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Chongqing
 

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重庆市
Chóngqìng Shì
Abbreviation: 渝 (pinyin: Yú)
Origin of name 重 chóng - again
庆 qìng - celebrate
"double celebration"
Administration type Municipality
Seat of government Yuzhong Qu 渝中区
CPC Chongqing Committee Secretary Wang Yang 汪洋
Mayor Wang Hongju 王鸿举
Area 82,300 km² (26th)
Population (2005)
 - Metropolitan area
 - Density 		31,220,000 (20th)
approx. 4 million
379/km² (10th)
GDP (2005)
 - per capita 		CNY 310 billion (24th)
CNY 8540 (20th)
HDI (2005) 0.745 (18th) — medium
Major nationalities (2000) Han - 94%
Tujia - 5%
Miao - 2%
City tree Ficus lacor
City flower Camellia
(Camellia japonica)
County-level divisions 40
Township-level divisions 1259
Postal code 400000 - 409900
Area code 23
License plate prefixes 渝A, B, C, F, G, H
ISO 3166-2 CN-50
Official website:
www.chongqing.gov.cn (Simplified Chinese)
www.cq.gov.cn/english (English)
Chongqing (; Postal System Pinyin: Chungking) is the largest and most populous of the People's Republic of China's four provincial-level municipalities, and the only one in the less densely populated western half of China. The municipality of Chongqing has a registered population of 31,442,300 (2005), most of them living outside the urban area of Chongqing proper, over hundreds of square kilometres of farmland. The population of the urban area of Chongqing proper was 12.057 million in 2005, ranking it as the 3rd largest city in China in terms of population.

The municipal abbreviation - Yú (渝) - was approved by the State Council on April 18, 1997. Chongqing was also a municipality of the old Republic of China. Its abbreviated name is derived from the old name of a part of the Jialing River that runs through Chongqing and feeds the Yangtze.

The urban area of Chongqing proper (重庆市区) includes the district of Yuzhong (渝中区, or "Central Chongqing District"), the central and most densely populated district, where government offices are located. Other districts are Nan'an (南岸区, or "Southern Bank District") Jiangbei (江北区, or "North of the River District"), Shapingba (沙坪坝区), Jiulongpo (九龙坡区), and Dadukou (大渡口区).

History

Chongqing is said to be the semi-mythical State of Ba that began in 11th century BC, when the Ba people began living here until they were destroyed by the State of Qin in 316 BC. The Qin emperor ordered a new city to be constructed, called Jiang (江州) and Chu Prefecture (楚州).

In 581 AD (Sui Dynasty), Chongqing was renamed to Yu Prefecture (渝州).

In 1102, the city was renamed Gong Prefecture.

In 1189, when Prince Zhao Dun of the Southern Song Dynasty was first made a king then crowned as Emperor Guangzong, he commented that it was "double/repeated happy celebration" (雙重喜慶), so renamed Yu Prefecture to Chongqing Subprefecture.

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

In 1621, another short-lived kingdom of Daliang was established there.

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

Since 1929, Chongqing was a municipality of the Republic of China. Chongqing was the provisional capital of the government of Chiang Kai-shek during the Second Chinese-Japanese War from 1937 to 1945 and was heavily bombed by the Japanese Air Force, called "Bombing of Chongqing". It holds the distinction of being the most bombed city in history. During the war a lot of factories and universities from eastern China were moved to Chongqing and surrounding areas, transforming it from an inland port to a heavy-industrial city.

In 1954, the municipality was reduced to a provincial city of the People's Republic.

For three years, Chongqing had been a sub-provincial city of Sichuan Province, until March 14, 1997, as decided in the Eighth National People's Congress, the original Chongqing City was merged with the neighbouring Fuling, Wanxian, and Qianjiang that had been governed by Chongqing City on behalf of the province since September of the previous year. These four prefecture-level entities were all abolished as distinct administrative divisions and formed one new Chongqing Municipality that contained 30,020,000 people in their 43 former counties (without intermediate political levels), to spearhead China's effort to develop its western regions as well as to coordinate the resettlement of refugees from the Three Gorges Dam project. The first official ceremony took place on June 18 of that year.

Subdivisions

The municipality is divided in to 40 county-level subdivisions (3 were abolished since 1997): 15 districts, 4 county-level cities, and 21 counties.

