page_title: Chongqing
section_title: Provisional capital of the Republic of China
hierarchical_section_title: Chongqing / History / Provisional capital of the Republic of China
caption_attribution_description: English: Streetscape in Chongqing 中文: 重庆街景
context_page_description: Chongqing, formerly romanized as Chungking, is a megacity in southwest China. Administratively, it is one of the four municipalities under the direct administration of central government of the People's Republic of China, and the only such municipality located far away from the coast. The municipality of Chongqing, which is around the size of Austria, includes the city of Chongqing and various non-connected cities. As the Chongqing municipality government directly administers the city of Chongqing, as well as rural counties, and other cities not connected to the city of Chongqing, Chongqing municipality can technically claim to be the largest city proper in the world, even though this is due to a classification technicality and not because it is actually the world's largest urban area.
  Chongqing was a municipality during the Republic of China administration, within the Sichuan Province. It served as its wartime capital during the Second Sino-Japanese War, being one of the world's anti-fascist command centers. The current municipality was separated from Sichuan province on 14 March 1997 to help develop the central and western parts of China.
context_section_description: During and after the Second Sino-Japanese War, from Nov 1937 to May 1946, it was Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's provisional capital. Indeed, after the General and remaining army had lived there for a time following their retreat in 1938 from the previous capital of Wuhan, it was formally declared the second capital city (pei du) on 6 September 1940. After Britain, the United States, and other Allies entered the war in Asia in December 1941, one of the Allies' deputy commanders of operations in South East Asia (South East Asia Command SEAC), Joseph Stilwell, was based in the city. This made it a city of world importance in the fight against Axis powers, together with London, Moscow and Washington, D.C. The city was also visited by Lord Louis Mountbatten, the Supreme Commander of SEAC which was itself headquartered in Ceylon, modern day Sri Lanka. Chiang Kai Shek as Supreme Commander in China worked closely with Stilwell. From 1938 to 1943, the city suffered from continuous terror bombing by the Japanese air force. Lives were saved by the air-raid shelters which took the advantage of the mountainous terrain. Chongqing was acclaimed to be the “City of Heroes” due to the indomitable spirits of its people as well as their contributions and sacrifices during World War II. Many factories and universities were relocated from eastern China to Chongqing during the war, transforming this city from inland port to a heavily industrialized city. In late November 1949, the Nationalist KMT government retreated from the city.
caption: A street scene in Chongqing, c. 1944
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