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Chongquing

At a glance | General Information | History | Animals & Plants | Travel | Attractions | Tours originating Chongqing

Attractions:  Zoological Garden | Dazu Grotto Art | Arhat Temple | Huayan Temple | Shengshou Temple | The Three Gorges | North Hot Springs Park | South Hot Springs Park | Eling Park | People's Assembly Hall |
Pipashan (Loquat Hill) Park | The Ghost City in Fengdu | The Beautiful natural Scenery in Wansheng | The Red Crag Revolutionary Memorial Museum | Museum of Natural History | Residence of General Joseph W. Stilwell

Chongquing at a glance:

One of the China's biggest municipality as well as one of the very large cities in the world; the economic center; the hub of water, land, and air transportation in Southwest China with busy rivers and highways radiating in all directions; and an inland river port with foreign trade in the west of China; an integrated industrial city with balance developed agriculture; called as the "Mountain City", "River City" and reputed for its wonderful scenery. Location: situated at the upper reaches of the Yangtze River - at the confluence of Yangtze River and Jialing River and at the joint of central China and the southwest China, between 10517' - 110 1' east longitude and 280' - 323' north latitude. Neighboring Areas: Qinghai, Gansu, Shaanxi, Hubei, Hunan, Guizhou, and Yunnan Provinces, Tibet Autonomous Region. Population: 30.40 million. Area: 82,400 sq. km. Nationalities: Han, Yi, Tibetan, Miao, Qiang, and Tujia. Average Temperature: average lowest temperature in winter is 6 to 8C and average highest temperature in summer is 27C to 29C; annual average temperature is around 18C to 20C. Rainfall: long rainy season and plenty rainfall, about 1,200-1,400mm a year; plenty of night rain. Local Highlights: Sichuan Cuisine, Chaffy Dish, Qianjiang Baked Tobacco and handcraft made from bamboo.

General Information:

Chongqing is located at the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, 470km from east to west and 450km from north to south. Chongqing neighbors Hubei and Hunan in the east, and Guizhou in the south, it neighbors Sichuan in the west and Shaxi in the north. The terrain slopes down to the Yangtze River valley from south to north, and is therefore quite undulating. In the northwest and central parts are mainly hills. In the southeast are Dabashan and Wulingshan mountains. Major rivers are the Yangtze River, Jialing River, Wujiang River, Fujiang River, Qijiang River and Daninghe River. Its population is about 40 million with assorted nationalities including Han, Yi, Tibetan, Miao, Qiang, and Tujia. Chongqing belongs to sub-tropical humid monsoon climate zone. Annual average temperature is around 18. Average lowest temperature in winter is 6-8 and average highest temperature in summer is 27-29. There is little frost and snow and much fog all the year round. Features are warm winter, hot summer, early spring and short autumn. Rainfall is plenty, about 1,000-1,400mm a year. There is plenty of night rain when spring is changing into summer, hence the saying "ashan night rains". The streets of Chongqing are staggered one above the other on the hills that overlook the river, making the city a magnificent sight to behold. At night, house lights shine over the rolling hills like sparkling stars, making the hills a glittering screen, the bridge a rainbow, and ships flying sparks on the rivers. The splendid scenery of this famous mountain city attracts many tourists from home and abroad. Local highlights include Sichuan Cuisine, Chaffy Dish, Qianjiang Baked Tobacco and handcraft made from bamboo. Surrounded by water on 3 sides, Chongqing is situated at the confluence of Changjiang River and Jialing River. With beautiful hills and mountains the "Mountain City" has long been reputed for its wonderful scenery. To its east, you may enjoy a sightseeing tour to the Three Gorges on the Changjiang River; to its west, you will acclaim the 50,000 stone figures sculpted on the cliffs during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) and Sung Dynasty (960-1279 AD) as the acme of perfection; in its south, the stone forests in Wansheng District seem superlatively made, yet they were created by nature; and in its north you cannot help meditating on the dinosaur fossils of 180 million years ago. The Fishing Fortress in Hechuan has long been widely known. The waterfalls, stones, forests, springs, and outdoor games in Simianshan Mountain in Jiangjing are fascinating. In the city proper. there are attractive Eling Hill, Loquat Hill, Night Scene of the Mountain City, Flowers in the Nanshan Park decorating the mountain city. The East, South, West, North, and Tongjing Hot Springs are like five pearls scattered in the suburbs. The Anti-Japanese Remains present the combat achievements in Chongqing by the Anti-fascist Allies during the Second World War. and the Red Crag Village and Geleshan Martyrs' Cemetery bear the glorious loyalty of the revolutionary seniors. For the city itself, it came into being three thousand years ago and got its name 800 years ago. On December 8, 1986, it was appointed one of the Historical and Cultural Cities of China by the State Council. With 7 districts, 11 counties and 3 county-level municipalities under its jurisdiction at present, Chongqing is the industrial and commercial center and foreign trade port in the upper reaches of the Changjing River. It is also the hub of water, land, and air transportation in Southwest China with busy rivers and highways radiating in all directions. The three railways connect Chongqing with all other parts of the country. Airliners here fly to & from 39 domestic cities and charter flights fly directly to and from Hong Kong and Nagoya of Japan. Chongqing rich and diversified tourist facilities include over 96 travel agencies, 23 tourist hotels which are entitled to receive foreign guests, 50 other appointed institutions and units that are foreign-related, over 360 deluxe tourist coaches of various kinds, Sichuan dishes, huoguo, and over 100 local snacks. Chongqing is a place every tourist desires to visit. Honorable guests and dear friends, make a trip here and you'll be warmly received by the hospitable Chongqing people. Presently Chongqing is China's biggest municipality in terms of area and population. It covers an area of 82,000 sq. km and administers 43 districts, cities and counties. In the city there are 1,502 town and township offices and sub-district offices.

