Zigong

Zigong is a city in China.

It sits in a place called the Sichuan Basin. This area is very wet and foggy.

The city is famous for salt. Long ago, people drilled deep wells to find it. They boiled salty water to make pure salt.

Zigong also has many dinosaur bones. People found them in the ground. Now, you can see them at a museum.

Every year, there is a bright lantern show. It is a very pretty sight to see. It is a fun place to visit!

Zigong is a city in the Sichuan Basin in China.

It is a very wet and foggy place. This is because it sits where an old sea once was. The Fuxi River flows through the middle of the city.

Zigong is known as the "Salt Capital." For a long time, people have drilled deep wells to find brine. Brine is very salty water found underground. Workers used a drilling rig to reach the water. They then boiled the brine in flat pans to make pure salt.

This salt was so good that it was sent to the Emperor. You can still see a traditional well at the Zigong Salt Museum.

There are other wonders to find in Zigong. In the 1980s, people found many dinosaur fossils nearby. Now, you can visit the Zigong Dinosaur Museum to see them.

Zigong is also the home of the Chinese Lantern Festival. Every year, the city holds a bright and beautiful lantern show.

Zigong is a large city located in the Sichuan Basin in southwestern China.

The city sits south of the Sichuan basin hill country. To its east is Luzhou, and to its west is Leshan. The Fuxi River snakes through the very center of the city.

Because the area sits where a vast inland sea once was, it is very humid. This high humidity often creates thick ground fog that can hide the view. The city name comes from two older towns called Ziliujing and Gongjing.

For a very long time, Zigong has been known as the "Salt Capital." People in this area have drilled deep wells to find brine, which is very salty water.

To make salt, workers first use a drilling rig to make a borehole. They drop a long tube down to collect the brine from deep underground. This brine is then moved to flat pans to be boiled.

Workers add crushed yellow soybean to the boiling liquid to remove impurities. Once the liquid boils away, a yellow layer is scraped off to leave pure salt. This salt has a unique taste and often clumps together.

Salt production in this region began a very long time ago. It started during the Eastern Han Dynasty and was very famous during the Tang and Song Dynasties. The salt from Zigong was so high in quality that it was sent to the Emperor as a tribute. In 1835, miners here drilled a well that was 3,300 feet deep. This was the deepest well in the world at that time. The clever ways these miners drilled helped people in Europe later on. Their methods even helped create the modern drilling rigs used for oil today.

Today, the city of Zigong is a mix of old and new places. The urban area has over 1.2 million people living in its four districts.

While many people live in the modern city, others live in the rural areas. You can still visit the Zigong Salt Museum to see how things used to work. One special well called the Shenhai Well still uses old manual methods. It is 1,001.4 meters deep and still operates today. The city also produces natural gas, coal, and many different chemicals.

There are many amazing things to see if you visit Zigong. In the 1980s, workers found many dinosaur fossils in the nearby Shaximiao Formation.

This led to the Zigong Dinosaur Museum, which was the first specialized dinosaur museum in Asia.

Zigong is also the birthplace of the Chinese Lantern Festival. This festival has been celebrated since the Tang dynasty. Every year, the city holds a bright and beautiful lantern show. Even though it is a local tradition, many other cities in China now copy it.

Zigong is a prefecture-level city located in the Sichuan Basin of southwestern China.

The city sits south of the Sichuan basin hill country. To its east lies Luzhou, while Leshan is to its west. Yibin is located to the south, and Neijiang is to the northeast. The Fuxi River, a tributary of the Tuo River, flows through the center of the city. Because this region sits where a vast inland sea once existed, the area is very humid. This environment often produces heavy ground fog that reduces visibility.

The name Zigong was formed in 1939 by merging two older towns. These towns were Ziliujing and Gongjing. The name Zigong combines parts of both original names. Today, the prefecture includes four municipal districts and two counties. These are Ziliujing, Da'an, Gongjing, and Yantan districts, along with Rong and Fushun counties. The city is recognized as one of the Historical and Cultural Cities of China. It is often called the "Salt Capital" because of its long history of salt production.

Salt production in Zigong began as far back as the Eastern Han Dynasty. This industry flourished during the Tang and Song Dynasties. It reached a peak during the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. The salt produced here was of such high quality that it was sent to the Emperor as a tribute. In fact, the chief inspector of the Chinese Salt Administration stated that the best salt in China came from the wells of Sichuan. The Ziliujing District contains these superior wells. For a long time, salt was a vital resource for preserving meat, fish, and vegetables before refrigeration existed.

The process of extracting salt from brine involved complex engineering. First, a drilling rig was used to create a borehole. Workers used a drilling bit and rope to reach deep underground. To collect the brine, which has a salinity of at least 50 grams per liter, a long tube was lowered into the hole. A membrane valve then captured the brine for retrieval. Once the liquid reached the surface, it was piped into flat pans for boiling. During boiling, workers added crushed yellow soybean to the mixture. The soybean absorbed impurities, leaving a yellow layer that was scraped off to reveal pure salt.

Zigong's drilling technology was incredibly advanced for its time. In 1835, miners drilled a well that reached 3,300 feet. This was the deepest well in the world at that time. The miners developed percussion drilling methods to reach these depths. These techniques were later copied and refined by Europeans. Today, the influence of these early methods can be seen in modern drilling rigs used for oil and water. An unexpected byproduct of this drilling was natural gas. Because it was not used for many things at the time, the gas was piped to the salt works to boil the brine.

Modern Zigong is a mixture of industrial roots and new developments. The city reached by rail in the 1950s and is now connected by several four-lane highways. The urban area has grown significantly, with the 2020 census recording a population of 2,489,256. While the total population saw a slight decrease between 2010 and 2020, the built-up metro area grew. The urbanization rate was 57.69% at the start of 2024. The city now hosts the Sichuan University of Science and Engineering and a High Technology Zone. It has transitioned from a purely industrial salt city to a center for tourism and chemical production.

Visitors to Zigong can explore unique historical and scientific sites. The Zigong Dinosaur Museum was established in 1987 after fossils were found in the Shaximiao Formation.

This museum was the first specialized dinosaur museum in Asia. It features specimens like the Sinraptor and Xiaosaurus.

Another landmark is the Wangye Miao Teahouse. This historic building was once a guild hall for salt merchants and sits along the Fuxi River.

Finally, the city is famous for the Chinese Lantern Festival. This tradition has existed since the Tang dynasty. The annual lantern shows bring significant tourism revenue to the region.