Chongqing

For other uses, see Chongqing (disambiguation).

Chongqing 重庆
Direct-controlled municipality
Municipality of Chongqing • 重庆市
From top:Yuzhong Skyline , CRT Line 2 Monorail, Chaotianmen Bridge, and Great Hall of the People
Location of Chongqing Municipality within China
Country	People's Republic of China
Settled	ca. 316 BC
Divisions  - County-level  - Township-level	19 districts, 21 county 1259 towns and villages
Government
• Type	Municipality
• CPC Ctte Secretary	Bo Xilai
• Mayor	Huang Qifan
Area
• Municipality	82,300 km2 (31,800 sq mi)
Elevation	435 m (1,427 ft)
Population  (2007)
• Municipality	31,442,300
• Density	380/km2 (990/sq mi)
Demonym	Chongqinger
Time zone	UTC+8 (China standard time)
Postal code	4000 00 - 4099 00
Area code	23
GDP	2010
- Total	CNY 789.4 billion (US$116.6 billion) (23rd)
- Per capita	CNY 22,909 (13th)
HDI (2008)	0.783 (18th) — medium
Licence plate prefixes	渝 A, B, C, F, G, H
ISO 3166-2	CN-50
City flower	Camellia
City tree	Ficus lacor
Website	Template:Zh icon www.cq.gov.cn Template:En icon english.cq.gov.cn/

Chongqing
Simplified Chinese	重庆
Traditional Chinese	重慶
Hanyu Pinyin	Chóngqìng
Postal	Chungking
Literal meaning	double celebration or celebrate again
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Chóngqìng Wade–Giles Ch'ung-ch'ing other Mandarin Sichuanese Pinyin Cong2qin4 ([tsʰoŋ˨˩tɕʰin˨˩˦]) Wu Romanization [zon上chin去] Error: {{Transliteration}}: transliteration text not Latin script (pos 9) (help) Hakka Romanization Tshùng-khin Yue: Cantonese Jyutping cung4hing3 Southern Min Hokkien POJ Tiōng-khèng

Chongqing (Chinese: 重庆), formerly transliterated as Chungking, is a major city in Southwest China and one of the five national central cities of the People's Republic of China. Administratively, it is one of the PRC's four direct-controlled municipalities (the other three are Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin), and the only such municipality in inland China.

The municipality was created on 14 March 1997, succeeding the sub-provincial city administration that was part of Sichuan Province. In 2007, the municipality of Chongqing had a population of 31.4 million. It has jurisdiction over 19 districts, 17 counties, and four autonomous counties. With an area of 82,300 km² (31,800 mi²), it is the largest direct-controlled municipality, larger even than one province and an autonomous region, as well as Taiwan. It is possibly the world's largest municipality by population and one of the largest by area.

The municipal abbreviation, 渝 (Yú), was approved by the State Council on 18 April 1997. Chongqing was also a municipality of the Republic of China administration, serving as its wartime capital during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945). Its abbreviated name is derived from the old name of a part of the Jialing River that runs through Chongqing and feeds the Yangtze River.

The city is one of the cities notable for history and culture in China (历史文化名城), and notably, serves as the economic centre of the Upstream Yangtze area, a modern manufacturing centre and a transportation hub for Southwest China.

History

Tradition associates Chongqing with the semi-legendary State of Ba that the Ba people supposedly established during the eleventh century BCE. By 316 BCE, however, it had been overrun by the State of Qin. The Qin emperor ordered a new city to be constructed, which was called Jiang (江州) and Chu Prefecture (楚州).

Chongqing was subsequently renamed in 581 CE (Sui Dynasty) and later 1102, to Yu Prefecture (渝州) and then Gong Prefecture (恭州). It received its current name in 1189, after Prince Zhao Dun of the Southern Song Dynasty described his crowning as king and then Emperor Guangzong as a "double/repeated happy celebration" (simplified Chinese: 双重喜庆; traditional Chinese: 雙重喜慶; pinyin: shuāngchóng xǐqìng). Hence, Yu Prefecture became Chongqing subprefecture to mark the occasion.

In 1362, (Yuan Dynasty), Ming Yuzhen, a peasant rebelling leader, established the Daxia Kingdom (大夏) at Chongqing for a short time.

