WikiPortallus: Chongqing.html

Chongqing (simplified Chinese: 重庆; traditional Chinese: 重慶; pinyin: Chóngqìng; Postal map spelling: Chungking; Wade-Giles: Ch'ung-ch'ing) is a major city in central-western China. Administratively, it is one of the People's Republic of China's four provincial-level municipalities, and the only such municipality in western China. The municipality was created on 14 March 1997, succeeding the sub-provincial city administration that was part of Sichuan Province. The municipality of Chongqing has a registered population of 31,442,300 as of 2005.¹ The boundaries of Chongqing municipality reach much farther into the city's hinterland than the boundaries of the other three provincial level municipalities (Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin), and much of its administrative area, which spans over 80 000 km², is rural. It has jurisdiction over 19 districts, 17 counties, and four autonomous counties. The population of the urban area of Chongqing proper was 5.09 million (2000).²

The municipal abbreviation, Yú (渝), was approved by the State Council on 18 April 1997. Chongqing was also a municipality of the Republic of China administration, serving as its wartime capital during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Its abbreviated name is derived from the old name of a part of the Jialing River that runs through Chongqing and feeds the Yangtze River.

History

Chongqing is said to be the semi-mythical State of Ba that the Ba people supposedly established during the eleventh century BCE. By 316 BCE, however, it had been overrun by the State of Qin. The Qin emperor ordered a new city to be constructed, which was called Jiang (江州) and Chu Prefecture (楚州).

Chongqing was subsequently renamed in 581 CE (Sui Dynasty) and l;;1102, to Yu Prefecture (渝州) and then Gong Prefecture (恭州). 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/repeated happy celebration" (simplified Chinese: 双重喜庆; traditional Chinese: 雙重喜慶; pinyin: shuāngchóng xǐqìng). Hence, Yu Prefecture became Chongqing subprefecture to mark the occasion.^{citation needed}

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

In 1621 (Ming Dynasty), another short-lived kingdom of Daliang (大梁) was established by She Chongming (奢崇明) in Chongqing as its capital.

Between 1627-1645, with the fall of the Ming Dynasty, Chongqing, together with Sichuan, were captured by the Revolts who overthrew the Ming Dynasty across the nation. Later during the Qing Dynasty, immigration to Chongqing and Sichuan took place with the support of Qing emperor.

From 1929, Chongqing became a municipality of the Republic of China. During the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945), it was Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's provisional capital and was heavily bombed by the Japanese Air Force. Luckily, due to its mountainous environment, many people were saved from the bombing. Many factories and universities were moved from eastern China to Chongqing during WWII, transforming this city from inland port to a heavily industrialized city. In late November 1949 the Nationalist KMT government fled the city.

In 1954, the municipality was demoted to a provincial city within the Sichuan Province of the People's Republic of China. On 14 March 1997, the Eighth National People's Congress decided to merge the city with the neighbouring Fuling, Wanxian, and Qianjiang prefecture-level districts that it had governed on behalf of the province since September 1996. The resulting single division was the 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 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.

In 2009, Chongqing hosted the Second "Chinese Bridge" Chinese Proficiency Competition For Foreign Secondary School Students, organised by Hanban, from the October 16 to October 31.

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 as such it is the only major metropolitan area in China without significant numbers of bicycles.

Administrative divisions

Chongqing Municipality is divided into forty county-level subdivisions (three abolished in 1997), consisting of nineteen districts, seventeen counties, and four autonomous counties.

^a Indicates with which district the division was associated below prior to the merging of Chongqing, Fuling, Wanxian (now Wanzhou) and Qianjiang in 1997.

The urban area of Chongqing Municipality (重庆主城区市区) includes the following districts:

Climate

As one of the "Three Furnaces" (三大火炉), Chongqing's summers are among the hottest in China. The temperature can be as high as 47 °C (117 °F), with an average high of 37 °C (99 °F) in August. Yet even in the hottest weather the wind is often cold, making such high temperatures more bearable. Winters are fairly mild, but damp and overcast; average January highs are 9 °C (48 °F). At only 1024 hours, Chongqing has one of the lowest sunshine totals annually in China.

