In 1997, Chongqing became the fourth city in China – after Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai - to be designated a ‘Municipality with Provincial Status’. It is the largest economic centre in the upper region of the Yangtze River and it encompasses an important industrial and commercial region. It is the transportation hub for Southwest China and a focal point for China’s “Go West” development programme. During the last five years, GDP in the Municipality has been growing at over 9% a year.

The Municipality covers an area of 82,403 sq. km.: 450 kms. from north to south and 470 kms. from east to west. Within its area, there are 40 districts and counties. At end-2000, the population of Chongqing was 30.9 million while its hinterland, including Sichuan, Guizhou, Hunan, Hubei and Shaanxi Provinces, has a population of about 310 million - or 25% of China’s total population.

The Municipality is more developed than the surrounding area. The Three Gorges Dam Project is one of the keys to the economic development of Central and West China. Industries in the upper Yangtze region, with the Dam Project at its centre, will co-develop with those in downstream Shanghai while upstream (and much closer) Chongqing will benefit from this stimulus to its economic development.

With its new ‘Municipal-Provincial’ status, Chongqing plans to maximize its pivotal role as a hub in the process of economic and social development of South West China and the upper region of the Yangtze. The overall strategy is to concentrate on the development of the central city so as to transform Chongqing into the commercial, trading, financial, cultural, educational and IT centre in its region. Its State-level economic and technological development zones and high-tech industrial development zones will function as a window to the outside world as major development areas cluster in counties astride the express highway through the Three Gorges project area.

Infrastructure
Investment in the infrastructure of Chongqing has been increasing greatly. Most transportation is still by road including a three-hour Expressway link to Chengdu – the capital city of neighbouring Sichuan province and the Chongqing-Wuhan-Shanghai Expressway (under construction). Significant improvements are also being made to the regional rail network.

There are 2,468 km. of navigable waterway – including 600 km. of the Yangtze - under the administration of Chongqing's river transportation departments. There are 1,122 docks: five of these are able to handle cargo of up to a million tons a year each and nine of them can each handle up to 1m. passengers a year. With the completion of the Three Gorges project, vessels of 10,000 tons will be able to reach Chongqing from the coast.

Flights from Jiangbei International Airport of Chongqing connect to 45 cities in China. There are regular international flights to Hong Kong (six flights a week), Macau, Kaoshung, Nagoya, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur.

Industry
Chongqing’s industrial base is among the most comprehensive in China: of the 40 official industrial categories, 39 are present in the Municipality. Historically, the reason for this can be traced to a strategic decision, during the Sino-Japanese war, to relocate many coastal industries inland.

In recent years, the proliferation of national defence research establishments in Chongqing have concentrated on non-military i.e. commercial applications and this provides a technology-rich industrial environment.

The three principal industrial sectors are automotive, pharmaceutical and metallurgical.

With such a high level of state-owned enterprises, Chongqing has been forced to address critical re-structuring problems with urgency. Great progress has been achieved in this area and, in 2000, large and medium-sized industries in Chongqing began to turn a profit for the first time in many years.

The local authorities are vigorously pursuing a policy of bureaucrati