The origin column indicates which city the entity belonged to prior to the 1997 conglomeration of Chongqing with Fuling, Wanxian (now Wanzhou), and Qianjiang.

Pinyin Hanzi Origin
Districts:
Banan District 巴南区 Chongqing
Beibei District 北碚区 Chongqing
Changshou District 长寿区 Chongqing
Dadukou District 大渡口区 Chongqing
Fuling District 涪陵区 Fuling
Jiangbei District 江北区 Chongqing
Jiulongpo District 九龙坡区 Chongqing
Nan'an District 南岸区 Chongqing
Qianjiang District 黔江区 Qianjiang
Shapingba District 沙坪坝区 Chongqing
Shuangqiao District 双桥区 Chongqing
Wansheng District 万盛区 Chongqing
Wanzhou District 万州区 Wanxian
Yubei District 渝北区 Chongqing
Yuzhong District 渝中区 Chongqing
County-level cities:
Hechuan 合川市 Chongqing
Jiangjin 江津市 Chongqing
Yongchuan 永川市 Chongqing
Nanchuan 南川市 Fuling
Counties:
Bishan County 璧山县 Chongqing
Chengkou County 城口县 Wanxian
Dazu County 大足县 Chongqing
Dianjiang County 垫江县 Fuling
Fengdu County 丰都县 Fuling
Fengjie County 奉节县 Wanxian
Kai County 开县 Wanxian
Liangping County 梁平县 Wanxian
Qijiang County 綦江县 Chongqing
Rongchang County 荣昌县 Chongqing
Tongliang County 铜梁县 Chongqing
Tongnan County 潼南县 Chongqing
Wulong County 武隆县 Fuling
Wushan County 巫山县 Wanxian
Wuxi County 巫溪县 Wanxian
Yunyang County 云阳县 Wanxian
Zhong County 忠县 Wanxian
Autonomous counties:
Pengshui Miao and Tujia Autonomous County 彭水苗族土家族自治县 Qianjiang
Shizhu Tujia Autonomous County 石柱土家族自治县 Qianjiang
Xiushan Tujia Autonomous County 秀山土家族自治县 Qianjiang
Youyang Tujia and Miao Autonomous County 酉阳土家族苗族自治县 Qianjiang

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.

Economy

Historically, Chongqing has been a major trading inland port, transporting goods from the southwestern provinces to eastern China. During the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945), Chongqing was transformed into a heavy industrial city, especially the military industry which continued to thrive for decades after 1949. Since the 1980s, many of these military industry enterprises have undergone reforms and turned from producing military goods to mostly civilian products for survival and growth. * Chongqing is rich in natural resources, with more than 40 kinds of minerals. Its coal reserves are estimated to be 4.8 billion tonnes. The Chuandong Natural Gas Field in Chongqing is China's largest inland production base of natural gas, with deposits of 270 billion m³, accounting for more than one-fifth of China's total. Chongqing also contains China’s largest reserve of strontium, and China has the 2nd largest reserve of the mineral in the world. Important industries in Chongqing include mining, iron, steel, aluminum, military, auto, motorcycle, chemical, textiles, machinery, electronics, building materials, food processing, retail, and tourism South West Aluminium - which rolled out 213,000 tonnes of finished products in 2004 - for companies engaged in building materials, printing, electrical appliances, aerospace, packaging, and vehicle production [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4512015.stm" target="_blank" >*. Chongqing's agricultural sector still employs a significant portion of the population. Other than rice, fruits especially oranges are important sources of income for the farmers. In the past 25 years, surplus labor resulted a huge number of farmers to migrate to the relatively more developed industrial centers of southern and eastern China for employment opportunities, thus making Chongqing one of the biggest labor export areas in China. The central government has recently embarked on an economic policy that is aimed to develop western China - China Western Development strategy. As part of this new plan, the central government has heavily invested in Chongqing's infrastructure and has made a plan for Chongqing to become the "Gateway to the West". Located at the head of the reservoir behind the Three Gorges Dam, Chongqing is planned to be the beachhead for the development of the western part of the country. With the completion of the Three Gorges project, its reservoir will bring ocean going ships to the quays of Chongqing. By some counts already the world's biggest city, Chongqing and its population of 32 million are busy reinventing themselves. The hope is that this gritty fogbound megalopolis can do for China what Chicago did for the United States in the 19th century: open up the interior, shift the country's centre of gravity west, and kick-start an economic superpower. Massive public works are currently under way in the city, including overhead and surface commuter rail lines connecting the many districts of the city. Foreign investment in the city is growing at a fast pace. Chongqing is enlarging its commercial sector. New development zones such as the Chongqing New North Zone (CNNZ) located north of the downtown district have been established to form Chongqing's modern 21st century industrial base. *

