source". The passage referring to Saul as "a choice young man, and goodly" is in this view interpreted as meaning that Saul was not good in every respect, but "goodly" only with respect to his personal appearance. According to this view, Saul is only a "weak branch", owing his kingship not to his own merits, but rather to his grandfather, who had been accustomed to light the streets for those who went to the "bet ha-midrash", and had received as his reward the promise that one of his grandsons should sit upon the throne.


title: Saul

text: The second view of Saul makes him appear in the most favourable light as man, as hero, and as king. This view is similar to that of the "monarchical source". In this view it was on account of his modesty that he did not reveal the fact that he had been anointed king; and he was extraordinarily upright as well as perfectly just. Nor was there any one more pious than he; for when he ascended the throne he was as pure as a child, and had never committed sin. He was marvelously handsome; and the maidens who told him concerning Samuel talked so long with him that they might observe his beauty the more. In war he was able to march 120 miles without rest. When he received the command to smite Amalek, Saul said: "For one found slain the Torah requires a sin offering; and here so many shall be slain. If the old have sinned, why should the young suffer; and if men have been guilty, why should the cattle be destroyed?" It was this mildness that cost him his crown. And while Saul was merciful to his enemies, he was strict with his own people; when he found out that Ahimelech, a kohen, had assisted David with finding food, Saul, in retaliation, killed the rest of the 85 kohanim of the family of Ahimelech and the rest of his hometown, Nob. The fact that he was merciful even to his enemies, being indulgent to rebels themselves, and frequently waiving the homage due to him, was incredible as well as deceiving. But if his mercy toward a foe was a sin, it was his only one; and it was his misfortune that it was reckoned against him, while David, although he had committed much iniquity, was so favored that it was not remembered to his injury. In some respects Saul was superior to David, e.g., in having only one concubine {Rizpah}, while David had many. Saul expended his own substance for the war, and although he knew that he and his sons would fall in battle, he nevertheless went forward, while David heeded the wish of his soldiers not to go to war in person.


title: Saul

text: According to the Rabbis, Saul ate his food with due regard for the rules of ceremonial purity prescribed for the sacrifice, and taught the people how they should slay cattle. As a reward for this, God himself gave Saul a sword on the day of battle, since no other sword suitable for him was found. Saul's attitude toward David finds its excuse in the fact that his courtiers were all tale-bearers, and slandered David to him; and in like manner he was incited by Doeg against the priests of Nob—this act was forgiven him, however, and a heavenly voice ("bat qol") was heard, proclaiming: "Saul is the chosen one of God". His anger at the Gibeonites was not personal hatred, but was induced by zeal for the welfare of Israel. The fact that he made his daughter remarry, finds its explanation in his (Saul's) view that her betrothal to David had been gained by false pretenses, and was therefore invalid (Sanhedrin 19b). During the lifetime of Saul there was no idolatry in Israel. The famine in the reign of David was to punish the people, because they had not accorded Saul the proper honours at his burial. In Sheol, Samuel reveals to Saul that in the next world, Saul would dwell with Samuel, which is a proof that all has been forgiven him by God.


title: Saul

text: Some Muslims refer to Saul as Ṭālūt (), and believe that (as in the Bible) he was the commander of Israel. Other scholars, however, have identified Talut as Gideon with the reasoning that the Qur'an references the same incident of the drinking from the river as that found in Judges 7:5–7 and other factors associated with Gideon. According to the Qur'an, Talut was chosen by the Prophet Samuel (not mentioned by name explicitly, but rather as "a Prophet" of the Israelites) after being asked by the people of Israel for a King) to lead them into war. The Israelites criticized Samuel for appointing Talut, lacking respect for Talut because he was not wealthy. Samuel rebuked the people for this and told them that Talut was more favored than they were. Talut led the Israelites to victory over the army of Goliath, who was killed by Dawud (David). Talut is not considered a "Nabi" (, Prophet), but a Divinely appointed King.


title: Saul

text: The name 'Ṭālūt' has uncertain etymology. Unlike some other Qur'anic figures, the Arabic name is not similar to the Hebrew name ("Sha'ul"). According to Muslim exegetes, the name 'Ṭālūt' means 'Tall' (from the Arabic "tūl") and refers to the extraordinary stature of Saul, which would be consistent with the Biblical account. In explanation of the name, exegetes such as Tha'labi hold that at this time, the future King of Israel was to be recognised by his height; Samuel set up a measure, but no one in Israel reached its height except Ṭālūt (Saul).


title: Saul

text: In the Qur'an, Israelites demanded a King after the time of Musa (Moses). God appointed Talut as their King. Saul was distinguished by the greatness of his knowledge and of his physique; it was a sign of his role as King that God brought back the Ark of the Covenant for Israel. Talut tested his people at a river; whoever drank from it would not follow him in battle excepting one who takes [from it] in the hollow of his hand. Many drank but only the faithful ventured on. In the battle, however, David slew Goliath and was made the subsequent King of Israel.


title: Saul

text: The Qur'anic account differs from the Biblical account (if Saul is assumed to be Talut) in that in the Bible the sacred Ark was returned to Israel before Saul's accession, and the test by drinking water is made in the Hebrew Bible not by Saul but by Gideon.


title: Saul

text: The historicity of Saul's kingdom is not universally accepted and there is insufficient extrabiblical evidence to verify if the biblical account reflects historical reality. While several scholars believe that the existence of the United Monarchy is corroborated by archaeological evidence, although with considerable theological exaggerations, others, like Israel Finkelstein, believe it to be a late ideological construct.


title: Saul

text: In the "Jewish Study Bible" (2014), Oded Lipschits states the concept of United Monarchy should be abandoned, while Aren Maeir highlights the lack of evidence about the United Monarchy. However, in his books "Beyond the Texts" (2018) and "Has Archeology Buried the Bible?" (2020) William G. Dever has defended the historicity of the United Monarchy, maintaining that the reigns of Saul, David and Solomon are "reasonably well attested". Similar arguments were advanced by Amihai Mazar in a 2013 essay, which points toward archaeological evidence emerged from excavation sites in Jerusalem by Eilat Mazar and in Khirbet Qeiyafa by Yosef Garfinkel. Archeology seems to confirm that until about 1000 BCE, the end of Iron Age I, Israelite society was essentially a society of farmers and stockbreeders without any truly centralized organization and administration.