In 1621 (Ming Dynasty), another short-lived kingdom of Daliang (大梁) was established by She Chongming (奢崇明) with Chongqing as its capital.

Between 1627–1645, with the fall of the Ming Dynasty, Chongqing, together with the rest of Sichuan, were captured by the Revolts who overthrew the Ming Dynasty across the nation. Later during the Qing Dynasty, immigration to Chongqing and Sichuan took place with the support of Qing emperor.

In 1891, Chongqing became the first inland commerce port open to foreigners.

From 1929, Chongqing became a municipality of the Republic of China. During the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945), it was Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's provisional capital, and the Japanese Air Force bombed it heavily. Due to its mountainous environment, many people were saved from the bombing. Many factories and universities were moved from eastern China to Chongqing during WWII, transforming this city from inland port to a heavily industrialized city. In late November 1949 the Nationalist KMT government fled the city.

In 1954, the municipality was demoted to a sub-provincial city within the Sichuan Province of the People's Republic of China.

On 14 March 1997, the Eighth National People's Congress decided to merge the city with the neighbouring Fuling, Wanxian, and Qianjiang prefecture-level districts that it had governed on behalf of the province since September 1996. The resulting single division was the Chongqing Municipality, containing 30,020,000 people in forty-three former counties (without intermediate political levels). The municipality became the spearhead of China's effort to develop its western regions and to coordinate the resettlement of residents from the reservoir areas of the Three Gorges Dam project. Its first official ceremony took place on 18 June 1997.

In 2009, Chongqing hosted the Second "Chinese Bridge" Chinese Proficiency Competition For Foreign Secondary School Students, organised by Hanban, from the 16 October to 31 October.

• 
  Chinese simple Chongqing (简体中文：重庆)
• 
  Chinese traditional Chongqing (繁體中文：重慶)

Geography

Chongqing commercial skyscrapers

All climatic data listed below comes from the central parts of the city.

Geographic coordinates

Latitude 28° 10' to 32° 13' N, Longitude 105° 17' to 110° 11' E.

Annual average temperature

17.7 °C (63.9 °F)

January average

7.2 °C (45.0 °F)

August average

28.0 °C (82.4 °F)

Historical Temperature range

−3.0 to 44.0 °C (27 to 111 °F)

Total annual hours of sunshine

1060

Annual precipitation

~ 1,140 millimetres (45 in)

Neighbouring provinces

Hubei (east), Hunan (southeast), Guizhou (south), Sichuan (west), Shaanxi (north)

Located at the northern end of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and the eastern limits of the Sichuan Basin, Chongqing is intersected by the Jialing River and the upper reaches of the Yangtze. It contains the Daba Mountains in the north, the Wu Mountains in the east, the Wuling Mountains in the southeast, and the Dalou Mountains in the south.

The city is very hilly and as a result is unusual in China for its lack of significant numbers of bicycles.

Chongqing
Climate chart (explanation)
J F M A M J J A S O N D     21     10 6     20     12 7     35     17 11     106     22 15     160     26 19     161     28 22     177     32 25     138     33 25     149     27 20     96     21 16     51     16 12     27     11 7 █ Average max. and min. temperatures in °C █ Precipitation totals in mm
Imperial conversion J F M A M J J A S O N D     0.8     49 42     0.8     53 45     1.4     62 52     4.2     72 59     6.3     79 66     6.3     83 71     7     90 76     5.4     91 76     5.9     80 69     3.8     70 61     2     60 53     1.1     52 45 █ Average max. and min. temperatures in °F █ Precipitation totals in inches

Administrative divisions

Administrative map of the Chongqing municipality

See also: List of administrative divisions of Chongqing

Chongqing Municipality is divided into forty county-level subdivisions (three abolished in 1997), consisting of nineteen districts, seventeen counties, and four autonomous counties. Before Beijing and Shanghai, Chongqing is the largest of the four direct-controlled municipalities of the People's Republic of China. The boundaries of Chongqing municipality reach much farther into the city's hinterland than the boundaries of the other three provincial level municipalities (Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin), and much of its administrative area, which spans over 80,000 square kilometres (30,900 sq mi), is rural.

