For Christmas, my friend Aaron and I had an adventure in Chongqing, China. This municipality, once a part of Sichuan province, is littered with mountains, crisscrossed by major rivers, and dotted with priceless wonders of nature and humanity. And, as so many other cities in China, at one point in time, the city of Chongqing served as the capitol. This holiday trip helped me reach one more of the four World Heritage-designated Buddhist grottoes in China as well as two other wonders on that elite list of the world’s greatest. This post will cover our day in Chongqing, which we used as a hub for the other excursions. I will detail those special places—Dazu Grottoes, Three Natural Bridges, and Furong Cave—in their own posts.
Chongqing City
The city of Chongqing is not a small city in either population or area. Its districts are covered in high-rise apartment buildings rising from rolling mountains and hills in a forest of concrete, glass, and steel. We only spent one day in the city, but three nights. Our day exploring was the last of our trip, so we had already experienced the surrounding wonders and were just filling time with last minute adventures. Don’t get me wrong, the stuff to see in the city is pretty cool. I think I could have easily spent a couple of days exploring Chongqing city itself.
The main business and shopping districts are where two major rivers meet. One of them is the third longest river in the world—the Chang Jiang or Yangtze. The joining of the two rivers creates a peninsula where downtown Chongqing is. This is where we explored.
The river’s edge
Bridges span the two rivers all around the peninsula. Most of them are utilitarian in design, but a couple of them are something to look at too. Our hotel was near the river and had a great view to the other side. During the day we wandered down to the river’s edge to see the bridges and where the two rivers meet. Unfortunately, at the point of the peninsula where green water and brown water mix there was a major construction project, so we couldn’t actually get to the convergence.
Liberation Monument
This monument commemorating the end of the War against Japanese Aggression, a.k.a. WWII, is surrounded by ultramodern and lux China with multiple malls and luxury brands. It isn’t really my cup of tea other than the skyscraping architecture, but it is worth a gander.
WWII in Chongqing
During the aforementioned war, Chongqing, in the midst of the mountains, was the capitol of The Republic of China. It was also the position of command for the Allied Forces in the China Burma India Theater for a couple of years under the command of U.S. General Stilwell. Today, the house where he led this part of the world conflict is a museum highlighting this little talked about part of the war.
The history is fascinating since China had already been at war with Japan for nearly a decade before the Allies got involved in Asia. So, to the Chinese, the Westerners helped them win a more personal war against fascism than a worldwide conflict. One of the more interesting things on display is a monument outside that has a letter from President Franklin Roosevelt inscribed on it in which he referred to the resolution of the Chinese people in a war on terror. Today, we think of this term starting with the incidents of Sept. 11, 2001, but it is a political term that’s been around for generations.
This museum tells the story of Western involvement in China in a way that isn’t mentioned anywhere else I’ve been. I really liked that it is less biased historically and less propaganda-driven. Directly across the street is a museum for the Flying Tigers, a volunteer squad of American fighter pilots who fought in China against Japan. It wasn’t open when we were there, but we did have the Stilwell museum to ourselves. (note: The museum isn’t too hard to find unless you follow the only instructions I found to get there. Instead, follow these: Go to Fotuguan Station on Line 2 and take exit A. Go right down the stairs and street for about 100 meters. The museum (house) will be on the left.)
Museum of the Democratic Party
This museum is directly across from the hotel we stayed in and is free, so we just dashed in for a short visit before heading to the airport. The message of the main exhibit we had time to peruse in this museum directly contradicts what was told in the Stilwell museum. It makes it seem like the Party is solely responsible for all interaction between differing parties and insists that there is a multi-party system at work in China and has been since the founding of the PRC. Still, this is an important voice to hear and side to see when trying to understand Chinese history and politics.
Great Hall of the People / People’s Assembly Hall
One of my highlights of Chongqing is the magnificent example of what modern Chinese architecture could have been under control of the PRC instead of what it became in Beijing with the very sterile communist feel and look known as the People’s Assembly Hall or Great Hall of the People. This building celebrates Chinese architecture by mixing styles from previous eras while using modern building techniques (steel beam construction) and making it very centered on the communal aspect of the communist ideologies. It was built in a time before the Maoist regime had to tighten its purse strings, which probably explains the grandeur of it. It is a stunning statement of Chinese architecture.
I also wandered the corridors around the auditorium and found frames of interesting information about the buildings construction and function. Down a grand staircase, across a large plaza, and up another set of stairs is the Three Gorges Museum. This is the provincial level museum that tells the history and culture of Chongqing, most notably the long river and its natural wonders as well as the engineering feat of the Three Gorges Dam. Being a Monday, the museum was closed, so that will have to wait for another visit to Chongqing. Someday, perhaps, I’ll get to see a performance in that magnificent theater too.
Things to know about visiting Chongqing
- It is big, so research and plan what you want to see and when. It isn’t really a great city for winging it since most of the star attractions are actually day trips outside the city.
- Prepare yourself for spicy! This part of China loves its spicy food. There is even a special word for the kind of spicy you experience. Nearly everything you get will be spicy; even when you ask for the non-spicy version it has heat.
- The public transit system is nice but crowded. Chongqing has a lovely monorail system that covers the city. However, it is often full of people and they haven’t reached a level of courtesy that most other Chinese cities with train systems have. Beijing seems tame after Chongqing.
- On a map, the peninsula seems more spread out than it actually is. You can easily walk between places without wasting much time. It is built on hills though that can be taxing going up and down in between sites.