In 2005, the nominal GDP of Chongqing municipality was 310 billion yuan (US$38.75 billion), a rise of 11.5% year-on-year. Its per capita GDP was 11,068 yuan (US$1,383). The primary, secondary, and tertiary industries of Chongqing were worth 46.342 billion yuan, 125.832 billion yuan, and 134.736 billion yuan respectively. *

Transportation

Chongqing is the biggest inland river port in western China. Historically, most of its transportation, especially to the eastern China is through the Yangtze river. Now Chongqing is linked to other parts of the country through several railways and highways, including: 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, Wanzhou-Yichang (Hubei province) railway (under construction), Chongqing-Lanzhou (Gansu province) railway (under construction), Chongqing-Chengdu highway, Chongqing-Wanxian highway, Chongqing-Guiyang highway.

Also, Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport, located north of Chongqing provides links to most parts of China and to other countries and regions such as Hong Kong, Japan, and Thailand.

Meanwhile, the transportation system in the metropolitan area is also being developed to modern standards. Due to its hilly geography and Yangtze and Jialing rivers which run through it, ground transportation in the city requires an unusual number of bridges and tunnels, which increases cost dramatically. However, the highway network around the city and to nearby satellite towns is almost completed.

One unique form of transportation in the city are the cable cars which are suspended over the rivers.

Recently, the Chongqing metro system was completed and entered service in June 2005.

Climate

The climate is semi-tropical, with the two-season monsoonal variations typical of South Asia. It has hot summers, and the temperature can be as high as 40 C (102F). It is known as one of the "three furnaces" of China, the other two being Wuhan and Nanjing. In the winter, it is wet and warm. While it seldom snows, most days are foggy. During World War II, the frequent dense fogs were welcomed for their protection from Japanese bombing attacks.

As is true of most of China, the city often experiences severe air pollution, largely as a result of the burning of coal without pollution controls. Coal is burned both for industrial processess and for the production of electric power. Also, due to the surrounding mountains, a lack of wind makes the air pollution in the city even worse.

Tourism

Chongqing and surrounding areas are full of tourism resources. The most famous is the Three Gorges, a scenic area along Yangtze river. The 200-km long area is the most visited canyon in China. Besides its gorgeous natural scene, it is also a culturally rich area. Other tourism sites include Dazu Stone Carvings, mainly Buddhist themes, it was carved from the Tang Dynasty, now belongs to UNESCO World Heritage. City sightseeing is also a famous part of Chongqing tourism. Historical sites in World War II are located in the metropolitan area. In the surrounding areas, Fishing town is an important battlefield event in world history. In 1243, Mongol prince Mongke Khan was defeated and died here and it stopped the Mongols' expansion in Europe and Africa because of turmoil after his death.

Astronomical phenomena

The previous total solar eclipse as seen from Chongqing (downtown) was Solar eclipse of 1824-Jun-26 (June 27, 1824).

The next total solar eclipse as seen from Chongqing (downtown) will be Solar eclipse of 2009-Jul-22 (July 22, 2009).

Landmarks

  • The city is home to one of the largest public assembly buildings in China, the Great Hall of the People, built in modern times but in the classic Tang Dynasty style - as a large circular building. This is adjacent to the densely populated and hilly central district, with narrow streets and pedestrian only walkways.

  • There is a museum at the World War II headquarters of General "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell. The preservation and presentation of the materials here reflect the long and historic affection between China and the U.S., despite the global frictions between their respective governments of the late 20th century.

  • A giant ferris wheel offers spectacular views of the metropolitan area, although it is currently out of action.

Sister cities

City tree

The city's tree is the evergreen magnolia (magnolia delavayi) abundant in street plantings, with the tulip-like shape of its mature unopened blooms repeated in street lights.

Colleges and universities

Note: Institutions without full-time bachelor programs are not listed.

Miscellaneous

Sports

Professional sports teams in Chongqing include:

External links

Chongqing

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Chongqing".

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