Chongqing

Introduction

Chongqing has a significant history and culture. The city was named Chongqing in 1189 under the Nan Song dynasty. Chongqing city was under the administration of Sichuan province from 1954, but in 1997 it was separated from the province and designated a provincial-level municipality under the direct administration of the central government, the fourth one to be established. At that time the entire eastern portion of Sichuan was incorporated into the municipality, which greatly expanded Chongqing’s overall land area and population.

Chongqing is a  sprawling municipality at the confluence of the Yangtze and Jialing rivers in southwestern China. The municipality of Chongqing, which is around the size of Austria, includes the city of Chongqing and various non-connected cities. As the Chongqing municipal government directly administers the city of Chongqing, as well as rural counties, and other cities not connected to the city of Chongqing, Chongqing municipality can technically claim to be the largest city proper in the world, even though this is due to a classification technicality and not because it is actually the world's largest urban area. Chongqing was a municipality during the Republic of China administration, serving as its wartime capital during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Data and Facts

In 1954 the city became a sub-provincial city within Sichuan Province under the People's Republic of China. On March 14, 1997, however, the city was merged with the neighbouring districts of Fuling, Wanxian, and Qianjiang and it was separated from Sichuan to form Chongqing Municipality, one of China's four direct-controlled municipalities.

The climate of Chongqing is considered humid subtropical and it has four distinct seasons. Summers are very hot and humid while winters are short and mild. The average August high temperature for Chongqing is 92.5 F (33.6 C) and the average January low temperature is 43 F (6 C). Most of the city's precipitation falls during the summer and since it is located in the Sichuan Basin along the Yangtze River cloudy or foggy conditions are not uncommon. The city is nicknamed the "Fog Capital" of China.

Part of Chongqing's early development as an economic centre of China is due to its geographic location on large rivers. The city is intersected by the Jialing River as well as the Yangtze River. This location allowed the city to develop into easily accessible manufacturing and trading centre.

Administration 

Chongqing is the largest of the four direct-controlled municipalities of the People's Republic of China. The municipality is divided into 38 subdivisions, consisting of 26 districts, 8 counties, and 4 autonomous counties. The boundaries of Chongqing municipality reach much farther into the city's hinterland than the boundaries of the other three provincial-level municipalities, and much of its administrative area, which spans over 80,000 square kilometres, is rural. Administratively, the city is divided into a number of districts, counties, and autonomous counties.

Grassroots administrative units are organized as villages in rural areas and as neighbourhood street committees in urban districts. Neighbourhood street committees perform the auxiliary functions of mediating disputes, propagating legal orders, and promoting sanitation and welfare. These committees are quasi-official administrations, covering blocks of streets of varying sizes. Chongqing municipality has considerably extended the territorial limits of the municipal area to include a series of urban-rural units surrounding the city proper.

Since 1980 the municipal government has allowed farmers to engage in industry, commerce, and transportation in addition to cultivation.

Economy 

Chongqing was separated from Sichuan province and made into a municipality in its own right on 14 March 1997 in order to accelerate its development and subsequently China's relatively poorer western areas. An important industrial area in western China, Chongqing is also rapidly urbanising. For instance, statistics suggest that new construction added approximately 137,000 square metres 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 to the local economy.

Important manufacturers include Chongqing Iron and Steel Company and South West Aluminium which is Asia's largest aluminium plant. 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. Coal reserves ≈ 4.8 billion tonnes. Recently, there has been a drive to move up the value chain by shifting towards high technology and knowledge-intensive industries resulting in new development zones such as the Chongqing New North Zone. Chongqing's local government is hoping through the promotion of favourable economic policies for the electronics and information technology sectors, that it can create a 400 billion RMB high technology manufacturing hub which will surpass its car industry and account for 25% of its exports.

The city has also invested heavily in infrastructure to attract investment. The network of roads and railways connecting Chongqing to the rest of China has been expanded and upgraded reducing logistical costs.

The city includes a number of economic and technological development zones:

• Chongqing Chemical Industrial Park
• Chongqing Economic & Technological Development Zone
• Chongqing Hi-Tech Industry Development Zone
• Chongqing New North Zone (CNNZ)
• Chongqing Export Processing Zone
• Jianqiao Industrial Park (located in Dadukou District)
• Liangjiang New Area
• Liangjiang Cloud Computing Center (the largest of its kind in China)

Chongqing itself is part of the West Triangle Economic Zone, along with Chengdu and Xi'an.

Business Environment 

The dual economic structure of the coexistence of big urban and rural areas makes Chongqing have not only modern industry and service but also agriculture with abundant products, which provides an extensive cooperation field and numerous business opportunities.

