As usual we conclude our S3 Newsletter with some articles not so closely related to the business world.
Specifically, this time we continue with both the list of big (but little known) Chinese cities and the list of the ten most beautiful national parks in China.
1. Large yet little-known Chinese cities
After locating Wuhan (central), Shenyang (northeast), Guiyang (southwest), Shaoxing (east), Chengdu (west), Fuzhou (southeast), Hainan Island (south), Xi’an (northwest), Nanjing (east), Kunming (southwest), Harbin (northeast), Lhasa (southwest), Changsha (south-central), Suzhou (east), Macau (south) and Hohhot (northwest) on the map, we travel to the western part of the country, where we find the largest metropolis most foreigners have ever heard of: Chongqing.
Chongqing is one of four municipalities under central jurisdiction (the other three are Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin).
It was established on 14 March 1997 to develop the area and control the Three Gorges Dam. Until then it was part of Sichuan province.
As a municipality it covers an area of 82,000 km2 (more than the Benelux!), with about 30,000,000 inhabitants (like the Benelux too), half of whom live in the urban areas.
Chongqing is situated on a peninsula on the Yangtze River in the centre of the country, largely surrounded by high mountains.
Summer temperatures are extreme, often exceeding 40°C, and it is considered one of China’s “furnaces”. It is not uncommon for the city to be shrouded in thick fog.
In 2021, Chongqing’s economy was the 16th largest in China, with a GDP of US$439 billion, equivalent to the GDP of Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy.
The government has made a major push to transform Chongqing into the region’s economic, commercial and financial centre and to use the municipality as a platform to open up the country’s western hinterland for further development.
2. China’s ten most beautiful national parks
We continue our series presenting the 10 most beautiful national parks in China (again, out of a total of 225 candidates).
Mount Song or Songshan is one of the five sacred mountains of Taoism.
It is located in Henan province, on the south bank of the Yellow River.
Like the other Taoist mountains, it is actually a group of mountains which, in this case, reach an altitude of 1,500m.
Songshan is the central mountain of the five Taoist mountains. The others form the four cardinal points. It is the central one because of its geographical position and because it is the most visited by the emperors.
At its foot is the city of Dengfeng, which has nine UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Mount Song and the surrounding area are popular for their Buddhist and Taoist temples.
One of the most famous Buddhist monasteries, Shaolin Temple, is considered the birthplace of Zen Buddhism. It also has the largest collection of stupas in China.
The first patriarch of the Shaolin Temple, the Indian monk Batuo, settled here. Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei built this temple in 495 in his honour.