Districts Pinyin name Hanzi Previous associationa Banan 巴南区 Chongqing Beibei 北碚区 Changshou 长寿区 Dadukou 大渡口区 Fuling 涪陵区 Fuling Hechuan 合川区 Chongqing Jiangbei 江北区 Jiangjin 江津区 Jiulongpo 九龙坡区 Nan'an 南岸区 Nanchuan 南川区 Fuling Qianjiang 黔江区 Qianjiang Shapingba 沙坪坝区 Chongqing Shuangqiao 双桥区 Wansheng 万盛区 Wanzhou 万州区 Wanxian Yubei 渝北区 Chongqing Yongchuan 永川区 Yuzhong 渝中区

Counties Pinyin name Hanzi Previous associationa Bishan 璧山县 Chongqing Chengkou 城口县 Wanxian Dazu 大足县 Chongqing Dianjiang 垫江县 Fuling Fengdu 丰都县 Fengjie 奉节县 Wanxian Kai 开县 Liangping 梁平县 Qijiang 綦江县 Chongqing Rongchang 荣昌县 Tongliang 铜梁县 Tongnan 潼南县 Wulong 武隆县 Fuling Wushan 巫山县 Wanxian Wuxi 巫溪县 Yunyang 云阳县 Zhong 忠县

Autonomous counties

Pinyin name	Hanzi	Previous associationa
Pengshui Miao and Tujia	彭水苗族土家族自治县	Qianjiang
Shizhu Tujia	石柱土家族自治县
Xiushan Tujia and Miao	秀山土家族苗族自治县
Youyang Tujia and Miao	酉阳土家族苗族自治县

Central Chongqing District

A view of the Yuzhong skyline

^a Indicates with which district the division was associated below prior to the merging of Chongqing, Fuling, Wanxian (now Wanzhou) and Qianjiang in 1997.

The urban area of Chongqing Municipality (重庆主城区市区) includes the following districts:

• Yuzhong District (渝中区, or "Central Chongqing District"), the central and most densely populated district, where government and international business offices are located.
• Jiangbei District (江北区, located in the north of Jialing River)
• Shapingba District (沙坪坝区)
• Jiulongpo District (九龙坡区)
• Banan District (巴南区)
• Dadukou District (大渡口区)
• Yubei District (渝北区, or "Northern Chongqing District")
• Beibei District (北碚区)
• Nan'an District (南岸区, or "Southern Bank District")

Climate

Chongqing has a four-season humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa), with monsoonal influences that typify much of East Asia.

As one of the "Three Furnaces" (三大火炉), Chongqing's summers are among the hottest and most humid in China, with highs of 33 to 34 °C (91 to 93 °F) in August in the urban area. Winters are short and somewhat mild, but damp and overcast. The city's location in the Sichuan Basin causes it to have one of the lowest sunshine totals annually in China.

Due to its position on the Yangtze and strong industrial development, Chongqing is known for its fog and used to suffer from occasional heavy air pollution. Foggy weather is most prevalent during spring and winter days, giving this city a nickname of "the Fog Capital" (雾都). During the Second Sino-Japanese War, this special weather protected the city from being overrun by the Imperial Japanese Army. However, the municipal government has been aggressively trying to improve its air quality in recent years. The so called "blue sky days" (days with air quality within or better than slight pollution) number have been on the rise.

Conditions are cooler in the more eastern parts of the municipality due to the higher elevations there.

