I Heart China

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.

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. 

Language

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