Leshan

Leshan, once called Jiading and Jiazhou, sits where the Dadu, Min, and Qingyi rivers meet in Sichuan province. It is a prefecture-level city and a key transport and regional hub in southern Sichuan, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) from the provincial capital, Chengdu. As of the end of 2024, its registered population was 3.45 million. The city is known for its historical and cultural significance, including the UNESCO World Heritage sites of Mount Emei and the Leshan Giant Buddha—the world’s largest stone-carved Buddha—and for its vibrant food culture.

Written records trace Leshan’s history back to around 700 BC, during the Kai Ming dynasty of the Shu Kingdom. In the early Spring and Autumn period, the Ba people, led by Kai Ming Bie Ling, migrated from western Hubei and settled at the three-river confluence, including present-day Fengzhouba and the Dadu River, establishing a tribal center. From the Qin and Han dynasties through the Wei and Jin, the central government set up Nan’an County, laying the region’s foundation. After the Sui unification, Leshan was part of Meishan Prefecture. In 583 AD, under the Sui’s Kaihuang reign, the administrative system shifted to a two-tier state-and-county structure. During the Tang dynasty’s Zhenguan reign, it became part of Jiazhou. In the Northern Song’s Chongning reign, it belonged to Jiading Prefecture, which governed five counties. Under Emperor Ningzong of the Southern Song, Jiazhou was elevated to a prefecture and renamed Jiading Prefecture—the first use of that name. Through the Song and Yuan dynasties, Leshan’s status rose from prefecture to province (lu), making it the third-largest city in Sichuan after Chengdu and Chongqing. In 1734, during the Qing dynasty’s Yongzheng reign, Jiading Prefecture was reestablished.

In the early Republic of China (1912–1917), Leshan became a county under the Sichuan Provincial Governor’s Office. After Yuan Shikai’s death, Sichuan broke from central authority; by 1918, Xiong Kewu took control and implemented a “Defense Zone System,” decentralizing military, political, financial, and tax powers to local garrisons. This led to 18 years of warlordism and unrest, during which Leshan was controlled by Chen Hongfan, Liu Wenhui, and Liu Xiang, with local officials appointed by stationed troops. Following the Mukden Incident, the Nationalist government moved treasures from Beijing’s Forbidden City to Shanghai, then Nanjing, and a large portion eventually ended up in Leshan—including Emei and Angu—while the rest was stored in Baxian (now Banan, Chongqing). These artifacts were stored in Leshan from July 1939, when the first batch arrived, until March 1947, when the last batch was shipped out. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Wuhan University and Jiangsu Sericulture College moved to Leshan, Sichuan University to Mount Emei, the National Central Academy of Arts and Crafts was established at Renjiaba in Leshan, and Fuxing Academy was founded at Wuyou Temple. Wuhan University left Leshan in June 1946.

After the founding of the People’s Republic, part of Leshan’s area was ceded to Emeishan city in 1958. Until 1978, Leshan had three districts: Shizhong (downtown), Wutongqiao (literally “five-tong-bridge”), and Shawan (sand bay). In 1978, Leshan became a county-level city, and in 1985, it became a prefecture-level city, with Emeishan and other county-level cities under its administration.

Next to the Leshan Giant Buddha is the Oriental Buddha Park, a privately run cultural theme park with thousands of reproductions of Buddha statues and Buddhist-themed carvings. Mount Emei is located within the county-level city of Emeishan, under Leshan’s jurisdiction. The ancestral home of writer, academic, and politician Guo Moruo is preserved in Shawan District.

The Leshan dialect stands out among Sichuan dialects because it retains the entering tone—the fourth tone in classical Chinese pronunciation—which most Sichuan dialects and Mandarin have lost. Unlike most Sichuan dialects, which are mutually understandable, the Leshan dialect is hard for other Sichuan people to follow.

Leshan’s food culture, part of Sichuan cuisine, is especially known for its street foods. Typical specialties include malatang (spicy numbing hot pot bowl), boboji (skewered chicken in chili broth), shaokao (street BBQ skewers), Qianwei bobing (thin pancakes with fillings), Qianwei doufugan/kaka’er (crispy dried tofu with fillings and sweet-and-sour chili sauce), ka bing (savory grilled flatbread with beef), doufunao (silken tofu custard broth), tianpiya (sweet-skinned duck), yanxunya (smoked duck), qiaojiao niurou (beef and offals in herbal broth, also called “foot-lift beef”), xiba doufu (Xiba tofu), youzha (deep-fried street skewers), ye’er ba (sticky rice dumplings wrapped in leaves), and linjiang shansi (shredded eel in chili sauce).

Leshan is served by the Chengdu–Mianyang–Leshan intercity railway and the Chengdu–Guiyang high-speed railway. The G0512 Chengdu–Leshan Expressway, 160 kilometers long, was completed on January 14, 2000, and has become a vital route for the city.