Night view of Chongqing bridge from cruise ship, with illuminated bridge over the Yangtze river, People's Republic of China


Tradition associates Chongqing with the State of Ba. The Ba people supposedly established Chongqing during the Spring and Autumn period after moving from their first capital Yicheng in Hubei under pressure from Chu. This new capital was first named Jiangzhou In 316 BC, however, the state of Ba was conquered by the State of Qin. Jiangzhou was subsequently renamed during the Southern and Northern Dynasties to Chu Prefecture then in 581 AD to Yu Prefecture and later in 1102 during Northern Song to Gong Prefecture. The name Yu however survives to this day as an abbreviation for Chongqing, and the city centre where the old town stood is also called Yuzhong. In 1890, the British Consulate General was opened in Chongqing. The following year, the city became the first inland commerce port open to foreigners. The French, German, US and Japanese consulates were opened in Chongqing in 1896-1904. Provisional capital of the Republic of China: During the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945), it was Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's provisional capital. The Japanese Air Force heavily bombed it. Due to its mountainous environment, many people were saved from the bombing. Due to the bravery made by the local people during World War II, Chongqing became known as the City of Heroes. Many factories and universities were relocated from eastern China to Chongqing during the war, transforming this city from inland port to a heavily industrialized city. On 14 March 1997, the Eighth National People's Congress decided to merge the Sub-provincial city with the neighbouring Fuling, Wanxian, and Qianjiang prefectures that it had governed on behalf of the province since September 1996. This became Chongqing Municipality, containing 30,020,000 people in forty-three former counties. The municipality became the spearhead of China's effort to develop its western regions and to coordinate the resettlement of residents from the reservoir areas of the Three Gorges Dam project.


Size: 5760px × 3840px
Location: Chongqing Yangtze river People's Republic of China
Photo credit: © DV TRAVEL / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: architecture, bridge, china, chinese, chongqing, chonquin, cina, city, coloufull, cruise, metallic, modern, night, river, sail, sailing, scene, shape, ship, structure, suspension, tourism, travel, yangtze