Yibin, Sichuan Province, China

🇨🇳 Yibin (宜宾) is a prefecture-level city in the south-eastern part of Sichuan province, China, located at the junction of the Min and Yangtze Rivers. The built-up area comprises three urban districts.

Human habitation of Yibin dates back at least 4,000 years. Yibin was established as a county in the Han dynasty (206 BC − AD 220). Under the Ming and Qing, the town and its hinterland was known as Xuzhou Commandery (敘州府, 叙州府), which was variously romanized as Suifu, Suifoo, and Suchow.

Yibin is located in the south-east portion of Sichuan at the southern end of the Sichuan Basin, bordering Zhaotong (Yunnan) to the south, Luzhou to the east, Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture and Leshan to the west, and Zigong to the north, and has a total area is 13,283 square km (5,129 sq mi). The city ranges 153 km (95 mi) east-west and 150 km (93 mi) north-south.

The city is located at the confluence of the Min and Yangtze Rivers. Above Yibin, the Yangtze is also known as the Jinsha River. Below Yibin, the Yangtze is known in Chinese as the Chang Jiang or "Long River".

Economy The city's industry focuses on electronics, food products, and power generation. It also produces paper, silk, and leather products. The surrounding region is rich in agricultural resources, growing rice, barley, oil seeds, sesame, and tea.

The largest employer in Yibin is Wuliangye Yibin, a company best known for Wuliangye, a brand of sorghum-based distilled spirits known as baijiu. The Wuliangye Group grew from a small company employing just 300 people in 1977 into a large company employing over 20,000 on a seven-square-kilometer plant. According to an August 2005 article in a securities weekly, the Wuliangye Group is 72% state-owned and provides 70% of the revenues of Yibin City, a major regional centre at the head of the Yangtze in south-eastern Sichuan. In 2004 6,225 retired military worked for the company, out of a total work force of over 20,000. A third of top management positions are held by retired members of the military. Unsuccessful efforts to diversify its business, poor transparency and a murky ownership pictures are among the company's problems today.

Transportation The region's natural waterways provide transportation links with the surrounding area, and Yibin is also connected to Chongqing and Chengdu by rail and express highway. Yibin's proximity to the Yunnan and Guizhou borders also means that transportation to the provinces is available by rail and by bus.

Yibin has three bridges over the Chang Jiang section of the Yangtze and ten bridges over the Jinsha.

Yibin Wuliangye Airport offers flights to Beijing, Guangzhou, Guiyang, Hangzhou, Kunming, Lhasa, Sanya, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Xi'an, and Yichang.

Yibin opened the world's second Autonomous Rail Rapid Transit/"trackless tram" system in December 2019.

Tourist Industry There are several hot springs near Yibin, plus many other tourist attractions. Such attractions include the Bamboo Sea in Changning County and the Xingwen Stone Forest. Yibin is also the confluence of the Min and Jinsha Rivers, which together form the Chang Jiang as the Yangtze River is known in Chinese, from Yibin to Shanghai. Cuiping Mountain Park (翠屏山公园; Cuìpíng Shān Gōngyuán), located west of the confluence of those two rivers, provides views of downtown Yibin.