[BACK] (1)外文名称: Chongqing Municipality (2)中文名称: 重庆市 (3)内容: Chongqing Municipality Geography Chongqing is situated in the southeastern part of Sichuan Province and Sanxia (the Three Gorges) area on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. It is an economic center and land- and water-transport hub on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. It covers an area of 23,000 square kilometers including 158 sq km urban districts, and has a total population of 15.2 million including more than three million urban residents. Its downtown is located where the Yangtze and Jialing rivers meet. The urban buildings at the foot of hills and beside the rivers stand majestic. Chongqing is a really beautiful city. Chongqing's terrain slopes from south and north to the Yangtze River featuring hills, flat land and mountains. Climate Belonging to Central Asian sub-tropical humid monsoon climate, Chongqing is warm in winter and hot in summer. It has a long frost-free period and abundant rainfall with an average daily temperature of 18.4 degrees centigrade. Historical Background Chongqing is one of China's historical and cultural cities. It opened wider to the outside world in 1891, and was designated as "Peidu" by the Kuomintang Government during the War of Resistance Against Japan (1937-1945). It became one of the central municipalities after the founding of the New China. In 1983, Chongqing took the lead in carrying out a comprehensive reform of the economic system, and in enjoying the provincial status in economic management. In 1992, it was designated as one of the open cities along the Yangtze River. Natural Resources Chongqing is rich in natural resources. It has 4,474 sq km of unused land resources, and abounds in non-metallic minerals, of which reserves of 22 such as coal, natural gas, strontium, iron sulfate and gypsum have been verified. The Chuandong Natural Gas Field with Chongqing as the core is China is the largest natural gas field so far. Both the reserves and quality of strontium rank first in the country. Chongqing has more than 2,000 types of plants and 380 animal species. The Jinyun Mountain still has such rare plant species as metasequoia, known as a "living fossil" dating back to 160 million years ago. With potential hydropower estimated at about three million kilowatts, Chongqing ranks first among major cities in the country. Its underground hot mineral water and drinking mineral water are of great value of development. Scenic Attractions Chongqing is endowed with scenic spots. Included are the Dazu stone inscription groups, known as a gem of ancient Chinese art of grottoes, the Hechuan Fishing Town, one of the three ancient Chinese battle fields, and various historic and cultural relics left over during the War of Resistance Against Japan (1937-45) as well as sub-tropic scenic spots and tourist attractions in the Jinyun, Simiao, Gele and Nanshan mountains and the Wansheng Stone Forest. The downtown, which is embraced by the two rivers, has a unique picturesque scenery. Ascending a height to enjoy a distant view at night, one can see the light mix with water enhancing each other in beauty. Chongqing is the starting place of the tourist route of the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River. Sailing along the river, one can have a bird's eye view of the Guicheng (town for monsters) in Fengdu, Shibaozhai in Zhongxian, Zhang Fei Temple in Yunyang, Bai Di Town in Fengjie, Xiao Sanxia (small three gorges) in the Daning River and the Three Gorges in the Yangtze River. Economic Achievements Since the founding of New China, especially since China initiated the reform and open policy in 1979, Chongqing's economy has developed by leaps and bounds. In 1995, its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reached 74 billion yuan, and the ratio of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries was 20.8: 45.9: 33.3, forming an overall development pattern of industry, agriculture, circulation and transportation. Chongqing is one of China's old industrial bases with heavy industry in the main, and has a complete industrial setup. It has more than 6,000 industrial enterprises including over 300 major ones employing a total of 1.3 million people. One of Chongqing's industrial advantages is having more military industrial enterprises and a stronger technical force. The city's pillar industries range from automobile, large machinery equipment, metallurgy and chemicals to building and building materials. It is one of the country's production centers for motor vehicles and motorcycles. The "Hongyan" heavy-duty truck, "Wushiling" light duty truck, "Changan" mini-car, "Aotuo" car and the "Jialing" and "Jianshe" motorcycles were developed with advanced foreign technology in the 1980s. The Jialing and Jianshe enterprise groups produce more than two million motorcycles a year. The Jialing Group was granted the title "King of Motorcycles". Chongqing is one of China's iron and steel production centers with an annual production capacity of 1.8 million tons of steel products. The Chongqing Iron and Steel (Group) Company and the Chongqing Special Steel (Group) Company are key enterprises in the country. The Southwest Aluminum Processing Plant, equipped with state-of-art technology and equipment, is one of China's key aluminum processing centers. Commerce and Trade Chongqing is advanced in commerce and trade. It has been a major port and goods distribution center in southwestern China ever since ancient time. At present, it has more than 200,000 commercial units, about 1,000 markets and 16 national and regional wholesales markets for capital goods and consumer goods. Its trading business spreads across the country. The turnover of the Chongqing Commodity Exchange topped 50 billion yuan in 1995. It is the largest futures exchange in western China. The city has about 3,000 banking institutions, whose savings deposits had exceeded 30 billion yuan by the end of 1995, whose loans amounted 46 billion yuan, and whose cash volume reached 93 billion yuan. Finance The Chongqing Branch of the Bank of China is a inland port bank, and every major commercial bank has a department of settlement on account. The market of securities, foreign exchanges, technology, information, labor and real estate have made rapid progress. Opening to Outside World Over the past decade of the reform and opening wider to the outside world, Chongqing has gradually developed into an open city by the Yangtze River, enjoys the provincial status in foreign trade management, and has state economic and technology development zones and high-tech technology industrial zones. Chongqing's customs, departments of commodity inspection, quarantine of animals and plants and foreign transportation, foreign shipping agency as well as other organizations are empowered to hold foreign trade talks, list quoted prices, sign contracts, transport, carry out settlement of exchanges, and set the ratio of export-oriented products and issue import licenses. At present, Chongqing has economic and trade contacts with more than 100 countries and regions. Its import and export volume in 1995 amounted to 1.48 billion U.S. dollars, of which the exports totaled 860 million U.S. dollars. It had approved over 2,000 foreign-funded projects with a total investment of more than four billion U.S. dollars, and set up 1,800 foreign-funded enterprises. A number of internationally known corporations and financial institutions have flocked to Chongqing to make an investment. Transportation Through massive construction of urban infrastructure, Chongqing's investment conditions have taken shape. The Chengdu-Chongqing, Hunan-Chongqing and Sichuan-Guizhou electrified railways and three national trunk highways meet in Chongqing, thus forming a land transport network. Backed by the Yangtze River, ships of 1,000 deadweight tonnage (DWT) are able to sail downstream from Chongqing to overseas. The Chongqing Airport, which was built in accordance with the international standard, has opened 40 air routes linking the city with major cities in the country, and has chartered planes flying from the city to Hong Kong, Macao and Nagoya, Japan. The city has a 720,000-line urban telephone switching system. Telephone services in every county are program-controlled, and able to directly contact major cities in the country and worldwide. Chongqing is linked to other large and medium-sized cities across the country with direct mail service. It also has an international mail exchange center. The urban traffic means include mainly trolley buses and buses, cable cars, elevators and ships forming a public traffic system. The city has power, cooking gas and water supply facilities basically meeting the needs of urban production and people's life.