SZE-CHUEN, or SZE-CHUAN, se'chwiin' (Chin., Four Rivers). The largest of the eighteen provinces of China. It is bounded on the north by Kan-su and Shen-si, on the east by Hu-pelf, on the south by Kwei-chow and Yunnan, and on the west by Tibet (Map: China, B 5). Area, 220, 000 square miles. With the exception of the elevated plain of Ching-tu (q.v.), 2-100 square miles in area, and 1800 feet above the level of the sea, the province is entirely covered with mountains, many of them rising above the snow line. The eastern portion, east of the Min River, may be regarded as Sze-ehuen proper, the western and more inaccessible part being inhabit ed chiefly by non-Chinese tribes—Man-tse, Si-fan, and Lobos (q.v.). The province is well watered by the Yang-tse and its numerous tributaries—the Yalung. the Min, the T'o, and the Kia-ling from the north, and the Ta-kwan, the Nan-kwang, the Yung-ning, the Chi1lrglm, the Kli-kiang, and the Kung-Van from the south. Nearly all of these are obstructed in parts by rapids. hut they nevertheless form most valuable avenues of com munication in an otherwise difficult country. The climate is not extreme. but changes are sud den. From October to February the country is generally enveloped in deep fogs and the sun is seldom seen. The rainy season begins in May and is at its height in July.
Sze-chuen is rich in minerals, especially in coal and iron, which oeeur together. Coal is found everywhere, hut the seams are thin and the quality does not compare with the coal of Kan-su. Shansi, Ho-nan. or even Hu-nan. It has not as yet been mined by modern methods. Cop per, silver, gold, and lead occur in small quanti ties. Notwithstanding the mountainous char acter of the country, agriculture has been brought to a high state of perfection, and the province produces everything needed for home consumption except cotton and wool. The hill sides in many places have been terraced with much industry and skill. Wheat is a winter crop, but it has been largely encroached on by poppy culture, which is more remunerative. Rice, the staple article of diet, is very exten sively grown. Other crops are barley, maize, millet, buckwheat, pulse, potatoes, tobacco of very fine quality, tea, sugar, indigo, and sesa mum. rape and other oil-producing plants. Hemp
is the only textile plant grown, except that used in the manufacture of grass-cloth.
Other important. products are silk, white wax, vegetable tallow, tung-oil, rhubarb, medicines, musk:and hides. Wool is imported from Shensi, Tibet, Kokonor, and other regions. Cotton, both raw and manufactured, comes chiefly from Hu pelf. Cotton spinning and weaving are important home industries. and the cloth is exported to Tibet and Yun-nan, along with tea and silk. Iron manufacture from the ores of the province is one of the most extemdve industries. Enormous quantities of salt are obtained from brine-springs from 500 to 2000 or more feet in depth, the brine being evaporated by natural gas or coal. It is a Government monopoly, and brings in a large reve nue to both the provincial and the Imperial gov ernments. Large numbers of people are also employed in paper-making and the production of fans, umbrellas, crape, gauze, and beautiful silk embroideries, etc.
Sze-ehuen can he entered from the east by only two routes: either overland through Shan-si and Shensi, along difficult mountain paths infested by robbers, or up the Yang-tse by steam to I-ehang (q.v.) and thence by native, specially constructed, junks which are hauled slowly and at great expense and risk up formidable rapids and through deep gorges. Within the province it self there are many paek-roads paved with. flags, had with steps oft in the rocks at very steep places. For travelers sedans and ponies are used, and for goods coolie carriers. Capital, Ching-tu (q.v.). where resides the Governor-Gen eral, who also has charge of East Tibet (q.v.). The only port opened to foreign trade is Ch'ung k'ing (q.v.). Population, about 70,000,000. The province buys more foreign goods than any other. See Balzer, Travels and llesearahes in Western China (London, 1332) ; Hosie, Three )'ears in Wgstern China (London and New York, 1.390) ; and Bishop, The Yang-tse Valley and Beyond (London and New York, 1901).