title: Saul

text: Accounts of Saul's behavior have made him a popular subject for speculation among modern psychiatrists. George Stein views the passages depicting Saul's ecstatic episodes as suggesting that he may have suffered from mania. Martin Huisman sees the story of Saul as illustrative of the role of stress as a factor in depression. Liubov Ben-Noun of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, believes that passages referring to King Saul's disturbed behavior indicate he was afflicted by a mental disorder, and lists a number of possible conditions. However, Christopher C. H. Cook of the Department of Theology and Religion, Durham University, UK recommends caution in offering any diagnoses in relation to people who lived millennia ago.


title: Chengdu

text: Chengdu (, ; simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: "Chéngdū"; , ), alternatively romanized as Chengtu, is a sub-provincial city which serves as the capital of the Chinese province of Sichuan. With a population of 20,937,757 inhabitants during the 2020 Chinese census, it is the fourth most populous city in China, and it is the only city apart from the four direct-administered municipalities with a population of over 20 million (the other three are Chongqing, Shanghai and Beijing). It is traditionally the hub in Southwest China.


title: Chengdu

text: Chengdu is located in central Sichuan. The surrounding Chengdu Plain is known as the "Country of Heaven" () and the "Land of Abundance". Its prehistoric settlers included the Sanxingdui culture. The site of Dujiangyan, an ancient irrigation system, is designated as a World Heritage Site. The Jin River flows through the city. Chengdu's culture largely reflects that of its province, Sichuan; in 2011, it was recognized by UNESCO as a city of gastronomy. It is associated with the giant panda, a Chinese national symbol, which inhabits the area of Sichuan; the city is home to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.


title: Chengdu

text: Founded by the state of Shu, Chengdu is unique as a major Chinese settlement that has maintained its name mostly unchanged throughout the imperial, republican, and communist eras. It was the capital of Liu Bei's Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms Era, as well as several other local kingdoms during the Middle Ages. During World War II, refugees from eastern China fleeing from the Japanese settled in Chengdu. After the war, Chengdu was briefly the capital of the Nationalist republican government until it withdrew to Taipei on the island of Taiwan. Under the PRC, Chengdu's importance as a link between Eastern and Western China expanded, with railways built to Chongqing in 1952, and Kunming and Tibet afterward. In the 1960s, Chengdu became an important defense industry hub.


title: Chengdu

text: Chengdu is now one of the most important economic, financial, commercial, cultural, transportation, and communication centers in China. Its economy is diverse, characterized by the machinery, automobile, medicine, food, and information technology industries. Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport, and the newly built Tianfu International Airport, a hub of Air China and Sichuan Airlines, is one of the 30 busiest airports in the world, and the Chengdu railway station is one of the six biggest in China. Chengdu is considered a "Beta + (global second-tier)" city classification (together with Barcelona and Washington, D.C.) according to the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Chengdu is a leading financial hub, ranking 35th globally the 2021 Global Financial Centres Index. Chengdu also hosts many international companies; more than 270 Fortune 500 companies have established branches in Chengdu. The city also hosts more than 16 foreign consulates, making it the fourth major city to host more foreign representatives than any other city in China after Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. Chengdu is the seat of the Western Theater Command region of the People's Liberation Army. Chengdu hosted the FISU Summer World University Games, an international multi-sport event. It is considered one of the most livable cities in China.


title: Chengdu

text: Chengdu is one of the world's top 30 cities by scientific research output, and home to the greatest number of universities and research institutes in Southwestern China, notably Sichuan University, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu University of Technology, Sichuan Normal University, and Xihua University.


title: Chengdu

text: The name Chengdu is attested in sources dating back to the Warring States period. It has been called the only major city in China to have remained at an unchanged location with an unchanged name throughout the imperial, republican, and communist eras, although it also had other names; for example it was briefly known as "Xijing" (Western Capital) in the 17th century. Etymology of the name is unclear. The earliest and most widely known explanation, although generally not accepted by modern scholars, is provided in the 10th-century geographical work "Universal Geography of the Taiping Era", which states that the ninth king of Shu's Kaiming dynasty named his new capital Chengdu after a statement by King Tai of Zhou that a settlement needed "one year to become a town, two to become a city, and three to become a metropolis". (The character for "cheng" may mean "turned into" while "du" can mean either a metropolis or a capital.)


title: Chengdu

text: The present spelling is based on pinyin romanization; its Postal Map romanization was "Chengtu". Its former status as the seat of the Chengdu Prefecture prompted Marco Polo's spellings "Sindafu", "Sin-din-fu", &c. and the Protestant missionaries' romanization "Ching-too Foo".


title: Chengdu

text: Although the official name of the city has remained (almost) constant, the surrounding area has sometimes taken other names, including "Yizhou". Chinese nicknames for the city include the , variously derived from the old city walls' shape on a map or a legend that Zhang Yi had planned their course by following a turtle's tracks; the , a contraction of the earlier "City of the Brocade Official", after an imperial office established under the Western Han; the (Rongcheng, 蓉城), from the hibiscus which King Mengchang of the Later Shu ordered planted upon the city wall during the 10th century.


title: Chengdu

text: The city logo adopted in 2011 is inspired by the Golden Sun Bird, an ancient relic unearthed in 2001 from the Jinsha Site.


title: Chengdu

text: Archaeological discoveries at the Sanxingdui and Jinsha Site have established that the area surrounding Chengdu was inhabited over four thousand years ago, in 18–10th centuryBC. At the time of China's Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, it represented a separate ancient bronze-wielding culture which—following its partial sinification—became known to the Chinese as Shu. Shu was conquered by Qin in 316BC and the settlement re-founded by the Qin general Zhang Yi. (A Chinese legend explains the town's nickname "Turtle City" by claiming Zhang planned the course of his city walls by following a turtle's tracks.) Although he had argued against the invasion, the settlement thrived and the additional resources from Sichuan helped enable the First Emperor of Qin to unify the Warring States which had succeeded the Zhou.


