Chongqing is situated in southwest China on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, covering an area of 82,400 square kilometers, with a population of nearly 31 million. It was made a municipality directly under the central government in 1997 and became China' s youngest, largest and most populous municipality directly under the central government. Under its jurisdiction now there are 40 districts and counties, autonomous counties and cities of the country level. The central part of the city is embraced by the majestic Yangtze River and the charming Jialing River, with hills rising and falling here and there, presenting a variety of scenes, and therefore, it is known to the world as a famous mountain city and river city.

Based around a crowded, comma-shaped peninsula at the junction of the Yangzi and Jialing rivers, it is southwestern China's dynamo, its largest city both in scale and population. Formerly part of Sichuan Province and now the heavily industrialized core of Chongqing Municipality - which stretches east from Dazu to the Hubei border - the city is also a busy port , whose location, 2400km upstream from Shanghai at the meeting point between eastern river traffic and overland trade routes with Tibet and Burma, has given Chongqing an enviable commercial acumen. It oozes the atmosphere of a typical waterfront city: dirty, seedy and not particularly attractive, but bursting with life.

For more than half a century, especially in the last 20 years, Chongqing has been on the rise and has developed into the largest industrial and commercial center in southwest China and the most important commodity distributing center on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. Now it is a city wide open to the outside world and an important metropolis in the world economy.

Today, a microeconomic pattern of big industry, big agriculture, big communication and big circulation of commodities has been established in Chongqing. As one of the six major industrial bases in China, Chongqing has various branches of different industries with a strong capacity of complete sets in its products. It is an important base in China for machine-building, the production of medicine, synthetic chemicals, meters and instruments. Three prop industries has been established, namely, mechanical industry with cars and motorcycles as the main body, chemical industry with natural gas chemistry and medical chemistry as the key, and metallurgical industry represented by production of quality steel and quality aluminum materials. Chongqing is also well-know as a key producer of such industrial crops as quality fruits, mustard tubers, tung oil and flue-cured tobacco. Its agricultural products such as silkworm cocoon, poultry, livestock and tea take a considerable share of the market. Its resources in Chinese medicinal herbs and ramie also have a considerable position not only in China but also in the world. The city has a three-dimensional transport system talk links it up with other areas by air, by land and by water. It has a digital information center, an information exchange center and the world' s largest local network of program controlled telephone system. All this makes it the largest hub of communications and postal and telecommunications in southwest China and on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. Endowed with " the gold water route " of the Yangtze River, Chongqing has long been the business and trade center in the southwest part of China and on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and the gate to southwest China by water. Business is thriving here. Chongqing is also and important financial center in southwest China and finance has been developing vigorously. A number of foreign bankers have set up their offices and agencies on after another here in Chongqing and offering various kinds of financial service.

The Yangzte, the Jialing and the Wujiang rivers are moistening the broad land of Chongqing and nursing the thirty million industrious and intelligent Chongqing people. The city' s history of three thousand long years sparkles with the Ba-Yu culture, the Three Gorges Culture and the Culture of the War of Resistance Against Japan. The natural charm of its mountains and rivers, together with its brilliant cultures, are attracting more and more tourists from home and abroad to Chonging Tourist industry is becoming a new pillar industry in the city' s economy. Being open to the outside world for the last 20 years has made Chongqing, and open trading port for a hundred years, more mature and confident. The fine image of the city finds expression in many ways-historically and contemporarily, naturally and culturally. To make the city more beautiful has become the common desire and willing act of the Chongqing people. The city has taken a firm step forwarding fulfilling the four tasks of resettling a million people from their homes to be submerged in the reservoir area, reforming of state-owned enterprises, developing rural economy and environmental protection and construction.

The rich natural resources, the great comprehensive economic power, and the rare historic chances of being established as a new municipality, development of the Three Gorges Reservoir Area and implementation of the strategic plan of developing the western regions of China have provided favorable conditions for Chongqing to become one of the areas in west China that have great potential for investment and development and that may develop by leaps and bounds. By 2020s¡ª2030s, Chongqing will have become the center of business and trade, finance, science ,education, culture and information, the hub of transport and telecommunications, and the base for high and new technological industries on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. It will be the first in attaining the strategic goal for development of western China set by the central government: " economic prosperous, social progress, political stability, national unity and beautiful natural scenery " . And then it will proceed to becoming an international metropolis and achieve the aim of a new rejuvenation of Chongqing. The favorable geographic position has offered Chongqing special advantages of linking up the western part and the eastern part of China and has placed the city in a key strategic position. All this will ensure Chongqing to play a leading role and to serve as a window, a radiator and a driving force in the development of China' s west regions, and to open up a new chapter in the history of the city' s development in the new century.