Foreign relationship/presence Chongqing has established economic and trade relations with 180 countries and regions. Britain, Canada, Japan, Denmark and Cambodia have established consulates in Chongqing; Austria and Germany have established agencies of chambers of commerce in Chongqing. By the end of April 2007, the total number of foreign investment enterprises approved by Chongqing Municipal Government is up to 4,246. 71 of Fortune Top 500 enterprises including Ford, BP, Ericsson, ABB, Lafarge, Carrefour, Metro, Isuzu Motors and Suzuki Motor have established their presence in Chongqing.

Chongqing is one of the six old industrial bases in China. It has a sound industrial base, with a complete range of industries and strong supporting capacity. The industry is the dominant force in the national economy in Chongqing. There are 100,000 industrial enterprises. In 2006, the industrial added value in Chongqing was RMB 123.4 billion, up 18%. At present, six large key industries in Chongqing have been formed and cultivated, i.e. automobiles and motorcycles, petroleum and natural gas chemistry, equipment manufacture, new materials, high-tech and labour-intensive industries. 

Infrastructure

Chongqing has become one of the 10 first-level nodes in the national communication network architecture, which have greatly enhanced Chongqing’s position as an internet hub in the West and the supporting capacity of Chongqing’s network infrastructure.

Chongqing has also become one of the two big cities in the Western Region where three operators have launched 5G pilot projects together. Thus far, Chongqing Mobile has opened two 5G base stations. Within this year, it plans to build and open 50 5G base stations in the main urban area.

During the opening, the newest technologies, products and applications in the fields of artificial intelligence, big data, self-driving vehicles, drone and virtual technology, and so on, were presented and released. The exhibitors included several technology heavyweights such as Alibaba, Google, Inspire, Qualcomm, Huawei and Baidu.

Among the 843 companies from 28 countries and regions, JANZZ.technology was honoured to take part in the SCE in Chongqing. We believe that China will be the leading country in smart technology in the future and we hope to seek potential Chinese partners that can help us open the door to the Chinese market. We could still recall the hundreds of youngsters we met during the expo. Through their excited eyes, we see the bright future of the city.

Technology 

After several years of efforts, Chongqing has built a unified information sharing platform for the whole city. A three-level (country-city-district) government information resource sharing system links the national platform and 38 district platforms together.

Chongqing has taken the lead in completing data sharing at the provincial/municipality level, through which the isolated information islands of the departments are often bridged, and therefore the data aggregation are often accelerated. quite 200 applications for state services, urban planning, urban governance, etc. within 80 departments are realized.

Social Wellness and Human Resources

The language native to Chongqing is Southwestern Mandarin. More precisely, the great majority of the municipality, save for Xiushan, speak Sichuanese, including the primary Chengdu-Chongqing dialect and Minjiang dialect spoken in Jiangjin and Qijiang. There are also a few speakers of Xiang and Hakka in the municipality, due to the great immigration wave to the Sichuan region during the Ming and Qing dynasties. In addition, in parts of southeastern Chongqing, the Miao and Tujia languages are also used by some Miao and Tujia people.

Health

Chongqing has a considerable number of hospitals and health care facilities. By the early 21st century there were some 2,500 medical and health care institutions in the municipality, staffed with a workforce of about 80,000 people. Physical fitness is emphasized by the government.

Education

Chongqing is a national centre of higher education, with some three dozen universities and colleges. Several of the major institutions are in Shapingba district, including Chongqing University, Southwest University, Southwest University of Political Science and Law, and Chongqing Normal University. Other schools include Chongqing Medical University in Yuzhong district, Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in Jiulongpo district, and Chongqing Jiaotong University in Nan’an district.

Cultural Life

The city has maintained a number of locations associated with the wartime Nationalist government period, including the residences of Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek, Song Qingling, and U. In addition, Chongqing municipality has numerous acting and acrobatic troupes, including those performing Sichuan opera. Numerous parks, both in the Old City districts and in outlying areas, attract large numbers of visitors. South of the city, among well-kept gardens with lakes and pavilions, are the sulfurous springs of Nanwenquan Park. Some 30 miles northwest of the city centre are the well-known hot springs of Beiwenquan Park, along the Jialing River.

Visitors come to relax, often soaking for hours in one of the numerous baths filled with warm mineral water, or they swim in one of the three Olympic-sized pools, which are also fed by the hot springs.

References

https://www.topchinatravel.com/chongqing/chongqing-facts.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chongqing

https://www.britannica.com/place/Chongqing/Administration-and-society