Climate data for Chongqing (1971−2000)
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)	10.3 (50.5)	12.5 (54.5)	17.3 (63.1)	22.9 (73.2)	26.9 (80.4)	29.4 (84.9)	32.9 (91.2)	33.7 (92.7)	27.6 (81.7)	21.9 (71.4)	16.9 (62.4)	11.7 (53.1)	22.0 (71.6)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)	5.9 (42.6)	7.5 (45.5)	10.9 (51.6)	15.3 (59.5)	19.1 (66.4)	22.0 (71.6)	24.6 (76.3)	24.7 (76.5)	20.8 (69.4)	16.3 (61.3)	12.0 (53.6)	7.7 (45.9)	15.6 (60.0)
Average precipitation mm (inches)	19.5 (0.77)	20.6 (0.81)	36.2 (1.43)	104.6 (4.12)	151.7 (5.97)	171.2 (6.74)	175.4 (6.91)	134.4 (5.29)	127.6 (5.02)	92.4 (3.64)	45.9 (1.81)	24.9 (0.98)	1,104.4 (43.49)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm)	10.2	9.9	11.3	14.9	15.6	15.7	12.4	10.5	14.4	15.4	12.2	9.5	152
Average relative humidity (%)	83	79	76	76	78	81	76	72	81	84	84	84	79.5
Mean monthly sunshine hours	26.6	36.9	73.3	102.4	110.6	104.4	182.1	203.6	90.8	65.2	41.8	24.6	1,062.3
Source: China Meteorological Administration

Cityscape

Panorama of the Chongqing Skyline, taken from the southeast hills in 2010

Demographics

According to a July 2010 article from the official Xinhua news agency, the municipality has a population of 32.8 million, including 23.3 million farmers. Among them, 8.4 million farmers have become migrant workers, including 3.9 million working and living in urban areas of Chongqing.

This would mean that the locally registered farmers who work in other jurisdictions number 4.5 million, reducing the local, year-round population of Chongqing in 2010 to 28.3 million, plus those who are registered in other jurisdictions but live and work in Chongqing. According to China's 2005 statistical yearbook, of a total population of 30.55 million, those with residence registered in other jurisdictions but residing in the Chongqing enumeration area numbered 1.4 million, including 46,000 who resided in Chongqing "for less than half year". An additional 83,000 had registered in Chongqing, but not yet settled there.

The 2005 statistical yearbook also lists 15.22 million (49.82%) males and 15.33 million (50.18%) females.

It terms of age distribution in 2004, of the 30.55 million total population, 6.4 million (20.88%) were age 0-14, 20.7 million (67.69%) were 15-64, and 3.5 million (11.46%) were 65 and over.

Of a total 10.47 million households (2004), 1.36 million consisted of one person, 2.94 million 2-person, 3.19 3-person, 1.79 million 4-person, 783,000 5-person, 270,000 6-person, 89,000 7-person, 28,000 8-person, 6,000 9-person, and 10,000 households of 10 or more persons per household.

Politics

Main article: Politics of Chongqing

The politics of Chongqing is structured in a dual party-government system like all other governing institutions in the People's Republic of China.

The Mayor of Chongqing is the highest ranking official in the People's Government of Chongqing. Since Chongqing is a centrally administered municipality, the mayor occupies the same level in the order of precedence as provincial governors. However, in the city's dual party-government governing system, the mayor has less power than the Chongqing Communist Party of China Municipal Committee Secretary, colloquially termed the "Chongqing CPC Party Chief".

Chongqing also has the distinction of having been the wartime capital of China during the Second Sino-Japanese war, and, for a brief period, being the seat of administration for the Republic of China government before its departure to Taiwan.

Economy

Commercial skyscrapers and high-rise buildings around the People's Liberation Monument in downtown Jiefangbei

The WalMart super market at Nan'an District, Chongqing

People's Liberation Monument (World War II victory monument)

The pedestrian mall in downtown Chongqing

Chongqing was separated from Sichuan province and made into a municipality in its own right in March 1997 in order to accelerate its development and subsequently China's relatively poorer western areas (see China Western Development strategy). An important industrial area in western China, Chongqing is also rapidly urbanising. For instance, statistics suggest that new construction added approximately 137,000 square meters (1.5 million square feet) daily of usable floor space to satisfy demands for residential, commercial and factory space. In addition, more than 1,300 people moved into the city daily, adding almost 100 million yuan (US$15 million) to the local economy.

Traditionally, due to its geographical remoteness, Chongqing and neighboring Sichuan are important military bases in weapons research and development. Chongqing's industries have now diversified but unlike eastern China, its export sector is small due to its inland location. Instead, factories producing local-oriented consumer goods such as processed food, autos, chemicals, textiles, machinery and electronics are common.

