Overview
Standing at
the confluence of the Jialing and Yangtze rivers Chongqing is
known as "the City of Fog", "the Mountain City",
and "the River Town". Surrounded by mountains the city
is hot and rainy in summer so it is sometimes also called "the
Furnaces". In history, Chongqing was originally the capital
of the State of Ba three thousand years ago, and the place was
renamed many times until it got the name Chongqing (Double Celebration).
In 1997,Chongqing became the fourth municipality directly under
the Central Government, together with Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin.
As the largest
city of China, Chongqing covers an area of 82,400 sq kilometres
with a population of 30 million. There are many famous sites in
the city, including the Beiwenquan, Nanwenquan, and the Longevity
Lake. During the Anti-Japanese War the Kuomintang moved from Nanjing
to Chongqing, making it a war-time capital, which results in many
commemorative sites such as the Red Crag Village, the Chongqing
Office of the Eighth Route Army, and so on. Chongqing is also
the starting point for a cruise on the Yangtze.
