Chongqing

Chongqing (Simplified Chinese: 重庆, Traditional Chinese: 重慶; pinyin: Chóngqìng; Postal System Pinyin: Chungking) is a city and a district in Central China.
The Chongqing district is the most populated district of China and has 31,442,300 inhabitants (2005).

 History 

Chongqing is said to be the semi-mythical State of Ba that began in 11th century BC, when the Ba people began living here until they were destroyed by the State of Qin in 316 BC. 
The Qin emperor ordered a new city to be constructed, called Jiang (江州) and Chu Prefecture (楚州).

In 581 AD (Sui Dynasty), Chongqing was renamed to Yu Prefecture (渝州).

In 1102 the city was renamed Gong Prefecture.

In 1189 renamed Yu Prefecture to Chongqing Subprefecture.

In 1362 (Yuan Dynasty), Ming Yuzhen, a peasant rebel leader, established Daxia Kingdom at Chongqing for a short time.

In 1621, another short-lived kingdom of Daliang was established there.

In 1891, Chongqing became the first inland commerce port open to foreigners.

Since 1929, Chongqing was a municipality of the Republic of China. 
Chongqing was the provisional capital of the government of Chiang Kai-shek during the Second Chinese-Japanese War from 1937 to 1945.
The Japanese bombed Chongqing very hard in World War II.

In 1954, the municipality was reduced to a provincial city of the People's Republic.

 Geography 

 Geographic coordinates: 105°17'-110°11' East, 28°10'－32°13' North
 Annual average temperature: 18 °C (64 °F)
 Temperature range: 0 to 47 °C
 Total annual hours of sunshine: 1000-1200
 Annual precipitation: 1000–1400 mm
 Neighbours: Hubei (east), Hunan (east), Guizhou (south), Sichuan (west), Shaanxi (north)

 Twin cities 
 Washington, D.C., United States
 Düsseldorf, Germany
 Seattle, United States
 Hiroshima, Japan
 Toronto, Canada
 Brisbane, Australia
 Toulouse, France
 Leicester, England
 Detroit, Michigan, United States

 Universities and Colleges 

 Chongqing Institute of Technology 
 Chongqing Jiaotong University 
 Chongqing Medical University 
 Chongqing Normal University 
 Chongqing Technology and Business University 
 Chongqing Three Gorges University 
 Chongqing University (founded in 1929)
 Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications 
 Fuling Teachers College 
 Sichuan Fine Arts Institute 
 Sichuan International Studies University 
 Southwest University 
 Southwest University of Political Science and Law 
 Third Military Medical University 
 Western Chongqing University

 References 

Category:Cities in China
Category:4th-century BC establishments