Chongqing is China's third largest centre of motor vehicle production and the largest for motorcycles. In 2007, it had an annual output capacity of 1 million automobiles and 8.6 million motorcycles. Leading makers of cars and motor bikes include Changan Automotive Corp - China's fourth biggest automaker and Lifan Hongda Enterprise. The municipality is also one of the 9 largest iron and steel centres in China and one of the three major aluminium producers. Important manufacturers include Chongqing Iron and Steel Company and South West Aluminium - Asia's largest aluminum plant. Agriculture remains significant. Rice and fruits (especially oranges) are the area's main produce. Natural resources are also abundant with large deposits of coal, natural gas, and more than 40 kinds of minerals such as strontium and manganese, although the mining sector has been criticised for being wasteful, heavily-polluting, and unsafe. Chongqing is also planned to be the site of a 10-million-ton-capacity refinery operated by CNPC (parent company of PetroChina) to process imported crude oil from the Sino-Burma pipelines. The pipeline itself, though not yet finished, will eventually run from Sittwe (in Myanmar's western coast) through Kunming in Yunnan province before reaching Chongqing and it will provide China with fuels sourced from Myanmar, the Middle East, and Africa. Recently, there has been a drive to move up the value chain by shifting towards hi-tech and knowledge-intensive industries resulting in new development zones such as the Chongqing New North Zone (CNNZ). Chongqing's local government is hoping through the promotion of favorable economic policies for the electronics and information technology sectors, that it can create a 400 billion RMB high tech manufacturing hub which will surpass its auto industry and account for 25% of its exports.

The city has also invested heavily in infrastructure to attract investment. The network of roads and railways connecting Chongqing to the rest of China has been expanded and upgraded reducing logistical costs. Furthermore, the nearby Three Gorges Dam - the world's largest - will not only supply Chongqing with power once completed but also allows ocean-going ships to reach Chongqing's Yangtze River port. These infrastructure improvements have led to the arrivals of several foreign investors in industries ranging from auto to finance and retailing such as Ford, Mazda, HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, Citibank, Deutsche Bank, ANZ Bank, Scotiabank, Wal-Mart, Metro AG and Carrefour.

Chongqing's nominal GDP in 2009 reached 652.8 billion yuan (US$95.5 billion) while registering an annual growth of 14.3%. However, its overall economic performance is still lagging behind eastern coastal cities such as Shanghai. For instance, its per capita GDP was 22,909 yuan (US$3,301) - below the national average. Nevertheless, there is a massive government support to transform Chongqing into the region's economic, trade, and financial centre and use the municipality as a platform to open up the country's western interior to further development.

Chongqing has been identified by the Economist Intelligence Unit in the November 2010 Access China White Paper as a member of the CHAMPS (Chongqing, Hefei, Anshan, Maanshan, Pingdingshan and Shenyang), an economic profile of the top 20 emerging cities in China.

Organised crime

Main article: Chongqing gang trials

In the first decade of the 21st century, the city became notorious for organised crime and corruption. Gangsters oversaw businesses involving billions of yuan and the corruption reached into the law-enforcement and justice systems. In 2009, city authorities under the auspices of municipal Communist Party secretary Bo Xilai undertook a massive crackdown, arresting 4,893 suspected gangsters, 'outlaws' and corrupt cadres, leading to optimism that the period of gangsterism was over.

However, local Chinese media later highlighted the apparent reliance by the authorities on torture to extract confessions upon which convictions were based. In December 2009, one defence lawyer was controversially arrested and sentenced to 18 months in prison for "coaching his client to make false claims of torture" and in July 2010, another lawyer released videotapes of his client describing the torture in detail.

Economic and technological development zones

The city includes a number of economic and technological development zones:

• Chongqing Chemical Industrial Park
• Chongqing Economic & Technological Development Zone
• Chongqing Hi-Tech Industry Development Zone
• Chongqing New North Zone (CNNZ)
• Chongqing Export Processing Zone
• Jianqiao Industrial Park (located in Dadukou District)

Media

Chongqing is served by the Chongqing People's Broadcast Station as the largest radio station. The only municipal-level TV network is Chongqing TV station, claimed to be the 4th largest television station. Chongqing Daily is the largest newspaper group, controlling more than 10 newspapers and one website.

