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Chengdu has emerged to be one of the premier cities in China. History of Chengdu dates back to the early fourth century BC. This was when the king 9th Kaiming of Shu transferred his capital from Pixian to the current location of Chengdu. History suggests that the king was influenced by the act of King Tai of Zhou who shifted his capital. It is said that - "it took a year to become a town; it took 2 years to become a capital". Keeping this in mind, the city was given the name `Cheng Du', meaning to `become (Cheng) a capital (Du)'. But many of the recent studies differ on the reason behind shifting of the capital. In 316 BC, Shu was conquered by the State of Qin. Qin general Zhang Yi, who was against this conquest, founded a new city. This was the beginning of today's Chengdu. When the Han Dynasty came to power, the city was renamed Yìzhou. Then, through the passage of time, came the era of Three Kingdoms Liu Bei. This brought about the fall of Western Han Dynasty. The Southwest kingdom of Shu-Han was established and the city of Chengdu was made its capital. History of Chengdu is noted for a significant incident. During the rulings of the Northern Song Dynasty at around 960A.D, Chengdu saw the birth of paper currency. As the sun of the Song Dynasty and Ming Dynasty was about to set, two rebel leaders had set up their capitals here. The capitals were known as Dàshu and Dàxi respectively. It was during the Second World War when things took a sharp turn for Chengdu. In order to escape the hands of Japanese invasion, the Chinese Nationalist government fled to Sichuan Province. This created an influx of academics, businessmen, traders and workers to the city of Chengdu. This eventually resulted in setting up of cultural institutions and important industries in the region. At present, Chengdu is a premier industrial base in China.
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