Historic city · Industrial centre · Cultural centre · Sichuan
Zigong
自贡
Salt wells, dinosaurs and lanterns in southern Sichuan
Zigong is a prefecture-level city in southern Sichuan that grew over two millennia around its brine wells. In 1835 its Shenhai Well became the first in the world drilled deeper than 1,000 metres; the city is also known for the Middle Jurassic dinosaur fossils of Dashanpu and for its lantern festival, whose lantern makers work worldwide.
Key facts
Overview
Zigong lies on the Fuxi River in the hills of the southern Sichuan Basin. Its name joins those of two salt-producing towns, Ziliujing (自流井, “self-flowing well”) and Gongjing (贡井, “tribute well”), which were merged into a city in 1939.
For centuries its wells drew brine and natural gas from deep underground, using percussion drilling with bamboo cables and derricks of timber; the gas was piped through bamboo to boil the brine. The wealth of the salt merchants paid for guild halls, temples and mansions, and the salt trade shaped a distinctive, heavily spiced local cuisine.
Names and nicknames
千年盐都
“thousand-year salt capital”
For the salt industry that has shaped the city since the Han dynasty.
恐龙之乡
“home of the dinosaurs”
For the fossil beds at Dashanpu.
南国灯城
“lantern city of the south”
For the lantern-making tradition and the Spring Festival lantern fair.
History
Brine wells were being worked in the area by the Eastern Han, and from the Song dynasty small-bore percussion drilling allowed ever deeper wells. When the Taiping war cut off supplies of sea salt to Hubei and Hunan in the 1850s, Sichuan salt was sent downriver to replace it (川盐济楚), and Zigong boomed. During the war against Japan, when coastal salt fields were lost, the city again supplied much of unoccupied China. Zigong became a city in 1939. From the 1970s the fossil site of Dashanpu revealed one of the richest dinosaur faunas of the Middle Jurassic, and in the late twentieth century the city's lantern makers turned a local festival into an export craft.
Eastern Han (25–220)
Early brine wells
Salt production in the area is recorded from the Han period.
1736–1752
Xiqin Guild Hall built
Salt merchants from Shaanxi built an ornate guild hall that now houses the Salt Industry History Museum.
1835
Shenhai Well reaches 1,001 metres
The first well in the world drilled to a depth of more than 1,000 metres.
1850s–1870s
Sichuan salt supplies Huguang
With the Yangtze salt trade disrupted by the Taiping war, Zigong salt went downriver and the town reached its greatest prosperity.
1939
Zigong city established
Ziliujing and Gongjing were combined into a single city.
1987
Zigong Dinosaur Museum opens
Built over the fossil quarry at Dashanpu.
Landmarks
Museum
Xiqin Guild Hall (Salt Industry History Museum)
西秦会馆
Qing guild hall of the Shaanxi merchants with carved roofs and stages, now the museum of salt history.
Historic site
Shenhai Well
燊海井
The 1835 well with its timber derrick and boiling sheds, where traditional salt production is demonstrated.
Museum
Zigong Dinosaur Museum
自贡恐龙博物馆
Museum at Dashanpu with an exposed fossil bed and mounted skeletons of sauropods such as Shunosaurus and Omeisaurus.
Modern landmark
Zigong Lantern Park
自贡彩灯公园
Setting of the Zigong Lantern Festival around the Spring Festival.
Temple or shrine
Wangye Temple
王爷庙
Riverside temple of the salt boatmen on the Fuxi River.
Neighbourhoods
Ziliujing
自流井区
The old centre with the guild hall and riverside temples.
Da'an
大安区
District with the Shenhai Well and the dinosaur museum.
Food
Salt-merchant cuisine
盐帮菜
The local style of Sichuan cooking, known for strong spice, fresh chillies and ginger.
Cold-eaten rabbit
冷吃兔
Diced rabbit fried with dried chillies and Sichuan pepper and eaten cold.
Fire-dried beef
火边子牛肉
Paper-thin slices of beef dried over a fire, a traditional snack.
Fushun tofu pudding
富顺豆花
Soft tofu with a chilli dipping sauce, from Fushun county.
Culture
The city's identity rests on salt: its historic wells, merchant halls and temples form an industrial heritage unusual in China. The lantern festival, with huge lantern sculptures made of silk, porcelain, glass bottles and other materials, is held around the Spring Festival, and Zigong companies build lantern shows abroad.
Getting around
- Zigong station is on the high-speed line from Chengdu to Yibin; conventional trains serve the older station.
- Expressways link Zigong with Chengdu, Chongqing, Yibin and Luzhou.
Day trips
Xianshi
仙市古镇
Old salt-transport town on the Fuxi River with temples and a guild hall.
Shunan Bamboo Sea
蜀南竹海
Hills covered with bamboo forest in neighbouring Yibin.
Frequently asked questions
Sources
- Zigong Municipal People's Government — Zigong Municipal People's Government (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Seventh National Population Census communiqués — National Bureau of Statistics of China (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Zigong — Encyclopaedia Britannica (retrieved 27 September 2026)
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