Transport

Since its elevation to national-level municipality in 1997, the city has dramatically expanded its transportation infrastructure. With the construction of railways and expressways to the east and southeast, Chongqing is a major transportation hub in southwestern China. The municipality now has 25 bridges across the Yangtze River including half a dozen in the city's urban core.

River port

Hydrofoil on the Yangtze, within the Chongqing municipality

The confluence of the Jialing River and Yangtze River, as seen from Chongqing

Chongqing is the biggest inland river port in western China. Historically, most of its transportation, especially to eastern China, is via the Yangtze River. In recent years the amount of trading has increased because of the huge reserviour created behind The Three Gorges Dam.

Railways

Chongqing is a major rail hub in south central China.

• Chongqing-Chengdu (Sichuan province) railway
• Chengdu-Chongqing High-speed Railway (under construction)
• Chongqing-Guiyang (Guizhou province) railway
• Chongqing-Xiangfan (Hubei province) railway
• Chongqing-Huaihua (Hunan province) railway
• Chongqing-Suining (Sichuan province) express railway
• Chongqing-Lichuan Railway (Yuli Railway), providing access to the Yichang-Wanzhou Railway in Hubei (under construction)
• Chongqing-Lanzhou (Gansu province) railway (under construction)

Highways

• Chongqing-Chengdu Expressway
• Chongqing-Chengdu 2nd Expressway (under construction)
• Chongqing-Wanzhou-Yichang highway (Wanzhou-Yichang section under construction)
• Chongqing-Guiyang highway
• Chongqing-Changsha Expressway (Xiushan-Changsha section under construction)
• Chongqing-Dazhou-Xi'an highway (Dazhou-Xi'an section under construction)
• Chongqing-Suining Express way
• Chongqing-Nanchong Express way
• China National Highway 210
• China National Highway 212

Airport

Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport, located in Yubei district, north of Chongqing, provides links to most parts of China and to other countries. In year 2007, a total of 10,355,730 person-time transporting volume was reported, which ranks this airport as the 10th largest one in China and the third largest one in southwest China.

Public transport

The monorail in Chongqing city

Main article: Chongqing Metro

The three main forms of public transport in Chongqing are CRT rapid transit, intercity railway, and the ubiquitous bus system.

According to the Chongqing Municipal Government's ambitious plan in May 2007, Chongqing is going to invest 150 billion RMB over 13 years to finish a system that combines underground metro lines with light rail. By 2020 this network will consist of 6 straight lines and 1 circular line; Line 1 will be an underground metro while Lines 2 and 3 will be light rail. These improvements will add 363.5 kilometers of road and railway to the existing transportation infrastructure and 93 new train stations will be added to the 111 stations that are already in place. As of 2005 only one rail line, the 19 km long Chongqing light rail line 2 (project 1), had been finished.

By 2050 Chongqing is planned to have ten railway lines, totaling 513 kilometres, with 270 stations.

Military

Chongqing is headquarters of the 13th Group Army of the People's Liberation Army, one of the two group armies that comprise the Chengdu Military Region responsible for the defense of China's southwestern borders with India and Myanmar, as well as security in Tibet.

Culture and tourism

As the provisional Capital of China for almost ten years (1937 to 1945), the city was also known as one of the three headquarters of the Allies. Chongqing has many historical World War II buildings or sites (some of which have since been destroyed):

• The People's Liberation Monument, located in the center of Chongqing city used to be the highest building in the area but is now surrounded and dwarfed by numerous shopping centres. Originally named the Monument for the Victory over Axis Armies, it is the only building in China for that purpose. Today, the monument serves as a symbol for the city.
• Chongqing Museum
• General Joseph W. Stilwell Museum dedicated to General "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell.
• Great Hall of the People (Chongqing), based on the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. This is one of the largest public assembly buildings in China which, though built in modern times, emulates traditional architectural styles. It is adjacent to the densely populated and hilly central district, with narrow streets and pedestrian only walkways.
• Renmin Hotel
• Luohan Si, Ming Dynasty temple
• The air force cemetery in the Nanshan area, in memory of those air force personnel killed during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945);
• The former sites for embassies of major countries during the 1940s. As the capital at that time, Chongqing had many residential and other buildings for these officials.
• Red Rock Village Museum, a diplomatic site for the Communist Party in Chongqing led by Zhou Enlai during World War II. It is where Mao Zedong signed the "Double 10 (October 10th) Peace Agreement" with the Kuomintang.

