Chongqing

Chongqing is a municipality in Southwestern China. Chongqing is one of the four direct-administered municipalities under the Central People’s Government, along with Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin. It is the only directly administrated municipality located deep inland. The municipality covers a large geographical area roughly the size of Austria, which includes several disjunct urban areas in addition to Chongqing proper. Due to its classification, the municipality of Chongqing is the largest city proper in the world by area, though it does not have the largest urban area.

The municipality of Chongqing is the only Chinese municipality with resident population of over 30 million; however, this number includes its large rural population. In 2020, Chongqing surpassed Shanghai as China’s largest municipality by urban population; as of 2022, it has an urban population of 22.8 million.[15] The municipality contains 26 districts, 8 counties, and 4 autonomous counties. The city served as the wartime capital for the Republic of China (ROC) during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945). On 14 March 1997, the current municipality was separated from the surrounding province of Sichuan, with the goal of furthering development in the central and western parts of the country. University of Washington professor Kam Wing Chan argued that Chongqing’s status is more akin to that of a province rather than a city.