Due to its focus on heavy industrial operations, Chongqing is perennially ranked on the most polluted cities in the world including the World Bank's list of most polluted cities.

Chongqing is known for its fog and suffers from very heavy air pollution. Foggy weather is most prevalent during spring and winter days, which gives this city a nickname of "the Fog Capital" (Chinese: 雾都). This special weather once protected Chongqing from being overrun by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. However, the city government has been aggressively trying to improve its air quality in recent years^{citation needed}. The so called "blue sky days" (days with air quality within or better than slight pollution) number have been on the rise.^{citation needed}

Politics

The politics of Chongqing is structured in a dual party-government system like all other governing institutions in the People's Republic of China.

The Mayor of Chongqing is the highest ranking official in the People's Government of Chongqing. Since Chongqing is a centrally administered municipality, the mayor occupies the same level in the order of precedence as provincial governors. However, in the city's dual party-government governing system, the mayor has less power than the Chongqing Communist Party of China Municipal Committee Secretary, colloquially termed the "Chongqing CPC Party Chief".

Chongqing also has the distinction of being the wartime capital of China during the Second Sino-Japanese war, and for a brief period being the seat of administration for the Republic of China government before its departure to Taiwan.

Economy

Chongqing was separated from Sichuan province and made into a municipality in its own right in March 1997³ in order to accelerate its development and subsequently China's relatively poorer western areas (see China Western Development strategy).⁴ An important industrial area in western China,⁵ Chongqing is also rapidly urbanizing. For instance, statistics⁶ suggest that new construction added approximately 137,000 square meters (1.5 million square feet) daily of usable floor space to satisfy demands for residential, commercial and factory space. In addition, more than 1,300 people moved into the city daily, adding almost 100 million yuan (US$15 million) to the local economy.

Traditionally, due to its geographical remoteness, Chongqing and neighboring Sichuan are important military bases in weapons research and development.⁷ Chongqing's industries have now diversified but unlike eastern China, its export sector is small due to its inland location. Instead, factories producing local-oriented consumer goods such as processed food, autos, chemicals, textiles, machinery and electronics are common.

Chongqing is China's third largest center of motor vehicle production and the largest for motorcycles. In 2007, it had an annual output capacity of 1 million automobiles and 8.6 million motorcycles.⁸ Leading makers of cars and motor bikes include Changan Automotive Corp - China's fourth biggest automaker and Lifan Hongda Enterprise. The municipality is also one of the 9 largest iron and steel centres in China and one of the three major aluminium producers. Important manufacturers include Chongqing Iron and Steel Company and South West Aluminium - Asia's largest aluminum plant.⁹ Agriculture remains significant. Rice and fruits (especially oranges) are the area's main produce. Natural resources are also abundant with large deposits of coal, natural gas, and more than 40 kinds of minerals such as strontium and manganese,¹⁰ although the mining sector has been criticised for being wasteful, heavily-polluting, and unsafe.¹¹ Chongqing is also planned to be the site of a 10-million-ton-capacity refinery operated by CNPC (parent company of PetroChina) to process imported crude oil from the Sino-Burma pipelines. The pipeline itself, though not yet finished, will eventually run from Sittwe (in Myanmar's western coast) through Kunming in Yunnan province before reaching Chongqing¹² and it will provide China with fuels sourced from Myanmar, the Middle East, and Africa. Recently, there has been a drive to move up the value chain by shifting towards hi-tech and knowledge-intensive industries resulting in new development zones such as the Chongqing New North Zone (CNNZ).¹³ Chongqing's local government is hoping through the promotion of favorable economic policies for the electronics and information technology sectors, that it can create a 400 billion RMB high tech manufacturing hub which will surpass its auto industry and account for 25% of its exports.¹⁴

