Zigong

Zigong sat over brine and natural gas, and its salt industry developed percussion drilling centuries before the technique reached the West; the Shenhai well, completed in 1835, reached 1,001 metres using bamboo cable, a treadle-operated bit and buffalo-powered winding, and is preserved with its wooden derrick still standing. The same district's rock produced an unusual concentration of Jurassic dinosaur fossils, and the Zigong Dinosaur Museum is built directly over a quarry with skeletons left partly in the rock. The city is known thirdly for its lantern festival, a large winter display of illuminated silk structures that has toured internationally.

History

Zigong was formed by joining two old salt towns, Ziliujing and Gongjing, and is known as the Salt Capital: its well salt was produced from the Eastern Han dynasty, famous in the Tang and Song, and at its height in the late Qing and early Republic, and the percussion drilling rig is counted among its inventions. The railway reached the city in the 1950s (Wikipedia, Zigong).

What you'll find

• The Shenhai well - the 1835 kilometre-deep brine well and its derrick.
• The salt museum - the industry's tools and history in a guild hall.
• The dinosaur museum - Jurassic skeletons displayed in the quarry face.
• The lantern festival - large illuminated silk displays in winter.

When to go

October to April for cooler weather; the lantern festival runs around Chinese New Year, roughly late January to March, which is the busiest and most distinctive time. Sichuan winters are grey and damp.

Practical notes

Sites are spread across the city and need taxis between them. The lantern festival is ticketed and crowded. Zigong is an industrial city with limited other draw.

Nearby

Yibin and the bamboo sea lie south; Chengdu is north.

Key facts