Zigong

Zigong (Simplified Chinese: 自贡; Traditional Chinese: 自貢; Hanyu Pinyin: Zìgòng; Wade-Giles: Tzu-kung), 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 technics and the attendant salt related culture.

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.

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 show 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.

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