Leshan

Leshan, formerly known as Jiading[a] or Jiazhou, is a prefecture-level city located at the confluence of the Dadu and Min rivers in Sichuan, China. Leshan is located on the southwestern fringe of the Sichuan Basin in southern Sichuan, about 120 km (75 mi) from Chengdu. Leshan is an important industrial city in Sichuan, a regional center city in the south of Chengdu Economic Zone, an important hub city, an important transportation node and a port city in Chengdu-Chongqing.As of the 2020 census, its population was 3,160,168, of whom 1,236,188 lived in the built-up (or metro) area made of Shizhong, Wutongqiao, Shawan and Jinkouhe districts. Leshan is a famous historical and cultural city with the reputation of "Begonia Fragrance Country". It is the first open-door city, model green city, excellent tourist city, national garden city and national health city. Leshan has three world-class heritage sites - world natural and cultural heritage Emei Mountain and Leshan Buddha, world irrigation project heritage Dongfengyan and so on. The area of present day Leshan was the seat of historical Jiading city,[4] which the historical Jiading city covered not entirely the same area with modern day Leshan city. Some of the area of Leshan county, was ceded to Emeishan city in 1958.[4] In 1978, Leshan as a county-level city was formed.[4] In 1985, the Leshan prefecture-level city was formed, which Emeishan and other county level cities were under the administration of Leshan.[5] Before 1978, Leshan county-level city had Shizhong (means city centre), Wutongqiao (literally 5-"tong"-bridge) and Shawan (literally sand bay) three districts.[5] The establishment of Leshan prefecture-level city, also saw the disestablishment of Leshan Dìqū, an administrative area that supervisee Leshan, as well as other county-level cities and counties.[5]