Chongqing (重庆)

chongqing city by tommy chan. Sourced via Flickr under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License.

Chongqing (重庆) is the biggest city in China. It's located deep in the centre of the country, though is traditionally classed as being in the west. To the north, Chongqing borders the province of Shaanxi. To the east lie Hubei and Hunan provinces. Guizhou is to the south and the province of Sichuan lies to the west. Chongqing straddles the confluence of two major rivers, the Jialing and the Yangtze. Though completely landlocked and surrounded by mountains, the rivers have made Chongqing a key centre for trade within China. The city was part of Sichuan province until it became a municipality on March 14th, 1997. Thus Chongqing became one of only four cities in China to have the status of municipality. This city has seen rapid growth over the last decade. The building of the Three Gorges Dam, several hundred killometres downstream from Chongqing, saw a large number of people relocated into the city. The population of the city is estimated to be 31,442,300 (2007) potentially making Chongquing the largest city in the world.

During World War II, the Chinese nationalist capital at Nanjing was overrun by the Japanese. The entire Chinese government and much of the country's industry and skilled workers were relocated from the east to the west—to Chongqing. The city was the capital of China for the duration of the war. Throughout the second half of the 20th Century, Chongqing remained a major centre for industrial production. However, this heavy industry, coupled with the cities prevalence for humid foggy weather, has given the city a reputation for poor air quality and pollution. On the worst days, visibility can be a low as 10 metres.

For the tourist, Chongqing is—depending on your direction—either the beginning or end of a cruse through the famous Three Gorges of the Yangtze river. Cruse boats running this route come in several flavours. At the upper end are large luxury cruse ships that tailor mainly to foreign tourists. There are also cheaper cruse ships, popular with the local Chinese. Fast hydrofoils also ply the route in just hours that the cruse ships take days over. Other sights to look out for include the Red Cliff and the Ciyun Temple. At night, check out the vies of the Loquat Hill and Red Star Pavillion. A short day trip by car or bus will take you to the Dazu Rock Carvings. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is located to the west of Chongqing, just over the border in Sichuan Province. Chongqing is also famous for it's food. Here you can eat Sichuan style Hotpot which is very very spicy.

Tourist Attractions

Below is a list of tourist attractions in Chongqing:

Small Three Gorges in Wushan (重庆巫山小三峡（小小三峡）; wūshān xiǎo sānxiá -xiǎoxiǎo sānxiá), Wushan, Chongqing. On the Daning River north of Wushan City. On a tributary of the Yangtze River, near to the Famous Yangtze Thee Gorges. These Small Three Gorges rival their larger neighbours in beauty and intrigue. This site is rated AAAAA on China' national tourism scale.

Dazu Rock Carvings Scenic Area near Chongqing (重庆大足石刻景区; dàzú shíkè yìshù bówùguǎn), This site is rated AAAAA on China' national tourism scale.

Hongya Cave Folk and Customs Area (重庆洪崖洞民俗风貌区; Chóngqìng Hóng Yádòng Mínsú Fēngmào qū), 88 Jiabin Rd, Yuzhong District, China (嘉滨路88号, 渝中区, 中国). Tel: 023-63039999 Official Web site. Hongya Cave folk and custom area seeks to recreate the atmosphere of old Chongqing. The feeling of a city built on a cliff with terraces and balconies. The site is open normal shopping hours. It is best to visit early evening. Entry to Hongya Cave is free. This site is rated AAAA on China' national tourism scale.

History

Chongqing is said to be the semi-mythical 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 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) in Chongqing as its capital.

Between 1627-1645, with the fall of the Ming Dynasty, Chongqing, together with 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 was heavily bombed by the Japanese Air Force. Luckily, 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 1954, the municipality was demoted to a 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 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. 

People and Culture

Language

Chongqing area's dialect is somewhat different from standard mandarin. Most differences are phonological, though some lexical differences are observed as well. 

Geography

Located on the edge of the Yungui Plateau, Chongqing is intersected by the Jialing River and the upper reaches of the Yangtze. It contains Daba Shan in the north, Wu Shan in the east, Wuling Shan in the southeast, and Dalou Mountain to the south.

The city is very hilly and is the only major metropolitan area in China without significant numbers of bicycles.

Chongqing Municipality is divided into forty county-level subdivisions (three abolished in 1997), consisting of nineteen districts, seventeen counties, and four autonomous counties.

 Chongqing has a humid subtropical climate, with the two-season monsoonal variations typical of South Asia.

As one of the "Three Furnaces" (三大火炉), Chongqing's summers are among the hottest in China. The temperature can be as high as 43°C, with an average high of 35°C in August. Yet even in the hottest weather the wind is often cold, making such high temperatures more bearable. Winters are fairly mild, but damp and overcast; average January highs are 9°C. Chongqing has one of the lowest sunshine totals annually in China.

Chongqing is known for its fog and suffers from heavy air pollution. Foggy weather is most prevalent during spring and winter days, which gives this city a nickname of "the Fog Capital" (Chinese: 雾都). This special weather once protected Chongqing from being overrun by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. However, the city 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.

Transportation

River port

Chongqing is the biggest inland river port in western China. Historically, most of its transportation, especially to eastern China, is via the Yangtze River.

Railways

Chongqing is a major rail hub in south central China.

Chongqing-Chengdu (Sichuan province) railway
Chongqing-Guiyang (Guizhou province) railway
Chongqing-Xiangfan (Hubei province) railway
Chongqing-Huaihua (Hunan province) railway
Chongqing-Suining (Sichuan province) express railway
Chongqing Wanzhou-Yichang (Hubei province) railway (under construction)
Chongqing-Lanzhou (Gansu province) railway (under construction)

Highways

Chongqing-Chengdu highway
Chongqing-Wanzhou-Yichang highway (Wanzhou-Yichang section under construction)
Chongqing-Guiyang highway
Chongqing-Dazhou-Xi'a highway (Dazhou-Xi'an section under construction)
Chongqing-Suining highway
Chongqing-Nanchong Expressway
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 transportation

The three main forms of public transport in Chongqing are metro, light rail transit and intercity railway, alongside 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 light 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