Yibin

Yibin (simplified Chinese: 宜宾; traditional Chinese: 宜賓; Sichuanese Pinyin: ȵi²bin¹; Sichuanese pronunciation: [ɲi˨˩pin˥]; pinyin: Yíbīn; Wade–Giles: I-pin) is a prefecture-level city in the southeastern part of Sichuan province, People's Republic of China, located at the junction of the Min and Yangtze Rivers.

Its population was 4,471,840 inhabitants according to the 2010 census of whom 836,340 lived in the built-up (or metro) area made of Cuiping District. One can notice that Yibin County is being conurbated soon as urbanisation sprawls in the southwestern direction.

History

Human habitation of Yibin dates back at least 40,000 years. Yibin was established as a county in the Han dynasty (206 BC − AD 220).

It was previously known as Suifu or Suifoo.

Geography

Yibin is located in the southeast 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 kilometres (5,129 sq mi). The city ranges in latitude from 27° 50'−29° 16' N, and in longitude from 103° 36'−105° 20' E, stretching 153 km (95 mi) east-west and 150 km (93 mi) north-south.