Besides these historical sites, Chongqing also has the following attractions:

File:The Hongyadong stilted house in Chongqing city.jpg

The Hongyadong stilted house in Chongqqing city

• Wuxi County is noted as a majour tourism area of Chongqing.
• The Dazu Rock Carvings, in Dazu county, are a series of Chinese religious sculptures and carvings, dating back as far as the 7th century A.D., depicting and influenced by Buddhist, Confucian and Taoist beliefs. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Dazu Rock Carvings are made up of 75 protected sites containing some 50,000 statues, with over 100,000 Chinese characters forming inscriptions and epigraphs.
• The Three Natural Bridges and Furong Cave in Wulong Karst National Geology Park, Wulong County are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of the South China Karst).
• Ciqikou is a 1000-year-old town in the Shapingba District of Chongqing. It is also known as Little Chongqing. The town, located next to the lower reaches of the Jialing River, was at one time an important source of chinawares and used to be a busy commercial dock during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

The steep path up to the front gate of Fishing Town

• Fishing Town or Fishing City, also called the “Oriental Mecca” and “the Place That Broke God's Whip”, is one of the three great ancient battlefields of China. It is noted for its resistance to the Mongol armies during the Southern Song Dynasty (1127–1279) and the location where the Mongol leader Möngke Khan died in 1259.
• Xueyu Cave in Fengdu County is China's only example of a pure-white, jade-like karst cave.
• A modern and well stocked zoo exhibits many national and regional animals, including the Giant Panda and the extremely rare South China Tiger.

Cuisine

One distinct trait of Chongqing cuisine is that it is spicy and numbing (麻辣), as opposed to the spicy and fragrant (香辣) flavours of Chengdu cuisine.

• Hot pot is Chongqing's local culinary specialty. Tables in hotpot restaurants usually have a central vat (or pot) where food ordered by the customers is boiled in a spicy broth. As well as beef, pork, lotus and other vegetables, items such as pig's kidney, brain, duck's bowels, and cow's stomach are often consumed.

Language

Main article: Sichuanese Mandarin

The language native to Chongqing is Southwestern Mandarin. More precisely, the great majority of the municipality, save for Xiushan, speak Sichuanese, including the primary Chengdu-Chongqing dialect and Minjiang dialect spoken in Jiangjin and Qijiang. There are also a few speakers of Xiang and Hakka in the municipality, due to the great immigration wave to the Sichuan region (湖广填四川) during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. In addition, in parts of southeastern Chongqing, the Miao and Tujia languages are also used by some Miao and Tujia people.

Education

Colleges and universities

See also: List of universities and colleges in Chongqing

Chongqing University	重庆大学	founded in 1929
Chongqing University of Technology	重庆理工大学	founded in 1940
Southwest University	西南大学	founded in 1906
Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications	重庆邮电大学	founded in 1950
Chongqing Institute of Technology	重庆理工大学	founded in 1941
Chongqing Jiaotong University	重庆交通大学
Chongqing Normal University	重庆师范大学
Chongqing Technology and Business University	重庆工商大学
Chongqing Three Gorges University	重庆三峡学院
Yangtze Normal University	长江师范学院	founded in 1931
Sichuan Fine Arts Institute	四川美术学院
Sichuan International Studies University	四川外语学院	founded in 1950
Southwest University of Political Science and Law	西南政法大学
Third Military Medical University	第三军医大学
Chongqing University of Arts and Sciences	重庆文理学院
Chongqing Medical University	重庆医科大学
Chongqing University of Science and Technology	重庆科技学院
Logistical Engineering Corps Academy	后勤工程学院	founded in 1961

Middle and high schools

• Chongqing Nankai Middle School (重庆南开中学) founded in 1935
• Bashu Middle School (巴蜀中学) founded in 1933
• Chongqing No. 1 Middle School (重庆第一中学）
• Chongqing No. 8 Middle School (重庆第八中学)
• Chongqing Foreign Languages School (重庆外国语学校) founded in 1963

