Ba–Shu culture

Ba-Shu culture (Chinese: 巴蜀文化; pinyin: Bāshǔ wénhuà) refers to a regional culture centered around Sichuan province and Chongqing city, also encompassing parts of Yunnan, Guizhou, southwestern Shaanxi (particularly Hanzhong). Historically centered around the Yangtze River, it emerged as an amalgamation of the cultures of the Shu and Ba kingdoms after their conquest by the state of Qin in 316 BC.

There are some mythical allusions to cultural heroes supposedly connecting Sichuan to the Yellow River area (i.e., heartland of ancient Chinese culture). But historical references to this region are rare before the annexation of Sichuan by the state of Qin in 316 BC, and prior to that date, the ancient annals treat Sichuan as quite marginal, contradicting the myths. The people of Ba and Shu were literate in Old Chinese, in addition to the undeciphered three Ba–Shu scripts.

The discovery of the Shu site of Sanxingdui in 1986, and Jinsha in 2001 places the Ba-Shu culture's age at over three to four millennia old; consequently, it is considered either a related cultural area of ancient China, or one of the cradles of Chinese civilisation and culture by some historians. Ba-Shu culture has continued to the present day and is nowadays famous for aspects such as its cuisine and Sichuan opera.