Chongqing

Chongqing, also called Chungking, meaning "Double Celebration", is one of the autonomous municipalities located in southwestern China and surrounded on all sides by Sichuan Province. Chongqing is situated on a rocky peninsula at the confluence of the Yangtze and Jialing rivers. It is a major inland port of China and the leading commercial, transportation, and industrial center of the country's southwestern region. On March 14, 1997, the Chinese government decided to make the city of Chongqing, originally included as a part of Sichuan province, a municipality directly under the central government.

Geographical Features

Chongqing may be found on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River covering the area 105o 17'-110o 11' E longitude and 28o 10'-32o 13' N latitude. Chongqing is situated in the southeastern part of Sichuan Province and Sanxia (the Three Gorges) area on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. For a long time Chongqing has been the transportation hub for the villages and cities along the Yangtze River, as well as the southwest regions of China. It covers an area of 23,000 square kilometers including 158 sq km urban districts. Chongqing's terrain slopes from south and north to the Yangtze River featuring hills, flat land and mountains. Surrounded by water on 3 sides, Chongqing is situated at the confluence of Yangtze River and Jialing River. With beautiful hills and mountains the "Mountain City" has long been reputed for its wonderful scenery. Chongqing has a sub-tropical humid monsoon climate zone with four distinct seasons. Summer is hot and winter is warm, with a long frost-free period. The annual average temperature is around 18.4Co with 6-8Co as average temperature in winter and 27-29Co in summer. The four seasons in Chongqing are characterized as a warm winter, a hot summer, a nearly spring and a short autumn. With plentiful rainfall, the annual precipitation is 1,000-1,400 mm. and it rains in the night when spring is changing into summer. Chongqing is also rich in natural resources. It has 4,474 sq km of uncultivated land resources, and abounds in non-metallic minerals, of which reserves of 22 such as coal, natural gas, strontium; iron sulfate and gypsum have been verified. Chongqing has more than 2,000 types of plants and 380 animal species. Chongqing has always been one of the old industrial bases in China, where three mainstay industries have taken shape including machine-building, chemical industry and metallurgical industry.

People

The total population is 30,996,900 in total with a 24,456,600 agricultural population and a 6,140,300 non-agricultural population. Chongqing natives speak a dialect of Southern Mandarin Chinese, which is said to be "quite intelligible" to speakers of Northern (Standard) Mandarin. Because of their rough tones, people speaking the Chongqing dialect are said to talk like baby boys, while the softer sounding dialect in nearby Chengdu is compared to the speech of young girls. The major religion in Chongqing is Buddhism. The main ethnic groups are Han, Tibetan, Miao and others.

History

Traces of man's presence in this area have been found from as far back as the end of the Old Stone Age 20,000 to 30,000 years ago. From the beginning of the Shang Dynasty (16th century B.C.) to the close of the Warring States Period (221 B.C.), it was the capital of the state of Ba. From the Qin Dynasty through the Eastern Han Dynasty (221 B.C.-220 A.D.), it was a prefecture also known as Ba. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, (581-907 A.D.), it was known as the sub-prefecture of Yuzhou, hence its standard byname "Yu". Subsequently, during the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127 A.D.), it was renamed Gongzhou. In 1189, during the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhao Dun, later the Guangzong Emperor was given the title Prince of Gong. Regarding this as an exceedingly joyous event, he upgraded its status to that of a prefecture and renamed it as "Chongqing"' or "redoubled celebration", the name it carries to this day. The Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911) saw goods spin in and out of the city as merchants from the four corners gathered. In 1891 Chongqing became an open port and a customs house was established there. Shipping and trade and the financial and processing industries grew steadily more prosperous as the city came to link southwestern China and the upper reaches of the Yangtze River with the rest of the world. In 1929 Chongqing was formally declared a city. Following the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan in 1937, the Kuomintang (KMT) moved the government from Nanjing to Chongqing. In 1939 the city was elevated to a municipality under the Executive Yuan. Beginning in 1940 till 1946, it served as the wartime "provisional capital" for the KMT government, becoming China's political, economic, financial, commercial, transportation, cultural and diplomatic center. The city was liberated by 1949.