Chongqing

Chongqing is a city built on the vertical: high-rises cling to mountainsides, cable cars glide over the river, and a rapid-transit train runs straight through an apartment building. A vacation in Chongqing means hot pot, river mist, and a launching point for cruises through the Three Gorges.

Things to See in Chongqing

The downtown core sits on the Yuzhong peninsula between the Yangtze and Jialing rivers. In the evening, Hongyadong becomes a favorite photo spot, a multistory complex in the style of traditional stilt houses, lit up like a fairy-tale castle. The Yangtze River Cableway carries you across to the south bank, where the slopes of Nanshan offer views over a sea of lights. The old town of Ciqikou on the Jialing draws visitors with its teahouses and snack stalls, and Liziba Station is famous for the monorail that roars through a residential building. The Three Gorges Museum explains the region's history and the dam. Outside the city, the Buddhist rock carvings of Dazu, a UNESCO World Heritage Site dating from the 9th to 13th centuries, are a highlight. In Wulong District, enormous natural bridges span a karst gorge. The Jiefangbei pedestrian zone is the city's shopping center, and at Raffles City at the confluence of the rivers, a horizontal glass bridge connects several skyscrapers at a height of roughly 250 meters.

History and Cityscape

During World War II, Chongqing served as the provisional capital of the Republic of China and was heavily bombed by Japanese aircraft; some of the air-raid shelters in the rock now serve as restaurants. In 1997, the city was separated from Sichuan Province and has since been its own administrative unit, with a vast territory that also includes large rural mountain regions. The city is a major center of the automotive and electronics industries. Because of the terrain, you hardly see any bicycles in the city; instead, there are long escalators such as the Huangguan Escalator, one of the longest in Asia.

Food, Getting There, and Best Time to Visit

Chongqing hot pot, made with beef tallow, chili, and Sichuan pepper, is spicier and oilier than its counterpart in Chengdu; typical ingredients include tripe, duck intestines, and vegetables. Xiaomian, spicy wheat noodles, are the classic breakfast. Jiangbei Airport offers domestic and international connections, and high-speed trains reach Chengdu in about an hour. The best time to visit is spring and fall: in summer, Chongqing is one of the hottest places in China, and in winter, thick fog often hangs over the rivers.