About Chongqing

Updated: 2005-10-10 11:22

Chongqing is situated in the east of southwest China, about 2,500km up the Yangtze River from Shanghai.

Like Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai, Chongqing is a municipality directly administered by the Central Government. Under its jurisdiction there are 40 districts, cities and counties. It covers an area of 82,000 square kilometres with a total population of 31 million. Nearly 6 million people live in its urban core.

Economic background

Chongqing is the largest inland port city in China and is the economic centre on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. In 2003, its GNP registered 225.01 billion RMB (AUS$37.5 billion), an increase of 11.4% compared with the previous year.

Relying on a market of 200 million people in Southwest China, Chongqing is a traditional commodity exchange centre.

An integrated system of customs, commodity inspection, health quarantine, animal and plant quarantine and direct river-to-sea containerised transportation has been promoting the rapid development of Chongqing’s foreign trade.

Imports and exports in 2003 totalled US$12.595 billion. Over 3,000 specifications in 28 categories of Chongqing products, mainly automobiles, motorcycles, toys and clothes have entered the world markets.

An industrial base in Southwest China

Industry is the mainstay of Chongqing’s economy. There are almost 10,000 factories with fixed assets of AUS$12.1 billion and a working staff of 1.2 million. Central industries include machine building, metallurgy, chemicals, environmental protection, foods and tourism. Other prominent industries, such as electronics, building materials, gas and ceramics and daily-use chemicals are also comparatively well developed.

The automobile and motorcycle industries in Chongqing, together with those in Shanghai, Changchun and Shiyan, are regarded as the four biggest motor vehicle manufacturing centres in the country.

Chonqing is one of China’s six chemical production bases and is one of ten iron and steel production bases across the country.

A powerful industry stems from a strong base of science and technology. Chongqing has nearly 1,000 scientific research institutions, 423 universities and colleges and 400,000 scientists and technical staff.

Transport facilities

Chongqing’s Jiangbei International Airport is a national level all weather airport. It accommodates over 50 domestic and international airlines, including regular lines to Hong Kong, Dusseldorf in Germany, Tokyo, Nagoya in Japan and Seoul in South Korea and charter flights to Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur. Together with convenient railway and highway networks, the Golden Waterway of the Yangtze River and a modern telecommunications system, Chongqing is closely linked with other parts of the country and the world.

Flying times to Chongqing
From Hong Kong : 2.15hrs
From Beijing : 2.35hrs
From Shanghai : 2.20hrs

Communication facilities

Chongqing has its own ground-based satellite broadcasting station that provides radio and television broadcasting services through satellite.

Chongqing is one of China’s major postal and telecom centres with a complete telecommunications system covering the whole city that is backboned by optical-fibres transmission and supplemented by digital, microwave and satellite transmission. International direct dial (IDD) telephone communication with more than 180 countries and regions is now available.

Other facts

Chongqing is a famous cultural city that has a history of more than 3,000 years. During World War II, Chongqing was the wartime capital of China and the command centre of the Allies in the Far East. It is also where the first Australian Embassy in China was located.

Chongqing has a subtropical climate with an annual average temperature of 18°C, an annual rainfall of 1,000mm and an annual average humidity of 79%. The land is green even in winter.

The four seasons in Chongqing are characterised as an early spring, a hot summer, a rainy autumn and a warm winter. The best weather is in April, May, September and October.

With its central district located at the confluence of the Jialing and Yangtze rivers, Chongqing is built on hilly land. It is known as the Mountain City because its roads and buildings are constructed on steep hillsides.

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