Neijiang

Neijiang, city, southeastern Sichuan sheng (province), south-central China. Situated on the Tuo River, it is also at the junction of the Chengdu-Chongqing railway and the southern branchline to Yibin (later extended to Kunming, Yunnan province). These railways were completed in the 1950s and made Neijiang an important transportation and commercial centre. The Tuo River is navigable year-round. The expressways built in the 1990s provide the city with further access to Chengdu and Yibin in Sichuan and to Chongqing municipality.

In medieval times the locality was an important salt-producing area, but more recently its name has been associated with the cultivation of sugarcane; it is commonly referred to as the sugar capital of Sichuan. Neijiang and the nearby towns have large sugar-refining plants and also manufacture sweet preserves and alcohol. This industry, formerly done by hand in hundreds of small plants, was centralized after 1949 and modernized; the small local plants now produce molasses. By-products of the sugar mills are used in paper manufacture and also in the production of fertilizer, animal-feed cake, and glucose. In addition, Neijiang has engineering as well as food-processing industries. There are many scenic spots and cultural relics in Neijiang. It is the birthplace of the renowned painter Zhang Daqian. Pop. (2002 est.) city, 334,592; (2007 est.) urban agglom., 1,466,000.