title: Chengdu

text: In the early stage of the Xia dynasty or even earlier, the ancient Shu Kingdom located on the Chengdu Plain has formed a relatively developed bronze civilization, becoming an important source of Chinese civilization and one of the birthplaces of the Chinese nation. According to records, there were five dynasties in the ancient Shu Kingdom, and their capitals were Qushang (now Wenjiang District, Chengdu), Piyi (now Pidu District), Xindu, and Guangdu. At the end of the Spring and Autumn Period (about the 4th century BC), the fifth King Kaiming moved the capital to Chengdu. According to "Taiping Huanyu Ji", the name of the city is borrowed from the history of the establishment of the capital in the Western Zhou dynasty. The allusions of Zhou Wang Qianqi's "one year, he lived in a cluster, two years became a city, and three years Chengdu", because of the name Chengdu, it has been used to this day. Therefore, Chengdu has become a rare city in China and the world that has not changed its name since its establishment. Some people think that Chengdu is a transliteration of ancient Shu place names. There is a saying that "Guangdu, Xindu and Chengdu" are collectively referred to as the "Three Capitals of Ancient Shu". Nowadays, there are many cultural relics of ancient Shu Kingdom in Chengdu Plain, such as Sanxingdui Ruins, Jinsha Ruins, Yufu Ancient City Ruins, Wangcong Temple, etc. Jinsha Ruins located in the urban area of Chengdu is a peak of the development of ancient Shu culture.


title: Chengdu

text: The ancient state of Shu was the first target to be conquered by the Qin state in the process of unifying the world. King Huiwen of Qin had prepared for this for many years, and opened up the Shiniu Road (that is, the Jinniu Road) from Qin to Shu. In 316 BC, King Huiwen of Qin took advantage of the mutual attack between Ba and Shu, and sent Sima Cuo to lead his army into Shu along the Shiniu Road, and they captured the land in a few months. After that, the king of Qin established three abolitions of Shu Hou, and finally established Shu County, and the county seat of Chengdu County was established in Chengdu, the former capital of Shu. In 311 BC, Zhang Yi of the Qin dynasty built the Chengdu city wall according to the system of the capital Xianyang, and built a large city and a small city. In 256 BC, King Zhao of Qin appointed Li Bing as the governor of Shu County. During his tenure, he presided over the construction of the world-famous Dujiangyan Water Conservancy Project. The Chengdu Plain has been fertile and wild for thousands of miles since then. After decades of operation, Chengdu replaced Guanzhong Plain in the late Qin dynasty and was called the "Land of Abundance", and this reputation has continued to this day.


title: Chengdu

text: During the Han dynasty, the Chengdu economy, especially its brocade industry, prospered, becoming an important source of tribute to the court. The imperial court invested in Chengdu and specially set up Jinguan management and built "Jinguan City" in the southwest of Chengdu, "Jinguan City" and "Jincheng" becoming nicknames for Chengdu. In the second year of Emperor Ping of the Yuan dynasty, the population of Chengdu reached 76,000 households, or about 354,000 people, making it one of the most populous cities at that time. Towards the six major cities. In the third year of the reign of Emperor Jing of the Han dynasty (141 BC), the Wen Dang, the prefect of Shu County, established the world's earliest local government-run school, "Wenweng Shishi," in Chengdu. In the Han dynasty, Chengdu's literature and art also reached a high level. All the most famous literary masters in the Han dynasty were from Chengdu, including Sima Xiangru, Yang Xiong, and Wang Bao.


title: Chengdu

text: In the former Han dynasty, the whole country was divided into 14 prefectural governors' departments, among which the Yizhou governor was established in Luoxian (now Guanghan City, Sichuan), and the governor later moved to Chengdu. In the first year of Emperor Guangwu's reign (25 years) in the Eastern Han dynasty, Gongsun Shu established himself as the emperor in Chengdu, and the country's name was "married family". In the twelfth year of Jianwu in the Later Han dynasty (36 years), the Great Sima Wuhan of the Eastern Han dynasty finally captured Chengdu after five years of war, and his family perished. In the fifth year of Zhongping (188), Emperor Ling of Han, the court accepted Liu Yan's suggestion and changed the provincial governors to state shepherds with actual recruitment and command power. In the fifth year of Chuping (194), it moved to Chengdu. At that time, the Yizhou Provincial Governor's Department was the place where the Hu people in the Western Regions were operating.


title: Chengdu

text: Under the Han, the brocade produced in Chengdu became fashionable and was exported throughout China. A "Brocade Official" () was established to oversee its quality and supply. After the fall of the Eastern Han, Liu Bei ruled Shu, the southwestern of the Three Kingdoms, from Chengdu. His minister Zhuge Liang called the area the "Land of Abundance". Under the Tang, Chengdu was considered the second most prosperous city in China after Yangzhou. Both Li Bai and Du Fu lived in the city. Li Bai praised it as "lying above the empyrean". The city's present Caotang ("Grass Hall") was constructed in 1078 in honor of an earlier, more humble structure of that name erected by Du Fu in 760, the second year of his 4-year stay. The Taoist Qingyang Gong ("Green Goat Temple") was built in the 9th century.


title: Chengdu

text: Chengdu was the capital of Wang Jian's Former Shu from 907 to 925, when it was conquered by the Later Tang. The Later Shu was founded by Meng Zhixiang in 934, with its capital at Chengdu. Its King Mengchang beautified the city by ordering hibiscus to be planted upon the city walls.