The city has also invested heavily in infrastructure to attract investment.⁸¹⁵ The network of roads and railways connecting Chongqing to the rest of China have been expanded and upgraded reducing logistical costs. Furthermore, the nearby Three Gorges Dam - the world's largest - will not only supply Chongqing with power once completed but also allows ocean-going ships to reach Chongqing's Yangtze River port.¹⁶ These infrastructure improvements have led to the arrivals of several foreign investors in industries ranging from auto to finance and retailing such as Ford, Mazda, HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, Wal-Mart, and Carrefour.¹⁷

Chongqing's nominal GDP in 2008 reached 509.7 billion yuan (US$73.4 billion) while registering an annual growth of 14.3%. However, its overall economic performance is still lagging behind eastern coastal cities such as Shanghai. For instance, its per capita GDP was 18,025 yuan (US$2,595) - below the national average. Nevertheless, there is a massive government support to transform Chongqing into the region's economic, trade, and financial centre and use the municipality as a platform to open up the country's western interior to further development.¹⁸

Organised crime

In the first decade of the 21st century, the city became notorious for organised crime and corruption. Gangsters oversaw businesses involving billions of yuan and the corruption reached into the law-enforcement and justice systems. In 2009, city authorities under the auspices of municipal Communist Party secretary Bo Xilai undertook a massive crackdown, arresting 4,893 suspected gangsters, 'outlaws' and corrupt cadres, leading to optimism that the period of gangsterism was over.¹⁹

Economic and technological development zones

Media

Chongqing is served by the Chongqing People's Broadcast Station as the largest radio station. The only municipal-level TV network is Chongqing TV station, claimed to be the 4th largest television station.^{citation needed} Chongqing Daily is the largest newspaper group, controlling more than 10 newspapers and one website.

Transportation

River port

Chongqing is the biggest inland river port in western China. Historically, most of its transportation, especially to eastern China, is via the Yangtze River.

Railways

Highways

Airport

Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport, located in Yubei district, north of Chongqing, provides links to most parts of China and to other countries. In year 2007, a total of 10,355,730 person-time transporting volume was reported, which ranks this airport as the 10th largest one in China and the third largest one in southwest China.

Public transportation

The three main forms of public transport in Chongqing are metro and light rail rapid transit, and intercity railway, alongside the ubiquitous bus system.

According to the Chongqing Municipal Government's ambitious plan in May 2007, Chongqing is going to invest 150 billion RMB over 13 years to finish a system that combines underground metro lines with light rail. By 2020 this network will consist of 6 straight lines and 1 circular line; Line 1 will be an underground metro while Lines 2 and 3 will be light rail. These improvements will add 363.5 kilometers of road and railway to the existing transportation infrastructure and 93 new train stations will be added to the 111 stations that are already in place. As of 2005 only one rail line, the 19 km long Chongqing light rail line 2 (project 1), had been finished.

By 2050 Chongqing is planned to have ten railway lines, totaling 513 kilometres, with 270 stations.²⁰

Culture & Tourism

As the provisional Capital of China for almost ten years (1937 to 1945), it was also known as one of the three headquarters of the Allies. Chongqing has many historical World War II buildings or sites(unfortunately some of them were destroyed):

Education

Colleges and universities

International Schools

Sports

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Chongqing Municipality has a Memorandum of Understanding (a form of twinning arrangement) with Wales, UK and became a 'sister region' of Wales in March 2008.²²

In June 2007, a twinning agreement between Chongqing and Sør-Trøndelag was signed.²³

Language

Chongqing area's dialect is somewhat different from Standard Mandarin, as it is a Southwest Mandarin dialect. Most differences are phonological, though some lexical differences are observed as well. A significant difference is the velar nasal initial, ŋ- in the words 澳, 咬, 硬, 我, 爱, 安, which are [ŋao], [ŋao], [ŋən], [ŋo], [ŋai], [ŋan], respectively. Chongqing dialect itself has influences from dialects all over Southern China, such as Min Nan or Wu.

Other dialects are also spoken in Chongqing as well: The second most spoken dialect is Wu, at 11%. The third and fourth most spoken dialects in Chongqing are Xiang at 6%, and Hakka at 5.5%.^{citation needed}

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