Chungking

Chungking: see Chongqing, China.

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Chongqing

 or Ch'ung-ch'ing conventional Chungking

City and municipality with provincial status (pop., 2003 est.: city, 4,239,700; 2002 est.: municipality, 31,070,000), south-central China. The municipality is bordered by Sichuan, Shaanxi, Hubei, Hunan, and Guizhou provinces and has an area of 31,700 sq mi (82,000 sq km). The leading river port and industrial centre of the region, Chongqing (“Double-Blessed”) lies at the confluence of the Yangtze (Chang) and Jialing rivers. In the 11th century BC, it was a feudal state under the Xi (Western) Zhou dynasty. Over the next several centuries, its status alternated from being ruled by an empire in northern China to being an independent state. It finally came under Chinese rule in the Ming dynasty, continuing under the Qing dynasty. It was opened to foreign trade in 1890. It played a large role in the revolution of 1911. Once a city of narrow and irregular streets, Chongqing changed greatly as a result of a modernization program introduced during World War II, when it served as the capital of Nationalist China. Since the war it has become an important industrial centre. It is home to Chongqing University (founded 1929).

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Chongqing, Chungking, Ch'ung-ch'ing

a river port in SW China, in Sichuan province at the confluence of the Yangtze and Jialing rivers: site of a city since the 3rd millennium bc; wartime capital of China (1938--45); major trade centre for W China. Pop.: 4 975 000 (2005 est.)

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Chungking 

(also Ch’ungch’ing), a city in Southwest China, in Szechwan Province. Forms a series of terraces on the slope of a promontory at the confluence of the Chialing Chiang and the Yangtze River. Population, approximately 5 million (including rural areas under the city’s jurisdiction; 1974). Chungking is a river port that handles more than 6 million tons of freight annually. It is connected by water with Shanghai and by railroad with Paochi, in Shensi Province, and with the seaport of Chanchiang, in Kwangtung Province. The city has an airport. There is a bridge across the Yangtze at Chungking.

Chungking developed as a major industrial center during the Sino-Japanese War, when factories were evacuated to the city from the eastern regions between 1938 and 1945; since that time industry has undergone further development. Approximately 10 million tons of coal are mined annually in the Chungking area; the substantial electric power industry includes two fossil-fuel-fired steam power plants and a hydroelectric power system on the Lungch’i Ho.

In 1970, Chungking’s complex of integrated iron and steel plants produced 1.5 million tons of pig iron and 1.2 million tons of steel. The city’s diversified machine-building industry manufactures hydroturbines, equipment for the power-engineering industry, machine tools, pneumatic and drilling equipment, construction machinery, ships, bearings, agricultural machinery, and instruments. The chemical industry is represented by plants producing plastics, chemical fibers, toxic chemicals, and pharmaceuticals. The building-materials industry is represented by cement factories. The city also has mills for the production of wool and silk fabrics, a meat-packing plant, a cannery, a butter factory, a tea factory, and flour mills.

I. M. FEDOROV

Chungking is first mentioned in the 11th century B.C., when Chiangchou, the capital of the kingdom of Pa (Pah), stood on the site of the modern city. In 316 B.C. the kingdom of Pa was incorporated into the Ch’in state, and Chiangchou became a district capital. In 1189 the city received its present name. Long a major commercial center of Southwest China, Chungking was opened to foreign trade in 1891, after which it was used by the capitalist nations as a base from which to penetrate the economy of Szechwan and neighboring provinces. From 1913 to 1929 the city was called Pahsien. In October 1938 the Japanese captured Hank’ou, where the nationalist government had been located since late 1937; from the fall of Hank’ou until early 1946, Chungking was the capital of China. The city was freed from Kuomintang rule by the People’s Liberation Army of China on Nov 30, 1949.