title: Chengdu

text: The Song conquered the city in 965, introducing the first widely used paper money in the world. Su Shi praised it as "the southwestern metropolis". At the fall of the Song, a rebel leader set up a short-lived kingdom known as Great Shu (, "Dàshǔ"). Allegedly the Mongols called for the death of a million people in the city but the city's population had less than 30,000 residents (not Chengdu prefecture). The aged males who had not fled were killed while in typical fashion, the women, children and artisans were enslaved and deported. During the Yuan dynasty, most of Sichuan's residents were deported to Hunan during the insurgency of the western ethnic tribes of western Sichuan. Marco Polo visited Chengdu and wrote about the Anshun Bridge or an earlier version of it.


title: Chengdu

text: At the fall of the Ming, the rebel Zhang Xianzhong established his Great Western Kingdom () with its capital at Chengdu; it lasted only from 1643 to 1646. Zhang was said to have massacred a large number of people in Chengdu and throughout Sichuan. In any case, Chengdu was said to have become a virtual ghost town frequented by tigers and the depopulation of Sichuan necessitated the resettlement of millions of people from other provinces during the Qing dynasty. Following the Columbian Exchange, the Chengdu Plain became one of China's principal sources of tobacco. Pi County was considered to have the highest quality in Sichuan, which was the center of the country's cigar and cigarette production, the rest of the country long continuing to consume snuff instead.


title: Chengdu

text: In 1911, Chengdu's branch of the Railway Protection Movement helped trigger the Wuchang Uprising, which led to the Xinhai Revolution that overthrew the Qing dynasty.


title: Chengdu

text: During World War II, the capital city of China was forced to move inland from Nanjing to Wuhan in 1937 and from Wuhan to Chengdu, then from Chengdu to Chongqing in 1938, as the Kuomintang (KMT) government under "Generalissimo" Chiang Kai-shek ultimately retreated to Sichuan to escape from the invading Japanese forces. They brought with them into Sichuan business people, workers, and academics who founded many of the industries and cultural institutions which continue to make Chengdu an important cultural and commercial production center.


title: Chengdu

text: Chengdu became a military center for the KMT to regroup in the War of Resistance. Chengdu was beyond the reach of the Imperial Japanese ground forces and escort fighter planes. However, the Japanese frequently flew in the then-highly advanced twin-engine long-ranged G3M "Nell" medium bombers to conduct massive aerial bombardments of both civilian and military targets in Chongqing and Chengdu. The massed formation of the G3M bombers provided heavy firepower against Chinese fighter planes assigned to the defense of Chongqing and Chengdu, which continued to cause problems for the Japanese attacks.


title: Chengdu

text: Slow and vulnerable obsolescent Chinese fighter aircraft burning low-grade fuel were still sufficiently dangerous in the hands of capable pilots against the Japanese "schnellbomber"-terror bombing raiders; on 4 November 1939 for instance, Capt. Cen Zeliu ("Wade-Giles: Shen Tse-Liu") led his 17th Fighter Squadron, 5th Fighter Group of seven cannon-equipped Dewoitine D.510 fighters in a level head-on attack against an incoming coming raid of 72 IJANF G3M bombers (Capt. Cen choosing this tactic knowing that the operation of the Hispano-Suiza HS.404 20mm autocannon in his D.510 is likely to fail under the g-loads of a high-deflection diving attack), with Capt. Cen pummeling the lead G3M of the IJN's "13th Kōkūtai's CO" Captain Kikushi Okuda with cannon fire, sending the G3M crashing down in flames over Chengdu, along with three other G3M bombers destroyed in the Chengdu raid that day. With the death of Captain Okuda in the air battle over Chengdu, the IJN became the highest-ranking IJN Air officer to be "killed-in-action" in the "War of Resistance/World War II" thus far.


title: Chengdu

text: In mid-late 1940, unknown to the Americans and European allies, the Imperial Japanese appeared in the skies over Chongqing and Chengdu with the world's most advanced fighter plane at the time: the A6M "Zero" fighter that dominated the skies over China against the increasingly obsolete Russian-made Polikarpov I-15/I-153s and I-16s that were the principal fighter planes of the Chinese Nationalist Air Force. This would later prove to be a rude awakening for the Allied forces in the Pacific War following the attack on Pearl Harbor. One of the first American ace fighter pilots of the war and original volunteer fighter pilot for the Chinese Nationalist Air Force, Major Huang Xinrui (nicknamed "Buffalo" by his comrades) died as a result of battling the Zero fighters along with his squadronmates Cen Zeliu and Lin Heng (younger brother of renowned architect Lin Huiyin) defending Chengdu on 14 March 1941.


title: Chengdu

text: Following the attack on Pearl Harbor at the end of 1941, the United States began setting up stations at airbases in China. In 1944, the American XX Bomber Command launched Operation Matterhorn, an ambitious plan to base B-29 Superfortresses in Chengdu and strategically bomb the Japanese Home Islands. The operating base was located in Xinjin Airport in the southwestern part of the Chengdu metropolitan area. Because the operation required a massive airlift of fuel and supplies over the Himalayas, it was not a significant military success, but it did earn Chengdu the distinction of launching the first serious retaliation against the Japanese homeland.


title: Chengdu

text: During the Chinese Civil War, Chengdu was the last city on the Chinese mainland to be held by the Kuomintang. President Chiang Kai-shek and his son Chiang Ching-kuo directed the defense of the city from Chengdu Central Military Academy until 1949, when Communist forces took the city on 27 December. The People's Liberation Army took the city without any resistance after a deal was negotiated between the People's Liberation Army and the commander of the KMT Army guarding the city. On 10 December the remnants of the Nationalist Chinese government evacuated to Taiwan.


title: Chengdu

text: The Chengdu Tianfu District Great City is a sustainable planned city that will be outside of Central Chengdu, and is expected to be completely built later in the decade. The city is also planned to be self-sustaining, with every residence being a two-minute walk from a park.


