Overview

 Chongqing (Chinese: 重庆), formerly transliterated as Chungking[a], is a major city in southwest China. Administratively, it is one of China's four direct-controlled municipalities (the other three are Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin), and the only such municipality in China located far away from the coast.-From wikipedia

Terrain

 Central Chongqing is in the eastern edge of Sichuan Basin. Yangtze River meets its major tributary stream, Jialing River, in Central Chongqing. The city is located on a big syncline valley. Two tributary ranges of Huaying Mountain (Zhongling Mountain and Tongluo Mountain) roughly forms the eastern and western boundaries of Central Chongqing. The highest point in downtown is the top of E-ling Hill, which is a smaller syncline hill that keeps Yangtze River and Jialing River apart for some more kilometres. The elevation of E-ling Hill is 379 metres (1,243 feet). The lowest point in Central Chongqing is Chaotian Gate, where the two rivers merge with each other. The altitude there is 160 metres (520 feet). The average height of Central Chongqing is 259 metres (850 feet). In the near-suburban Chongqing, however, there are several high mountains. The highest one is called Wugong Ling Mountain, with the altitude of 1,709.4 metres (5,608 feet).

Foods

 Chongqing food is part of Sichuan cuisine. Chongqing is known for its spicy food. Its food is normally considered numbing because of the use of Sichuan pepper, also known as Sichuan peppercorn, containing hydroxy alpha sanshool. Chongqing's city centre has many restaurants and food stalls where meals often cost less than RMB10. Local specialties here include dumplings and pickled vegetables and, different from many other Chinese cuisines, Chongqing dishes are suitable for the solo diner as they are often served in small individual sized portions.

Hotpot

Hot pot – Chongqing's local culinary specialty which was originally from the Northern China. Tables in hot pot restaurants usually have a central vat, or pot, where food ordered by the customers is boiled in a spicy broth. As well as beef, pork, lotus and other vegetables, items such as pig's kidney, brain, duck's bowels and cow's stomach are often consumed.

Language

The language native to Chongqing is Southwestern Mandarin. More precisely, the great majority of the municipality, save for Xiushan, speak Sichuanese, including the primary Chengdu-Chongqing dialect and Minjiang dialect spoken in Jiangjin and Qijiang.[118] There are also a few speakers of Xiang and Hakka in the municipality, due to the great immigration wave to the Sichuan region (湖广填四川) during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. In addition, in parts of southeastern Chongqing, the Miao and Tujia languages are also used by some Miao and Tujia people.