Wenchuan County is one of the four counties inhabited by Qiang people in China, named after “Wen River”. “Wen” in ancient chinese, it means “Min”, nowadays, the river is called again Min River, or Minjiang River
Wenchuan is administrated by Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province and is located on the eastern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau; on the northwestern edge of the Sichuan Basin, it is about 160 kilometers away from Chengdu and 90 kilometers away from Dujiangyan City. The Longmen Mountains and Qionglai Mountains are located in the northeast and southwest of the county respectively. The Minjiang River and its tributaries Zagunao River, Caopo River and Shoujiang River are the main rivers in the territory and belong to the Minjiang River system. Siguniang Mountain in the west of Wenchuan is the highest point at 6,250 meters above sea level, and the lowest point in Wenchuan is in Xuankou Town, 780 meters above sea level in the southeast. Wenchuan County is 84 kilometers wide from east to west and 105 kilometers long from north to south. The total area is 4,084 square kilometers, and the county seat is 1,236 meters above sea level.
Wenchuan, Maoxian and other areas belong to the Longmenshan fault zone and are still active today. Yingxiu Town in Wenchuan County was the epicenter of the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake. The post-disaster reconstruction project in Wenchuan was completed in 2012. Modern Wenchuan takes industry and tourism as its leading industry development.
Wenchuan County Culture
Many Neolithic sites have been unearthed in Wenchuan. The Jiangweicheng site located at the northern end of Weizhou, Wenchuan County, has been confirmed by archaeology as a Neolithic site in the upper reaches of the Minjiang River. The extension period of the site was divided into three phases. It is estimated that the Yangshao culture in the upper and middle reaches of the Yellow River was introduced into the upper reaches of the Minjiang River in the middle and late stages of the new culture. The faience patterns and the ancient tombs of the sarcophagus excavated are similar to the Majiayao culture in Gansu and Qinghai province. The painted pottery and pottery pots unearthed from the Jiangwei city site and the Chengdu plain site belong to different pedigrees, but the same pedigree of the lace mouth extension sand pot was also unearthed.
Wenchuan County Travel resource
Wenchuan County is rich in natural landscapes and earthquake tourism resources. It is also the southeast gateway of Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture and the place that you have to get through when to go to Wolong, Jiuzhai and Huanglong from Chengdu. It is the nearest county inhabited by Qiang people to Chengdu and its surrounding cities. In terms of Qiang culture, after the Wenchuan earthquake, the state established a national Qiang cultural and ecological protection experimental zone.
The main tourist attractions
Wolong Nature Reserve — a research and main breeding ground for giant pandas
Mount Siguniang — a great place for soft adventure, including hiking in the valley, mountain climbing and trainning,
Sanjiang Ecological Tourism Zone — an amazing place for water activities, such as rafting…
Qiang culture — Luoshan Village Folk Village, Qiangfeng Village, Arzhai, Jiangwei City Ancient Cultural Site
Wenchuan Museum — the largest cultural assistance project in Wenchuan County after the earthquake, including: earthquake cultural relics, historical cultural relics, folk cultural relics,
Yingxiu Earthquake Remains — the remaining from the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake that teaches people how small humans are when facing nature
Dayu Cultural Tourism Zone — Dayu, the chinese of legend whom lead the ancestor of Chinese to build irrigation system