title: Chengdu

text: In 2019, Chengdu overtook Shenzhen, China's technology hub, as the best-performing Chinese economy. The city has surged in population in the last two decades. Investments into a Europe-Chengdu Express Railway have been made, providing even more opportunity for the city to grow. As a way to preserve farmland and accommodate the growing population of Chengdu, China is building a hyper-dense satellite city centered around a central mass-transit hub called the Great City where any destination within the city is within a 15-minute walk. This proto-type city is intended to provide affordable, high-quality lifestyle, which provides people-oriented spaces that does not require a car to navigate.


title: Chengdu

text: Their current urban-planning focus in the city of Chengdu is to make the city 'a city within a park' rather than creating parks within a city. The Great City falls in line with the Chengdu 'park city' initiative, prioritizing the environment, public space and quality of life. It will consist of 15% park and green space and be situated on a area. Although 25% of the space will be dedicated to roads, one half of the roads will be pedestrian-oriented. This transit system provides direct transport to Chengdu itself. It is expected that the city will consume 48% less energy than cities of similar size.


title: Chengdu

text: The goal of the 'park city' project is to allow a city like Chengdu to compete with Beijing and Shanghai without stripping the city of its character. The city of Chengdu is already known for its focus on quality of life, which includes affordable housing, good public schools, trees and bike lanes. However, this project is considered an urban renewal project, and to carry out this project, demolitions and forced evictions are occurring. The Great City may be, in part, compensation for urban renewal project going on in Chengdu. The Great City fulfills the need for affordable housing as Chengdu carries out demolitions.


title: Chengdu

text: Northwest Chengdu is bordered by the high and steep Longmen Mountains in the north-west and in the west by the Qionglai Mountains, the elevation of which exceeds and includes Miao Jiling () and Xiling Snow Mountain (). The western mountainous area is also home to a large primitive forest with abundant biological resources and a giant panda habitat. East of Chengdu stands the low Longquan Mountains and the west bordering area of the hilly land of middle reaches of Min River, an area noted by several converging rivers. Since ancient times, Chengdu has been known as "the Abundant Land" owing to its fertile soil, favorable climate, and novel Dujiangyan Irrigation System.


title: Chengdu

text: Chengdu is located at the western edge of the Sichuan Basin and sits on the Chengdu Plain; the dominating terrain is plains. The prefecture ranges in latitude from 30° 05' to 31° 26' N, while its longitude ranges from 102° 54' to 104° 53' E, stretching for from east to west and south to north, administering of land. Neighboring prefectures are Deyang (NE), Ziyang (SE), Meishan (S), Ya'an (SW), and the Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture (N). The urban area, with an elevation of , features a few rivers, three of them being the Jin, Fu, and Sha Rivers. Outside of the immediate urban area, the topography becomes more complex: to the east lies the Longquan Mountains () and the Penzhong Hills (); to the west lie the Qionglai Mountains, which rise to in Dayi County. The lowest point in Chengdu Prefecture, at , lies in the southeast in Jintang County.


title: Chengdu

text: Chengdu has a monsoon-influenced humid subtropical climate (Köppen "Cwa") and is largely warm with high relative humidity all year. It has four distinct seasons, with moderate rainfall concentrated mainly in the warmer months, and relieved from both sweltering summers and freezing winters. The Qin Mountains (Qinling) to the far north help shield the city from cold Siberian winds in the winter; because of this, the short winter is milder than in the Lower Yangtze. The 24-hour daily mean temperature in January is , and snow is rare but there are a few periods of frost each winter. The summer is hot and humid, but not to the extent of the "Three Furnaces" cities of Chongqing, Wuhan, and Nanjing, all of which lie in the Yangtze basin. The 24-hour daily mean temperature in July and August is around , with afternoon highs sometimes reaching ; sustained heat as found in much of eastern China is rare. Rainfall occurs most frequently and is concentrated in July and August, with very little of it in the cooler months. Chengdu also has one of the lowest annual sunshine totals nationally, with less sunshine annually than much of Northern Europe, and most days are overcast even if without rain. This is especially so in the winter months, when it is nearly continuously grey, compounded by the poor air quality. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 16 percent in December to 38 percent in August, the city receives 1,073 hours of bright sunshine annually. Spring (March–April) tends to be sunnier and warmer in the day than autumn (October–November). The annual mean is , and extremes have ranged from to .


title: Chengdu

text: Chengdu is a sub-provincial city which has served as the capital of Sichuan since Chongqing's restoration to provincial status in 1997. It has direct jurisdiction over 12 districts, 5 county-level cities and 3 counties:


title: Chengdu

text: As of July 2013, the world's largest building in terms of floor area, the New Century Global Center is located in the city. The structure is in size with of floor area, housing retail outlets, a movie theaters, offices, hotels, a water park with artificial beach and waves and a Mediterranean-style village comprising a large 5-star hotel, a skating rink and a 15,000-spot parking area.


title: Chengdu

text: The ancient fortress wall of Chengdu, high and long, was built during the Qing Dynasty. Surrounding the city, the wall's bottom measures wide while the top measures wide, almost equivalent to the width of a street. 8,122 crenels, four octagons and four turrets were built on the wall.


title: Chengdu

text: According to the 2020 Chinese census, the municipality had 20,937,757 inhabitants; the metropolitan area itself was home to 16,045,577 inhabitants including those of the 12 urban districts plus Guanghan City ("in Deyang"). Chengdu is the largest city in Sichuan and the sixth largest in China. 21,192,000 for 2021, adding more residents than any other city in the country.


title: Chengdu

text: As of 2015, the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) estimated the Chengdu metropolitan area's population to be 18.1 million.


title: Chengdu

text: Some of China's most important literature comes from Chengdu. The city has been home to literary giants, such as Sima Xiangru and Yang Xiong, two masters of Fu, a mixture of descriptive prose and verse during the Tang dynasty; Li Bai and Du Fu, the most eminent poets of the Tang and Song dynasties respectively; Yang Shen'an, a famous scholar of the Ming dynasty; and Guo Moruo and Ba Jin, two well-known modern writers. Chang Qu, a historian of Chengdu during the Jin dynasty, compiled the earliest local historical records, the Record of Hua Yang State. Zhao Chongzuo, a poet in Chengdu during the Later Shu Kingdom, edited Among the Flowers, the first anthology of Ci in China's history. Meng Chang, the king of Later Shu, wrote the first couplet for the Spring Festival, which says, "A harvest year accepts celebrations, good festivals foreshadow long springs."