International schools

• Yew Chung International School of Chongqing (重庆耀中国际学校) website in English
• QSI International School of Chongqing (重庆科爱赛国际学校) website in English

Sports

Professional sports teams in Chongqing include:

• Chinese Football Association Super League
  • Chongqing Lifan

Consulates

Consulate	Date	Consular District
Canada Consulate Chongqing	05.1998	Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan
United Kingdom Consulate General Chongqing	03.2000	Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan
Cambodia Consulate General Chongqing	12.2004	Chongqing, Hubei, Hunan, Shaanxi
Japan Consulate General Chongqing	01.2005	Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan
Denmark Consulate Chongqing	07.2005	Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan
Philippines Consulate General Chongqing	12.2008	Chongqing, Guizhou, Yunnan
Hungary Consulate General Chongqing	02.2010	Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Gansu

International relations

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in China

Twin towns — sister cities

Chongqing is twinned with:

Seattle, United States Vacaville, California, United States Hiroshima, Japan Mito, Ibaraki, Japan Toronto, Canada Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Brisbane, Australia Toulouse, France Düsseldorf, Germany Leicester, England, United Kingdom Detroit, United States Banjarmasin, Indonesia

Trikala, Greece Shiraz, Iran Vladimir, Russia Voronezh, Russia Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine Córdoba, Argentina

Chongqing Municipality has a Memorandum of Understanding (a form of twinning arrangement) with Wales, UK and became a 'sister region' of Wales in March 2008.

In June 2007, a twinning agreement between Chongqing and Sør-Trøndelag was signed.

See also

• List of cities in the People's Republic of China by population

References

• Danielson, Eric N. (2005). "Chongqing," pp.325-362 in The Three Gorges and the Upper Yangzi. Singapore: Marshall Cavendish/Times Editions. ISBN 981-232-599-9.
• Danielson, Eric N. (2005). "Revisiting Chongqing: China's Second World War Temporary National Capital," in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Hong Kong Branch, Vol.45. Hong Kong: Royal Asiatic Society, Hong Kong Branch.
• Huang, Jiren (1999). Lao Chongqing (Old Chongqing): Ba Shan Ye Yu (part of the "Lao Cheng Shi" series. Nanjing: Jiangsu Meishu Chubanshe (Jiangsu Fine Arts Publishing House).
• Kapp, Robert A. (1974). "Chungking as a Center of Warlord Power, 1926-1937," pp.143-170 in The Chinese City Between Two Worlds, ed. by Mark Elvin and G. William Skinner. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
• Kapp, Robert A. (1973). Szechwan and the Chinese Republic: Provincial Militarism and Central Power, 1911-1938. New Haven: Yale University Press.
• Liao, Qingyu (2005). Chongqing Ge Le Shan Pei Du Yizhi (The Construction of War-time Capital on the Gele Mountain, Chongqing). Chengdu: Sichuan Da Xue Chubanshe (Sichuan University Press).
• Long, Juncai (2005). Sui Yue Ya Feng de Jiyi: Chongqing Kang Zhan Yizhi (Covered Memory of Flowing Years: Site[s] of [the] Anti-Japanese War in Chongqing). Chongqing: Xi Nan Shi Fang Da Xue Chubanshe (Southwest University Press).
• McIsaac, Lee (2000). "The City as Nation: Creating a Wartime Capital in Chongqing," in Remaking the Chinese City, 1900-1950, ed. by Joseph W. Esherick. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
• Xu, Dongsheng and Liu, Yuchuan; et al. (1998). Chongqing Jiu Ying (Old Photos of Chongqing). Beijing: Renmin Meishu Chubanshe People’s Fine Arts Publishing House). {{cite book}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |author= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

External links

• Chongqing Municipal Government website
• Video: A Bird's Eye View of the New Chongqing (2008)
• Video: A Bird's Eye View of the New Chongqing (2005)
• CCTV9 Apr. 2009 program - Chongqing: Visions of Change
• Template:Wikitravel
• Economic profile for Chongqing at HKTDC