Zigong (simplified Chinese: 自贡; traditional Chinese: 自貢; pinyin: Zìgòng; Wade–Giles: Tzu-kung), ancient name Ziliujin, is a prefecture-level city and the third largest city in Sichuan Province, in southwest China. Granted the recognition as one of the Historical and Cultural Cities of China by the State Council of the People's Republic. Zigong has long been renowned as "Salt City" for its brine extraction techniques and the attendant salt-related culture. It has had the Zigong Salt Museum since 1736. Zigong's population of 3.2 million (for comparison - it's slightly larger than the American metropolitan area of San Diego, California).

The area of Zigong has a long history in ancient China - with the invention and development of "Precussion Drilling" being one of the city's accomplishments. The city of Zigong is actuallly a combination of two ancient cities and land from four previous counties in the Sichuan province that was named Zigong in 1935. The name "Zigong" is a combination of the name of the two ancient Chinese cities.

The new city of Zigong has been modernizing since the late 1970s - but more rapidly since the early 1990s. There are essentially two cities - that of the old and the new. That is to say there is the old "Salt" city and a new "Tourism" city which caters primarily to Chinese tourists (as Zigong is better known within mainland China).

The Fuxi river, a tributary to the Yangtze River, snakes through the city's core.

In 1980s, vast dinosaur fossils were excavated in Dashanpu, 7 km from downtown Zigong. Because of the unique and intact bone remains, Zigong has ever since been attracting paleontologists and dinosaur enthusiasts from around the world. In 1987, the Zigong Dinosaur Museum was established, becoming the first specialized dinosaur museum open in Asia. Mounted specimens include Omeisaurus, Gigantspinosaurus, Yangchuanosaurus, Huayangosaurus and Xiaosaurus.

File:Yangchuanosauru.jpg

Zigong is the originator of the Chinese Latern Festival - which has been copied in Beijing, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. As one of the Historical and Cultural Cities of China, Zigong is called "Lantern Town in the South Kingdom". In recent years, although the annual lantern show forces the local residents endure unpredictable and extended blackouts during China's Spring Festival, the lantern festival is a boon for tourism in the remote but tranquil city and generates large revenues for the local government. The pattern of Lantern Show, a paradigm of China's festival economy, has been copied throughout China, which dilutes the uniqueness of Zigong's original version.

The people of Zigong have been drilling and mining the area since before the Han Dynasty (76-88 A.D.) to extract salt from brine. The brine aquifers in the area have salinity of at least 50 grams per liter. Once the brine is retrieved it's then boiled until the water evaporates leaving the salt. Early methods involved digging large pits in the earth. Later methods involved very innovative drilling and pumping methods. A byproduct of the drilling and resulting wells was natural gas - which was primarily used onsite to boil the brine and extract the salt. The salt Zigong produced was very rich in taste and was served to the Emporer of China as a tribute.

Salt production via boreholes was once prevalent in the entire Sichuan area - but for several factors (war, rebellion, taxes, wells drying up) Zigong became center of production. Salt wells in Zigong were deeper and had better brine salinity - making for better yields in the salt extraction process. The method in which boreholes were drilled is significant. Wealthy families of the city of Jingyan invented deep percussion drilling techniques used in Zigong - 400 years before the Europeans. The miners of Zigong refined the techniques of deep borehole drilling. Later, Europeans copied and further refined the percussion drilling methods.

Salt became an engine of commerce and wealth for Zigong. There were cheaper methods for salt production, as to start a borehole well cost 3,000 pieces of silver, but transportation cost into the Sichuan valley negated the cheaper production methods (as they usually involved sea water). Zigong is located in the central Chinese Sichuan province, which was a large mountain plateau and somewhat isolated. Before refrigeration was available salt was a key chemical to preserving vegetables, meat, and fish. Because of the factors mentioned above (war, wells drying up, and a rebellion) Zigong became a significant supplier of salt to the Sichuan province up until the 1930s. Today, only one traditional salt well still exists, the Xinhai Well, as a tribute to the workers and industry. The Xinhai Well (Bore depth: 1,001 meters) still operates using the older manual methods of pumping and boiling. In the modern day, Zigong is a primary source for Natural Gas, Coal, and Inorganic Chemical Production in addition to salt.

A historic teahouse, which was built by the salt merchants, and was popular during the height of the salt trade, still stands along a bend in the Fuxi River which runs through the center of Zigong. The structure has classic Chinese architecture still operates today. The teahouse is located around the corner from the Zigong Salt Museum and is in fact part of the museum that is used to generate funds for the museum.

Along the Fuxi river are several stone paved roads that are called the "ancient streets". This section of Zigong has traditional houses and shops, typical of life in the days that Zigong was a bustling Salt trade center. Several salt well heads are capped and marked along the streets that wind along the river. At the end of the street is a hand rowed ferry boat that takes a visitor to the opposite shore where stone steps led up into the city.

Zigong not only has it's own local dialect(Zigong-wa) but also some local dishes. Some are common to the [Sichuan] area (see [Szechuan cuisine] with local variation - but also some unique local recipies.

• [Sichuan Hot Pot]
• [Twice Cooked Pork]
• [Pepper Beef]
• [Map Dofu]
• Diced Rabbit in Hot Pepper Oil
• Frog
• Fried Eel with Hot Peppers
• Turtle Soup
• Duck in a Hot Pepper Oil
• Rice and Noodles
• Various Teas

• The Merchants of Zigong - Industrial Entrepreneurship In Early Modern China by Madeleine Zelin, Columbia Press (ISBN: 0-231-13596-3)
• "The Great Well of China" by Hans Ulrich Vogel, Scientific American, June 1993

• Zigong Dinosaur Museum
• Zigong Latern Festival
• Official Chinese Site for Zigong Dinosaur Museum
• Zigong Latern and Exhibition Company

Since the first century, thousands of pre-eminent people have been calling Zigong home. Among them the most famous individuals are Wu Yuzhang, Gao Ming, Liu Guangdi, Jiang Zhujun, Zou Nian, and Wei Minglun.

29°24′N 104°47′E / 29.400°N 104.783°E / 29.400; 104.783