title: Chengdu

text: In 2023, Chengdu will host the 81st World Science Fiction Convention, having beat out Winnipeg, Canada, in site-selection voting in 2021.


title: Chengdu

text: During the period of the Five Dynasties, Huang Quan, a painter in Chengdu, initiated the Fine-Brush Flower-and-Bird Painting school with other painters. At that time, "Hanlin Painting Academy" was the earliest royal academy in China.


title: Chengdu

text: Chengdu contains official, Roman Catholic and Protestant congregations, some of which are underground churches.


title: Chengdu

text: In 1890, the Canadian Methodist Mission was searching for more stations in Asia. In February 1891, Dr. , who had been Superintendent of the New York Methodist Mission Society of Central China recommended that Chengtu be its first Mission sight. During the meeting, it was proposed he lead this contingency; having built western hospitals, Boy's and Girl's schools at Missions he established on the Yangtze and Gan Rivers from 1866 – 1888. On 9 May 1891 Dr. Virgil Hart arrived in Chengtu and two weeks later bought a home and had it subdivided into living quarters and a dispensary, for the later arriving Missionary staff to move into.


title: Chengdu

text: On 24 June 1892, the doors of Chengtu's first Protestant Mission Headquarters were opened with over one thousand people of the community attending. The first Methodist religious service was held the following Sunday with only several attendants. The first western dispensary in Sichuan was opened 3 November 1892 with sixteen patients seeking care. The mission site became so popular that a larger space was secured near Chengtu's East Gate in the spring of 1893. This site is where the city's first Methodist church (Sï-Shen-Tsï Methodist Church) and hospital were built. These were later razed by rioting Chinese in 1895 and the Mission staff retreated to Chongqing and later Shanghai to escape the marauders. Dr. Virgil Hart traveled to Peking to demand redress and full payment of retribution was collected from Sichuan Viceroy Liu Ping Chang. The mission compound was quickly rebuilt only to be destroyed once more in the riots of 1901. These were rebuilt a third time and later missionaries would relocate and expand the Boys' and Girls' Schools just south of the city, dedicating the Divinity College as Hart College in 1914; a part of the West China Union University, that is now Sichuan University and the West China School of Medicine (Huaxiyida).


title: Chengdu

text: The Sï-Shen-Tsï Methodist Church near the East Gate would be closed by the CCP and became a grain storage facility. It was reopened as a Three-Self Patriotic Protestant church in the mid-1980s.


title: Chengdu

text: In December 2018 the authorities attempted to close a 500-member underground church: "The Early Rain Covenant Church", led by Pastor Wang Yi. Over 100 members of the church were arrested including the pastor and his wife. The church's kindergarten and theological college were raided and the church's media outlets were closed down. Before his arrest, church member Li Yingqiang declared: "Even if we are down to our last five, worship and gatherings will still go on because our faith is real. […] Persecution is a price worth paying for the Lord". Police are said to have told one member that the church had been declared an illegal organisation. Chinese media were banned from reporting the events. Video footage which found its way onto western social media showed arrests and photographs alleged to be of injuries inflicted by the police. From a photo of . Jiang's detention warrant it appears that the authorities have charged the church's leaders with "inciting subversion of state power", which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years.


title: Chengdu

text: The saying "Shu opera towers above all other performances in the world" reflects the achievement of Sichuan opera and Zaju (an ancient form of comedic drama involving dancing, singing, poetry, and miming). In the city, the first named opera "Bullfighting" was written in the Warring States Period. The first detailed recorded opera was staged in the royal court of Shu Kingdom during the Three Kingdom Period. China's first clearly recorded Zaju was also performed in Chengdu. Tombs of witty Han dynasty poets were excavated in Chengdu. And face-changing masks and fire breathing remain hallmarks of the Sichuan opera.


title: Chengdu

text: The native language in Chengdu is Sichuanese, otherwise referred as Sichuan dialect. More precisely, "Chengdu Dialect" () is widely used in lieu of "Sichuanese" due to the largely different accents of Sichuanese speakers residing elsewhere.


title: Chengdu

text: The distinct characteristic of Sichuan cuisine is the use of spicy chilies and peppercorns. Famous local dishes include Mapo doufu, Chengdu Hot pot, and Dan Dan Mien. Both Mapo Doufu and Dan Dan Mien contain Sichuan peppers. An article by the "Los Angeles Times" (2006) called Chengdu "China's party city" for its carefree lifestyle. Chengdu has more tea houses and bars than Shanghai despite having less than half the population. Chengdu's tea culture dates back over a thousand years, including its time as the starting point of the Southern Silk Road.


title: Chengdu

text: Common side dishes popular in Chengdu include noodles, wontons, dumplings, pastries, tangyuan (sweet rice balls), drinks, salads and soups.


title: Chengdu

text: Tea houses are ubiquitous in the city and range from ornate traditional establishments with bamboo furniture to simple modern tea houses. Teas on offer include jasmine, longjing and biluochun tea. Tea houses are popular venues for playing mahjong, getting a massage or one's ears clean. Some larger tea houses offer live entertainment such as Sichuan opera performances.


title: Chengdu

text: Hot pot is a traditional Sichuanese dish, made by cooking vegetables, fish, and/or meat in boiling spicy broth. A type of food suitable for friends' gathering, hot pot attracts both local people and tourists. Hot pot restaurants can be found everywhere in Chengdu.


title: Chengdu

text: Mahjong has been an essential part of most local peoples' lives. After daytime work, people gather at home or in the tea houses on the street to play Mahjong. On sunny days, local people like to play Mahjong on the sidewalks to enjoy the sunshine and also the time with friends. Almost everyone plays Mahjong with money.


