"The world's largest city?" Top 5 Page for this destination Chongqing by mke1963

Chongqing Travel Guide: 223 reviews and 751 photos

The world's largest city? - Chongqing

Chongqing is perhaps the quintessential Chinese city, unadorned by any cultural or spiritual legacy - it is small-town China grown up.It is the unashamed commercial hub of western China, or so it portrays itself, although the high mountains to the south and east make it curiously isolated from the lower Yangtze plains and the Pearl River delta: it remains a hub unto itself.
Chongqing also presents itself as the world's largest city, by virtue of it being split off from Sichuan province in 1997 and called a municipality. However, the boundaries were drawn generously. It is bigger than Austria, and 70% of its 31 million inhabitants are rural. It is a big city, though, and is growing dramatically: in every direction, the slopes and ridges around the confluence of the Jialing and Chang Jiang are cloaked in grey concrete and steelwork.
Yet for all its efforts to grow, Chongqing may be destined to remain a provincial backwater. It has attracted relatively little international investment, ranking below provinces such as Henan and Hubei, and only just a little more than isolated Inner Mongolia. Its parochial and staid approach is creating a Chinese-funded city, and one which is less cosmopolitan than even quite small cities elsewhere in China. Despite this, Chongqing has more to see than meets the eye - or is described in the guidebooks. Much of bygone Chongqing still exists, cohabiting uneasily with the pencil-thin skyscrapers.

The Changjiang - Chongqing

The Changjiang

Much of Chongqing's peninsula was built up to serve the treaty port developed in the late 19th Century. At every turn around the steep slopes, you can find Victorian-era architecture and urban planning: huge moss-festooned stone walls, clusters of gingerbread buildings in a surreal Baroque style with ornate gables, squat urbane brick buildings, and monumental stone staircases sweeping up the slopes. While so definitely Chinese now, these little Western influences pop out at the visitor. Perhaps the most endearing cultural clash is the church of St Joseph's, tucked away, completely surrounded by a canyon of residential skyscrapers behind the junction of Minsheng Lu and Minsheng Jiang. Little passageways and steps lead down to the tranquil enclosure where the church sits untroubled by the secular world around it.

People's Square - Chongqing

People's Square

The commercial centre of Chongqing is marked by wide pedestrianised streets and new shopping malls. On three sides, the alleys and lanes descend towards the rivers, and in this bicycle-free city, many make a living hauling goods up and down the steep hills.
Right at the heart of the city, is the Monument to Liberation, a cute clock-tower. It is a simple monument, overlooked by the massive glass wall of the Chongqing Department Store and the glittering neon signboards; not so long ago, the monument towered above the surrounding buildings.
Chongqing has much to offer, although its well-known museum is shut indefinitely.
You can get to know the real 21st Century China well in China: it 's more representative of China than Shanghai or Beijing and is regarded as an achievable model for many provincial cities across the country.

THREE GORGES NOTE:
Next stop downstream is Fengdu (also known as Huinan in the GIS database)

Pros and Cons
  • Pros:History all around, plenty of sights of real interest
  • Cons:Masses of unfinished buildings and infrastructure
  • In a nutshell:Real China - all in one city
  • Last visit to Chongqing: Jun 2005
  • Intro Updated Jun 26, 2005
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Reviews (13)

The end of the highway by Ciqikou - Chongqing Ciqikou - artists village Off The Beaten Path (4)

Visitors to China quickly get used to Chinese culture being packaged and sanitised. Little is left to find its own way:... more travel advice

Pipashan Park - Chongqing Pipashan Park Off The Beaten Path (4)

Pipa Shan is hardly a mountain, rising to just 345 metres above sea level, and in hilly Chongqing, Pipa Shan is almost... more travel advice

The Arhat's (Zhiping) Temple - Chongqing The Arhat's (Zhiping) Temple Things to Do (5)

First built during the Tang Dynasty, and reconstructed and enlarged during the Northern Song Dynasty by Emperor Zhiping.... more travel advice

Around Minsheng Lu - Chongqing Around Minsheng Lu Off The Beaten Path (4)

It is easy in Chongqing to ignore the mundane, yet the back-streets of the city are a fascinating mix of the old and the... more travel advice

Comments (3)

  • Reply
    nepalgoods's Profile Photo
    Mar 22, 2006 at 11:43 PM

    I liked Ciqikou very much. Your page about Chongqing is very helpful.

  • Reply
    Jim_Eliason's Profile Photo
    Apr 2, 2005 at 12:29 AM

    Great page, I need to get off the beaten path next time I visit China!

  • Reply
    Youdi's Profile Photo
    Nov 20, 2004 at 2:26 AM

    Hi Mark,I really like your Chongqing page, brings back great memories.. I loved CQ with its steep hills&stairways.. markets etc. on them..what r u doin in Beijing? I lived in Tianjin a few years ago..really miss it!! wanshiruyi! Youdi

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