Splendid Three Gorges

Since Chongqing was discovered about 3,000 years ago and before having its present name 800 years ago, it was originally named as Jiangzhou, Yuzhou and Gongzhou. Chongqing was the capital of the state of Ba, since the beginning of the Shang Dynasty (16th century B.C.) to the end of the Warring States Period (221 B.C.). Until it was destroyed by the State of Qin during 316 B.C., it was named as Jiangzhou. In 581-907 A.D., which is during Sui and Tang dynasties, Chongqing was renamed to Yuzhou.  From the Qin Dynasty through the Eastern Han Dynasty (221 B.C.-220 A.D.), it was a prefecture also known as Ba. Chongqing was renamed Gongzhou during the Northern Song Dynasty, in 1102 A.D..Gongzhou was then  given the name Chongqing, which means Repeated Celebration,  in 1190, to record the Prince Zhao Dun of the Southern Song Dynasty of having been the prince of Gong and then emperor of china, the name - Chongqing is carries until today.

Chongqing as a second capital during the period of the Resistance War

In 1362, Daxia Kingdom was established at Chongqing.

In 1621, Daliang Kingdom was established at Chongqing for a short time.  

In 1891, Chongqing became the first inland commerce open port to foreigners, and a customs house was established there.

In 1928, a local industrialization program was begun.

In 1929, Chongqing was formally declared as a municipality of the Republic of China.

In 1937, the Kuomingtang (KMT, Nationalists) moved the government from Nanjing to Chongqing during World War II and was repeatedly bombed by Japanese Air Force. The economic were hampered by mismanagement and corruption of the Nationalists and the military effort was ineffective, these was due to the Nationalists was obsessed fighting with Communists rather than Japanese.

In 1940, Chongqing was served as the wartime provisional capital for the Nationalists government; it became China's political, economic, financial, transportation, cultural and diplomatic center.

In 1945, Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek conducted a peace talks in Chongqing under U.S. mediation, but the talks failed and the civil war resumed.

In 1946, the Nationalists government moved back to Nanjing.

In 1949, the Communists Party of China (CPC) and the Southwestern Military and Political Commission were set up in Chongqing.

In 1954, Chongqing status was reduced to a provincial city under jurisdiction of Sichuan Province of People's Republic. The rebuilding program begun by the Communists made great progress, however it was setbacks during the Great Leap Forward (1958-60) and the Cultural Revolution (1966-76).

In 1983, the government includes Chongqing in the first group of cities, its economic planning being supervised by the State Council and formally made it as a foreign trade port.
During 1990s, Chongqing was listed as an open city, since the government has been affecting its strategy of developing the Yangtze River.

In 1996, Sichuan passed administration over the cities of Wanxian, Fuling and Qianjiang for Chongqing to govern on behalf of the province.

In 1997 March, during the Eighth National People's Congress (NPC), Chongqing was removed from Sichuan province and merged with Wanxian, Fuling and Qianjing. It was promoted to the status of one new Municipality like Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai.

The Yangtze River is the longest river in Asia and third longest in the world. The headwaters of the Yangtze are situated at an elevation of about 16,000 feet in the Kunlun Mountains in the southwestern section of Qinghai. It flows generally south through Sichuan into Yuanan then northeast and east across central China through Sichuan, Hubei, Auhui, and Juangsu provinces to its mouth, 3,720 miles, in the East China Sea north of Shanghai. The river has over 700 tributaries but the principal tributaries are the Hun, Yalong, Jialing, Min, Tuo Jiang, and Wu Jiang. The climate ranges from 96 degrees in the summer to cold, brisk temperatures in the winter. Precipitation is high due to the height of the mountains. 

Spectacular Three Gorges Dam

The Three Gorges Dam is one and a half miles wide and 610 feet tall, the gargantuan Dam is China’s largest construction project since the Great Wall.The People’s Republic of China decided to dam the Yangtze in 1994 with a steel and concrete wall that would take 15 years and over $30 billion to build. When completed, the dam will contain twice the amount of concrete of the Itaipu Dam in Brazil, currently the world’s largest. It will create a five trillion gallon reservoir hundreds of feet deep and about 400 miles long, able to absorb an earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter Scale.It will allow 10,000-ton freighters to easily navigate into the nation’s interior and increase agricultural and manufacturing opportunities.As the world’s largest hydroelectric power plant, the dam’s turbines are expected to create the equivalent electricity of 18 nuclear power plants.