title: Chengdu

text: Mahjong is the most popular entertainment choice among locals for several reasons. Chengdu locals have simplified the rules and made it easier to play as compared to Cantonese Mahjong. Also, Mahjong in Chengdu is a way to meet old friends and to strengthen family relationships. In fact, many business people negotiate deals while playing Mahjong. Furthermore, the elderly like to play Mahjong because they believe Mahjong makes them think and prevents dementia.


title: Chengdu

text: Chengdu claims to have first practiced the modern business model of 'Nong Jia Le' (Happy Rural Homes). It refers to the practice of suburban and rural residents converting their houses into restaurants, hotels and entertainment spaces in order to attract city dwellers.


title: Chengdu

text: Nong Jia Le features different styles and price levels and have been thriving around Chengdu. They provide gateways for city dwellers to escape the city, offer delicious and affordable home-made dishes, and provide mahjong facilities.


title: Chengdu

text: Some of the most popular ones are located in Sansheng Village east of Chengdu, and Nongke Village in Pidu District (), northwest of Chengdu.


title: Chengdu

text: Chengdu's annual Grand Temple Fair is held every year during the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) in Wuhou Shrine, Jinli, the Culture Park, and several other city parks. The 15-day-long festival showcases both traditional Sichuan folk art and modern fashions of the city. Food stalls on site offer over 100 varieties of freshly made local snacks.


title: Chengdu

text: Chengdu's annual Lantern Festival is held every year during the Spring Festival in Tazishan Park in the eastern part of Chengdu. Lanterns of different designs and themes are on display with traditional art performances including Sichuan opera, acrobatics shows, and local talk shows.


title: Chengdu

text: The Dujiangyan Water-Releasing Festival takes place on 5 April each year at Dujiangyan, away from Chengdu. Residents dress up in ancient costumes and read elegies for Li Bing and his sons, in order to honor them for their contribution to the irrigation project they built over 2,000 years ago.


title: Chengdu

text: Fire Dragon Festival of HuangLongXi is celebrated from the 2nd to the 15th day of the first lunar month of each new year.


title: Chengdu

text: The festival originated from South Song dynasty (1127–1279 AD). Celebrations include lighting paper dragons, a lion dance, floating lanterns on the water, and various street activities.


title: Chengdu

text: The South China Snow and Ice Festival takes place from January to March at the Xiling Snow Mountain Ski Resort, west of downtown Chengdu. The festival is popular among locals, especially children, since it rarely snows in Chengdu and people relish the sight of snow. A large variety of snow activities are offered during the festival.


title: Chengdu

text: The giant panda, a Chinese national treasure, is one of the most popular animals in the world. The total number is estimated to be 1,500, including those living in the wild, 80 percent of which are in Sichuan Province.


title: Chengdu

text: A breeding center for giant pandas called Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding was founded in the north suburbs of Chengdu. It is the only one of its kind in the world that's located in a metropolitan area. In order to better protect wild giant pandas, Chengdu has established nature reserves in Dujiangyan City, Chongzhou City, and Dayi County. Sichuan Wolong Giant Panda Nature Reserve, the biggest of its kind in the world, is only outside Chengdu. After the Wenchuan earthquake, most of it was moved to Ya'an.


title: Chengdu

text: Aiming for the conservation of national wildlife, Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding has developed a Chengdu Field Research Center for Giant Pandas of CRBGPB-"Panda Valley". This center creates a natural habitat, possessing up to 700 species of animals and plants for the pandas and provides them a natural environment without human disturbance.


title: Chengdu

text: The western world learned of giant pandas only after a French missionary named David first encountered this species in Sichuan in 1869. Now, the somewhat clumsy giant panda is a symbol representing the World Wildlife Fund. They are also a messenger of friendly communication between Chengdu and international cities. Currently, giant pandas are also reared in U.S.A, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Japan, Thailand as well as Mexico.


title: Chengdu

text: Chengdu has established the world-renowned breeding and research base for giant pandas, which attracts almost 100,000 visitors annually. Covering tens of hectares with bamboo groves and a native-like habitat, the base is the only one of its kind located in an urban area. A museum is open to the public throughout the year.


title: Chengdu

text: On 11 January 2012, six captive-bred pandas were released to a "semi-wild" environment in Dujiangyan, Chengdu.


title: Chengdu

text: Mount Qingcheng is amongst the most important Taoism sites in China. It is situated in the suburbs of Dujiangyan City and connected to downtown Chengdu away by the Cheng-Guan Expressway.


title: Chengdu

text: With its peak above sea level, Mount Qingcheng enjoys a cool climate, but remains a lush green all year round and surrounded by hills and waterways. Mount Qingcheng's Fujian Temple, Tianshi Cave, and Shizu Hall are some of the existing more well-known Taoist holy sites. Shangqing Temple is noted for an evening phosphorescent glow locally referred to as "holy lights".


title: Chengdu

text: The Dujiangyan Irrigation System ( away from Chengdu proper) is the oldest existing irrigation project in the world with a history of over 2000 years diverting water without a dam to distribute water and filter sand with an inflow-quantity control. The system was built by Libing and his son. The irrigation system prevents floods and droughts throughout the Plain of Chengdu.


title: Chengdu

text: Covering a total of over 12 distinct counties and 4 cities, Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries, lie on the transitional alp-canyon belt between the Sichuan Basin and the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. It is the largest remaining continuous habitat for giant pandas and home to more than 80 percent of the world's wild giant pandas. Globally speaking, it is also the most abundant temperate zone of greenery. The reserves of the habitat are away from Chengdu.


title: Chengdu

text: The Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries are the most well-known of their kind in the world, with Wolong Nature Reserve, generally considered as the "homeland of pandas". It is a core habitat with unique natural conditions, complicated landforms, and a temperate climate with diverse wildlife. Siguniang Mountain, sometimes called the "Oriental Alpine" is approximately away from Chengdu, and is composed of four adjacent peaks of the Traversal Mountain Range. Among the four peaks, the fourth and highest stands above sea level, and is perpetually covered by snow.


