Chongqing
Chongqing is a direct-administered municipality in southern China. Chongqing is one of the four direct-administered municipalities under the Central People's Government, along with Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin. It is the only direct-administered municipality located deep inland. The municipality covers a large geographical area roughly the size of Austria, which includes several disjunct urban areas in addition to Chongqing proper. Due to its classification, the municipality of Chongqing is the largest city proper in the world by population, though it is not the most populous urban area.
The municipality of Chongqing is the only Chinese city with a resident population of over 30 million; however, this number includes its large rural population. In 2020, Chongqing surpassed Shanghai as China's largest municipality by urban population; as of 2024, it had an urban population of 23.01 million. The municipality contains 26 districts, 8 counties, and 4 autonomous counties. The city served as the wartime capital for the Republic of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. On 14 March 1997, the current municipality was separated from the surrounding province of Sichuan, with the goal of furthering development in the central and western parts of the country.
Chongqing is one of China's national central cities. It is a connection in the Yangtze River Economic Belt and a base for the country's Belt and Road Initiative. Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport is the second-busiest airport in China, and is one of the top 50 busiest airports in the world. The city's monorail system is the world's longest and busiest, with 70 stations—the most of any system. It is the headquarters of the Changan Automobile, one of the "Big Four" car manufacturers in China., the city hosts 12 foreign representations, the fifth-most in China behind Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Chengdu. It is one of the top 35 cities globally by scientific research output; the municipality is home to several notable universities, including Chongqing University, Southwest University, and Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications.
History
Antiquity
Chongqing's location is historically associated with the State of Ba. It was named Jiangzhou by a Qin general Zhang Yi.Imperial era
Jiangzhou subsequently remained under Qin Shi Huang's rule during the Qin dynasty, the successor of the Qin State, as well as the rule of Han dynasty emperors.Jiangzhou was subsequently renamed during the Northern and Southern dynasties to Chu Prefecture, then again in 581 AD to Yu Prefecture, and later in 1102 during Northern Song to Gong Prefecture. The name Yu however survives to this day as an abbreviation for Chongqing, as well as for the city's historic center, where the old town once stood; its name is Yuzhong. 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 celebration". To mark the occasion of his enthronement, Yu Prefecture was therefore converted to Chongqing Fu.
In 1362, Ming Yuzhen, a peasant rebel leader, established the Daxia Kingdom at Chongqing for a short time. In 1621, another short-lived kingdom of Daliang was established by She Chongming with Chongqing as its capital. In 1644, after the fall of the Ming dynasty to a rebel army, Chongqing, together with the rest of Sichuan, was captured by Zhang Xianzhong, who was said to have massacred a large number of people in Sichuan and depopulated the province, in part by causing many people to flee to safety elsewhere. The Manchus later conquered the province, and during the Qing dynasty, immigration to Chongqing and Sichuan took place with the support of the Qing emperor.
In 1890, the British Consulate General was opened in Chongqing. The following year, the city became the first inland commerce port open to foreigners, with the proviso that foreign ships should not be at liberty to trade there until Chinese-owned steamers had succeeded in ascending the Yangtze river. This restriction was abolished by the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895, which declared the city open on the same terms as other ports, although it was not until 1907 that a steamship made the journey without the help of manual haulers. From 1896 to 1904, the American, German, French, and Japanese consulates were opened in Chongqing.
Provisional wartime capital of the Republic of China
During and after the Second Sino-Japanese War, from November 1937 to May 1946, it was Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's provisional capital. After the General and remaining army had lived there for a time following their retreat in 1938 from the previous capital of Wuhan, it was formally declared the on 6 September 1940. After Britain, the United States, and other Allies entered the war in Asia in December 1941, one of the Allies' deputy commanders of operations in Southeast Asia, Joseph Stilwell, was based in the city.The city was also visited by Lord Louis Mountbatten, the Supreme Commander of SEAC which was itself headquartered in Sri Lanka. Chiang Kai Shek as Supreme Commander in China worked closely with Stilwell. From 1938 to 1943, the city suffered from continuous massive bombing campaigns of the Imperial Japanese Navy and Army Air Forces; battles of which were fought entirely by the Chinese Air Force squadrons and anti-aircraft artillery units. Many lives were saved by the air-raid shelters which took advantage of the mountainous terrain. Chongqing was acclaimed to be the "City of Heroes" due to the indomitable spirits of its people as well as their contributions and sacrifices during the war. Many factories and universities were relocated from eastern China and ultimately to Chongqing during years of setbacks in the war, transforming this city from inland port to a heavily industrialized city.
Chinese Civil War
After World War II ended, Chongqing became one of the last refuges of the Nationalist Kuomintang government on the Chinese mainland during the Chinese Civil War. Following the Yangtze River Crossing campaign, the KMT capital of Nanjing was conquered by the Communists in 23 April. The KMT decamped first to Guangzhou, then Chongqing. Chongqing served as the KMT capital until late November 1949, when the Nationalist KMT government withdrew from the city by air.Municipality status
On 14 March 1997, the Eighth National People's Congress decided to merge the sub-provincial city with adjacent Fuling, Wanxian, and Qianjiang prefectures that it had governed on behalf of the province since September 1996, and grant it independence from Sichuan. The resulting single entity became 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.On 8 February 2010, Chongqing became one of the nine National Central Cities, along with Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Wuhan, Xi'an, and Zhengzhou. According to Zhou Liqun, a consultant for National Development and Reform Commission of China, Chongqing's status as a National Central City would encourage the development of Western China. Chongqing, which is located in central-western China, would complement the other National Central Cities, all of which are located along China's eastern coastline. The same year on 18 June, the Liangjiang New Area was established in Chongqing, which was the third state-level new area at the time of its establishment.
Geography
Physical geography and topography
Chongqing is located in the subtropics, situated in the transitional area between the Sichuan Basin and the plain on the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze. Its climate features frequent monsoon conditions, often raining at night in late spring and early summer. The city's "night rain in the Ba Mountains" features in poems throughout Chinese history, including "Written on a Rainy Night—A Letter to the North" by Li Shangyin. Its territory is from east to west at its longest, and from north to south at its widest. It borders Hubei and Hunan to the east, Sichuan and Shaanxi to the north, and Guizhou to the south.Chongqing covers a large area crisscrossed by rivers and mountains. The Daba Mountains stand in the north, the Wu Gorge in the east, the Wuling Mountains in the southeast, and the Dalou Mountains in the south. The area slopes downward from north to south towards the Yangtze valley, and features a large massif of mountains and hills, with steep sloping areas at different heights. Karst landscape is common in this area, and stone forests, numerous collections of peaks, limestone caves and valleys can be found in many places. The Longshuixia Gap, with its Three Natural Bridges, has made the region a popular tourist attraction. The Yangtze River runs through the whole area from west to east, covering a course of, cutting through the Wu Mountains at three places and forming the well-known Three Gorges: the Qutang, Wuxia and Xiling gorges. Coming from northwest and running through "the Jialing Lesser Three Gorges" of Libi, Wentang and Guanyin, the Jialing River joins the Yangtze in Chongqing.
The central urban area of Chongqing, called Chongqing proper, is built on mountains and partially surrounded by the Yangtze and Jialing rivers. With its special topography, Chongqing's topography includes mountains, rivers, forests, springs, waterfalls, gorges, and caves. The Tang dynasty poet Li Bai was inspired by the natural scenery and wrote this epigram.
The Zhongliang and Tongluo mountains roughly form the eastern and western boundaries of Chongqing's urban area. Several high mountains are situated outside central Chongqing, including the -high Wugong Ling Mountain in Jiangjin.