Chongqing: Ever heard of it?

Have you ever heard of the city called Chongqing?  Probably not. And until two days ago neither had I.

Do you remember the Chinese “chop-suey-in-a-can” back in the 50’s that was made by a company called Chung King?  It was named for a town in southeastern China on the Yangzi River, currently known as Chongqing.  It is the biggest city in the world!!  And, I bet you’ve never heard of it.

I am totally at a loss as to how to describe it.  There are 34 million people living in Chongqing – that’s the population of California and more than 4 times the population of NYC.  It makes NYC look like a little village.  There are more than 10,000 (yes!! 10,000) skyscrapers and it has dozens and dozens of areas – EACH of which has a skyline that is bigger than the skyline of NYC.

Of course, it is known as the “foggy city” as China battles pollution from millions of cars and manufacturing.  But look through the fog in these photos to get a couple of views of Chongqing.  Twenty two bridges cross the Yangzi River in Chongqing and at least ten more are going to be built.  Communism…go figure.

Unemployment is less than 4%, there is not a bit of schmutz or as much as a single wad of chewing gum on the street.  There is not a spot of graffiti.  People are well dressed, happy and they all pointed and took pictures of us as though we were the only Caucasians they had ever seen.

China has 100 cities with a population of more than 1 million, and ten cities of over 10 million.

We are totally and completely blown away by what is taking place here in China.