Place:Chongqing, People's Republic of China

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Chongqing ( or  ; ; Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Chungking, is a municipality in southwest China.

Administratively, it is one of the four municipalities under the direct administration of the central government of the People's Republic of China (the other three are Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin), and the only such municipality located deep inland. The municipality of Chongqing, roughly the size of Austria, includes the city of Chongqing as well as various discontiguous cities. Due to a classification technicality, Chongqing municipality can claim to be the largest city proper in the worldthough it does not have the world's largest urban area. Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport, a major aviation hub serving Chongqing metropolitan areas and Western China, is one of the top 50 busiest airports in the world, and the city's monorails system is the world's longest and busiest monorails system with the greatest number of stations (70).

During the Republic of China (ROC) era, Chongqing was a municipality located within Sichuan Province. It served as its wartime capital during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945). The current municipality was separated from Sichuan province on 14 March 1997 to help develop the central and western parts of China. The Chongqing administrative municipality has a population of over 30 million. The city of Chongqing, comprising nine urban and suburban districts, has a population of 8,750,000 as of the 2018 estimation. According to the 2010 census, Chongqing is the most populous Chinese municipality, and also the largest direct-controlled municipality in China, containing 26 districts, eight counties, and four autonomous counties. Chongqing is also the headquarter of the Changan Automobile, one of the "Big Four” car manufacturers of China.

The official abbreviation of the city, "", was approved by the State Council on 18 April 1997. This abbreviation is derived from the old name of a part of the Jialing River that runs through Chongqing and feeds into the Yangtze River.

Chongqing has an extensive history and a rich culture. As one of China's National Central Cities, it serves as a financial center of the Sichuan Basin and the upstream Yangtze. It is a major manufacturing and transportation center; a July 2012 report by the Economist Intelligence Unit described it as one of China's "13 emerging megalopolises". Chongqing is ranked as a Beta (global second-tier) city. Chongqing is one of the top 100 cities in the world by scientific research outputs as tracked by the Nature Index, and home to several notable universities, including Chongqing University, Southwest University, Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Southwest University of Political Science and Law, and Chongqing Normal University.

History

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Ancient history

Chongqing's location is historically associated with the State of Ba. Its new capital was first called Jiangzhou.

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 (Sui dynasty) 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 (Central Yu).^[1] 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" (or chóngqìng in short). To mark the occasion of his enthronement, Yu Prefecture was therefore converted to Chongqing Fu.

In 1362, (Yuan dynasty), Ming Yuzhen, a peasant rebel leader, established the Daxia Kingdom at Chongqing for a short time. In 1621 (Ming dynasty), 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 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 Nov 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 second capital city (pèi dū) 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 South East Asia (South East Asia Command SEAC), Joseph Stilwell, was based in the city. This made it a city of world importance in the fight against Axis powers, together with London, Moscow and Washington, D.C. The city was also visited by Lord Louis Mountbatten, the Supreme Commander of SEAC which was itself headquartered in Ceylon, modern day Sri Lanka. Chiang Kai Shek as Supreme Commander in China worked closely with Stilwell. From 1938 to 1943, the city suffered from continuously 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 of Resistance-World War II. 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. In late November 1949, the Nationalist KMT government retreated from the city.

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. 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 four National Central/Core cities, the other three are Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin. On 18 June 2010, Liangjiang New Area was established in Chongqing, which was the third state-level new area at the time of its establishment.

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