History:
Chongqing is a famous cultural city with a history of 3,000 years and a glorious revolutionary tradition. It is the birthplace of Bayu culture. Towards the end of the Old Stone Age approximately 20,000-30,000 years ago, mankind began to live in Chongqing. In Shang Dynasty (1600-1027 or 1766-1122 BC) and Zhou Dynasty (1027 or 1022 - 221 BC) Ba people founded Kingdom Ba and made Chongqing their capital. Domain of Ba in its most flourishing period was "to Yufu (present Fengjie) in the east, to Dao in the west, to Hanzhong in the north and to Qianfu in the south". Original Chongqing was the center to juristic East Sichuan, South Shanxi, West Hubei, Northwest of Hunan and North Guizhou. In all dynasties since Qing Dynasty (1644-1911 AD) and Han this region was for most of the time a unified administrative region with Chongqing as the center. In the old times Chongqing was called Jiangzhou. Then it was called Bajun, Chuzhou, Yuzhou and Gongzhou. In 581 AD, Emperor Wendi of Sui Dynasty (581-618 AD) changed Chuzhou to Yuzhou, thus coming the short form Yu for Chongqing. In 1189 Emperor Guang Zhong of Sung Dynasty (960-1279 AD) was first conferred on prince and then ascended the throne. In 1102, the first year of the reign of Emperor Chongning of the Northern Sung Dynasty, it was renamed Gong Prefecture. Zhao Chun of the Southern Sung Dynasty (1127-1279) became prince of the Gong Prefecture and later became emperor. Zhao regarded his two ascensions as a double cause for celebration and changed the name of Gong Prefecture to Chongqing, or "Double Celebration."  Although protected by a wall since 250 BC, Chongqing was plundered during the rebellion of Zhang Xianzhong (Chang Hsien-chung) in the 1630s. When the wall was subsequently repaired, eight of the 17 gates were left closed on the advice of feng shui experts. In 1891, Chongqing became an open port. In 1929, Chongqing was formally made a city. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-1945), Chongqing was made an alternate capital after the fall of Nanjing, which was then the capital of the Kuomintang government. During this period, Chongqing developed into the center of politics, economy, and culture in China. When the Nationalist government returned to Nanjing, Chongqing remained a municipality directly under the central government. In the years following the founding of New China, Chongqing was the location of CPC Southwest Bureau and Southwest Civil & Military Commission, it was the political, economic and cultural center in the southwest and a city of municipality status. In 1954, Chongqing became a city under the jurisdiction of Sichuan provincial government. In 1983, Chongqing took the lead in experimenting on comprehensive economic structural reforms and was granted provincial jurisdiction over economy. Eight counties of Yongchuan merged into Chongqing. In 1992, Chongqing was made an open city along the Yangtze River. In 1994, Chongqing was designated as an experimental city at provincial level for the comprehensive reform of the marketing economic system. In September 1996, the Central Government approved Chongqing to administer Wanxian, Fuling and Qianjiang Region on behalf of the province. In 1997, Chongqing became the fourth municipality under the direct jurisdiction of the Central Government, the other three being Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin. Chongqing includes Chongqing City, Wanxian City, Fuling City, and Qianjiang Prefecture. It covers an area of 82,400 sq. km, 14% of Sichuan's total area, and has a population of 30.05 million, 27% of Sichuan's total.

Animals and Plants
Chongqing is one of China's regions that are rich in biological species. According to incomplete statistics Chongqing has over 2,000 species of plants. Only in Jingyuanshan there are more than 1,700 species of sub-tropical trees. Rare plants such as metasequoia, Baile tree, Feier tree are preserved. There are more than 30 species of famous trees, more than 1,000 species of arbor and 17 species of bamboo. Particularly famous are the four unique of Jingshan Mountain, i.e. white China fir, giant azalea tree, broad leaf tea and square bamboo shoot. Chongqing is also one of China's important producing bases for crude Chinese medicines. Output of coptis root, Chinese gall, honeysuckle flower, magnolia bark, yellow-corktree bark and eucommia bark ranks the first in China. Cultivated plants amount to 560 kinds. Major grain crops are rice, corn, wheat and sweet potatoes with rice as the major crop. Economic crops are mainly rapeseeds, peanuts, tung oil, lacquer, tea, silkworm cocoon, sugar cane, jute, bluish dogbane and tobacco. Fruits are mainly citrus, orange, peach and plum. Citrus is most famous. Chongqing's animal resources amount to 380 species. Rare wild animals are crown deer, wood musk, civet, panther, otter, macaque, golden pheasant and etc. Raised animals amount to over 60 species, live hog, goat, ox and rabbit are prominent species. Rongchang is the nation's famous producing base for studhogs, and Shizhu is a famous base to raise, process and export long hair rabbits. Chongqing has over 120 river fishes. Fish farming is popular in every district and county. Changshouhu Lake and Dahonghu Lake are fish farming bases of Chongqing.

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