The transformation of China in the last five decades, from a poor rural country to an industrial and technological powerhouse, can be observed in the municipality of Chongqing, a metropolis home to 32 million people.
One of China’s major industrial hubs, Chongqing blends historic Chinese architecture with modern, illuminated skyscrapers beside aging buildings. It also features vast viaduct complexes and even a curious metro station that passes through buildings.
This week, Agência Brasil visited the Chinese municipality known as the city of rivers, mountains, or mists. Upon arriving at Jiangbei International Airport, overcast weather and the surrounding mountain ranges explain the locality’s fame.
Still little known in Brazil, the largest city of the country’s main trading partner is defined by Beijing as a key city for the national economy, located in the interior of southwestern China and crossed by the mighty Yangtze River, Asia’s largest, and by the Jialing River.
Chongqing covers 82,400 square kilometers (km²), almost double the size of the state of Rio de Janeiro (43,000 km²). It is the largest municipality in territorial extent in the world. Eight million people live in the main urban center and the remaining 24 million are spread across 37 districts.
In 1997, China transformed the municipality into a “national” city linked to the central government, which made Chongqing a privileged destination for development policies laid out in Beijing.
Industrial Hub
To give an idea, 39 of China’s 41 large industries and all 31 of the country’s main manufacturing categories are headquartered in Chongqing. The city also hosts 19 complete vehicle manufacturers and more than 1,200 auto parts companies.
The silence of car engines on the streets and the numerous vehicle charging stations prove that Chongqing is a center of electric-vehicle production, in addition to hosting companies in military equipment, nuclear technology, shipbuilding, and aerospace.
The nightlife and culture, vibrant commerce and spicy cuisine, led by the so-called hot pots, a Chinese fondue with foods cooked directly at the table in pots of boiling water, have positioned Chongqing as one of the world’s leading tourist destinations.
Speaking to guests from almost 20 countries at the Yangtze Civilization Forum last week, Yuan Jiajun, secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, highlighted that the city seeks to implement the concept of “ecological civilization” defined by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“The dynamic practice of building a new modern Chongqing fully proves the powerful force of truth and the great practical capacity of Xi Jinping’s thinking on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era,” he said.
Silk Road Hub
A metrópole do oeste da China também se destaca por ser um dos principais centros logísticos da Nova Rota da Seda, projeto de infraestrutura para conectar o país com o resto do mundo.
From the municipality’s factories, Chinese products reach Europe, Central Asia and Russia by over 1,300 kilometers of high-speed trains and over 4,700 kilometers of expressways, in addition to the Yangtze River itself carrying goods to the port of Shanghai, 1,400 kilometers away.
The Brazilian professor André Pereira Reinnert Tokarski visited Chongqing for the second time and toured factories and industries in the region.
“The city used to be at odds with the river [Yangtze], fighting to survive the threats the river could pose—great floods and landslides. Until it sought to reconcile with it, to view nature not as an enemy, but as something to adapt to,” he told Agência Brasil.
A researcher at Alves Faria University Center (Unialfa), Tokarski coordinates a Brazil-China cooperation project that studies the governance mechanisms of the countries around the Yangtze and Amazon rivers.
For the specialist, the city is at the heart of the ecological civilization context proclaimed by the Chinese government, which seeks to combine development and improved living conditions with environmental preservation.
*Reporter traveled at the invitation of the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).