title: Chengdu

text: Wuhou Shrine (Temple of Marquis Wu) is perhaps the most influential museum of Three Kingdoms relics in China. It was built in the Western Jin period (265–316) in the honor of Zhuge Liang, the famous military and political strategist who was Prime Minister of the Shu Han State during the Three Kingdoms period (220–280). The Shrine highlights the Zhuge Liang Memorial Temple and the Hall of Liu Bei (founder of the Shu Han state), along with statues of other historical figures of Shu Han, as well as cultural relics like stone inscriptions and tablets. The Huiling Mausoleum of Liu Bei represents a unique pattern of enshrining both the emperor and his subjects in the same temple, a rarity in China.


title: Chengdu

text: Du Fu was one of the most noted Tang dynasty poets; during the Lushan-Shi Siming Rebellion, he left Xi'an (then Chang'an) to take refuge in Chengdu. With the help from his friends, the thatched cottage was built along the Huanhua Stream in the west suburbs of Chengdu, where Du Fu spent four years of his life and produced more than 240 now-famous poems. During the Song dynasty, people started to construct gardens and halls on the site of his thatched cottage to honor his life and memory. Currently, a series of memorial buildings representing Du Fu's humble life stand on the river bank, along with a large collection of relics and various editions of his poems.


title: Chengdu

text: The Jinsha Site are the first significant archeological discovery in China of the 21st century and were selected in 2006 as a "key conservation unit" of the nation. The Jinsha Relics Museum is located in the northwest of Chengdu, about from downtown. As a theme-park-style museum, it is for the protection, research, and display of Jinsha archaeological relics and findings. The museum covers , and houses relics, exhibitions, and a conservation center.


title: Chengdu

text: The Golden Sun Bird was excavated by archaeologists from the Jinsha Ruins on 25 February 2001. In 2005, it was designated as the official logo of Chinese cultural heritage by the China National Relic Bureau.


title: Chengdu

text: The round, foil plaque dates back to the ancient Shu area in 210 BC and is 94.2 percent pure gold and extremely thin. It contains four birds flying around the perimeter, representing the four seasons and directions. The sun-shaped cutout in the center contains 12 sunlight beams, representing the 12 months of a year. The exquisite design is remarkable for a 2,200-year-old piece.


title: Chengdu

text: Situated in the northeast of the state-protected Sanxingdui Site, Sanxingdui Museum is north of Chengdu, covering a total area of .


title: Chengdu

text: The main collection highlights the Ancient City of Chengdu, Shu State & its culture, while displaying thousands of valuable relics including earthenware, jade wares, bone objects, gold wares, and bronzes that have been unearthed from Shang dynasty sacrificial sites.


title: Chengdu

text: The Daci Temple, a renowned temple in downtown Chengdu was first built during the Wei and Jin dynasties, with its cultural height during the Tang and Song dynasties. Xuanzang, an eminent Tang dynasty monk, was initiated into monkhood and studied for several years here; during this time, he gave frequent sermons in Daci Monastery.


title: Chengdu

text: Also named Xinxiang Monastery, Wenshu Monastery is the best preserved Buddhist temple in Chengdu. Initially built during the Tang dynasty, it has a history dating back 1,300 years. Parts of Xuanzang's skull are held in consecration here (as a relic). The traditional home of scholar Li Wenjing is on the outskirts of the complex.


title: Chengdu

text: Located in Xindu District, Baoguang (meaning divine light) Monastery enjoys a long history and a rich collection of relics. It is believed that it was constructed during the East Han period and has appeared in written records since the Tang dynasty. It was destroyed during the Ming dynasty in the early 16th century. In 1607, the ninth year of the reign of the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing dynasty, it was rebuilt.


title: Chengdu

text: Located in the western part of Chengdu, Qingyang Temple ('Green/Black Goat Temple') is not only the largest and oldest Taoist temple in the city, but also the largest Taoist temple in Southwest China. The only existing copy of the "Daozang Jiyao" (a collection of classic Taoist scriptures) is preserved in the temple.


title: Chengdu

text: According to history, Qingyang Temple was the place where Lao Tzu preached his famous Dao De Jing to his disciple, Ying Xi.


title: Chengdu

text: The Wide and Narrow Lanes (Kuan Xiangzi and Zhai Xiangzi, or Kuanzhai Alleys) were first built during the Qing dynasty for Manchu soldiers. The lanes remained residential until 2003 when the local government turned the area into a mixed-use strip of restaurants, teahouses, bars, avant-garde galleries, and residential houses.


title: Chengdu

text: Nearby Wuhou Shrine, Jinli is a popular commercial and dining area resembling the style of traditional architecture of western Sichuan. "Jinli" () is the name of an old street in Chengdu dating from the Han dynasty and means "making perfection more perfect".


title: Chengdu

text: The ancient Jinli Street was one of the oldest and the most commercialized streets in the history of the Shu state and was well known throughout the country during the Qin, Han and Three Kingdoms periods.


title: Chengdu

text: Many aspects of the urban life of Chengdu are present in the current-day Jinli area: teahouses, restaurants, bars, theaters, handicraft stores, local snack vendors, and specialty shops.


title: Chengdu

text: Facing the Jinjiang River to the east and leaning against Muma Mountain to the north, the ancient town of Huanglongxi is approximately southeast of Chengdu. It was a large military stronghold for the ancient Shu Kingdom. The head of the Shu Han State in the Three Kingdoms period was seated in Huanglongxi, and for some time, the general government offices for Renshou, Pengshan, and Huayang counties were also located here.


title: Chengdu

text: The ancient town has preserved the Qing dynasty architectural style, as seen in the design of its streets, shops, and buildings.


title: Chengdu

text: Located in the center of downtown Chengdu, Chunxi Road () is a trendy and bustling commercial strip with a long history. It was built in 1924 and was named after a part of the Tao Te Ching.


title: Chengdu

text: Today, it is one of the most well-known and popular fashion and shopping centers of Chengdu, lined with shopping malls, luxury brand stores, and boutique shops.