Agriculture

Most of the population of Sichuan earn their livelihood from agriculture, and a large portion of the provincial exports are agricultural products. Cultivation is characterized by the diversity of crops, intensive land use, extensive terracing, irrigation, the cultivation of zaisheng dao (“rebirth” rice), and the special methods of soil culture, fertilization, composting, and crop rotation.

The basin area of eastern Sichuan is extensively terraced and is often called a “land of one million steps.” The terraces are of varying dimensions but are commonly long narrow strips of land that frequently have rather steep slopes. They are easy to construct because the bedrock is soft and weathers easily. Even 45-degree slopes have tiny steps of terraced land.

Irrigation is widely practiced in the terraced fields, and numerous methods and devices are employed. Among the most spectacular is the ancient Dujiangyan irrigation system of the Chengdu Plain, which dates to the Qin dynasty (221–207 BCE); it captures the torrential flow of the Min River and guides it through an artificial multiplication of channels into numerous distributaries along the gently graded plain. Annual dredging keeps the river level constant. The system—part of a regional World Heritage site designated in 2000—is not only the oldest but also the most successful and easily maintained irrigation system in China. It has freed the plain from the hazard of floods and droughts and ensured the agricultural prosperity of the basin. A special landscape feature of the eastern basin is the dongshuitian (literally, “winter water-storage field”) system, in which large tracts of terraced fields are left fallow during the winter season and are used for the storage of water that is needed in the paddy fields in the spring; from the air they resemble a mosaic of broken mirrors.

Crops range from those of subtropical climates to those of the cool temperate zone. Although Sichuan is generally classified as a rice region, it is also a leading producer of such crops as corn (maize), sweet potatoes, wheat, rapeseed, gaoliang (a variety of grain sorghum), barley, soybeans, millet, and hemp and other fibre crops. Tropical fruits—such as litchi and citrus—grow together with the apples and pears of cool temperate climates. Other principal cash crops include sugarcane, peanuts (groundnuts), cotton, tobacco, silkworm cocoons, and tea.

Sichuan is a national leader in the total number of its cattle and pigs. It is the only region in China in which both water buffalo of South China and oxen of North China are found together. Pig bristles from Sichuan have been an important item of foreign trade for years. About half the inhabitants of the west are pastoral. Their animals include cattle, sheep, horses, donkeys, and yaks.

Sichuan is second only to China’s Northeast as a lumber region. Valuable forests are located on the peripheral highlands that surround the basin area and on the numerous hills within the basin. Western Sichuan still has much of its original forest cover. The most important products from the forests are tung oil, white wax, and various kinds of herbs.