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Ulink Travel Center
Home> China City Guide> Chongqing
Providing full traveling knowledge about Chongqing and its various amazing attractions, China's fourth municipality.
Introduction
Historical
Evolution
Administrative Division and Population
Geography and Climate
Animals and Plants
Tourist Resources
Natural Scenes
Historical Sites
A General Survey of the
Tourist Industry in Chongqing
Grotto Art in Dazu County
Northern
Hot Springs Park
Eling Park
People's Assembly Hall
Pipashan (Loquat Hill) Park
The Beautiful
Natural Scenery in Wansheng
The Red Crag Revolutionary Memorial Museum
Chongqing Museum of Natural History
Chongqing Zoological Garden
Chongqing Arhat Temple
Huayan Temple
Shengshou Temple on the Baoding Hill
The Ghost City in
Fengdu
Surrounded by water on 3 sides, Chongqing is situated at the confluence of Changjiang River and Jialing River. With beautiful hills and mountains the "Mountain City" has long been reputed for its wonderful scenery. To its east, you may enjoy a sightseeing tour to the Three Gorges on the Changjiang River; to its west, you will acclaim the 50, 000 stone figures sculpted on the cliffs during the Tang and Song Dynasties as the acme of perfection; in its south, the stone forests in Wansheng District seem superlatively made, yet they were created by nature; and in its north you cannot help meditating on the dinosaur fossils of 180 million years ago. The Fishing Fortress in Hechuan has long been widely known. The waterfalls, stones, forests, springs, and outdoor games in Simianshan Mountain in Jiangjing are fascinating. In the city proper. there are attractive Eling Hill, Loquat Hill, Night Scene of the Mountain City, Flowers in the Nanshan Park decorating the mountain city. The East, South, West, North, and Tongjing Hot Springs are like five pearls scattered in the suburbs. The Anti-Japanese Remains present the combat achievements in Chongqing by the Anti-fascist Allies during the Second World War. and the Red Crag Village and Geleshan Martyrs' Cemetery bear the glorious loyalty of the revolutionary seniors. For the city itself, it came into being three thousand years ago and got its name 800 years ago. On December 8, 1986, it was appointed one of the Historical and Cultural Cities of China by the State Council.
With 7 districts, 11 counties and 3 county-level municipalities under its jurisdiction at present, Chongqing is the industrial & commercial centre and foreign trade port in the upper reaches of the Changjing River. It is also the hub of water, land, and air transportation in Southwest China with busy rivers and highways radiating in all directions. The three railways connect Chongqing with all other parts of the country. Airliners here fly to & from 39 domestic cities and charter flights fly directly to and from Hongkong and Nagoya of Japan. Chongqing rich and diversified tourist facilities include over 96 travel agencies, 23 tourist hotels which are entitled to receive foreign guests, 50 other appointed institutions and units that are foreign-related, over 360 deluxe tourist coaches of various kinds, Sichuan dishes, huoguo, and over 100 local snacks. Chongqing is a place every tourist desires to visit. Honorable guests and dear friends, make a trip here and you'll be warmly received by the hospitable Chongqing people.
Chongqing is a famous cultural city with a history of 3000 years and a glorious revolutionary tradition. It is the birthplace of Bayu culture. Towards the end of the Old Stone Age approximately 20000-30000 years ago, mankind began to live in Chongqing. In Shang and Zhou Dynasties (C.11th century BC) Ba people founded Kingdom Ba and made Chongqing their capital. Domain of Ba in its most flourishing period was "to Yufu (present Fengjie) in the east, to Dao in the west, to Hanzhong in the north and to Qianfu in the south". Original Chongqing was the centre to jurisdict East Sichuan, South Shanxi, West Hubei, Northwest of Hunan and North Guizhou. In all dynasties since Qing and Han this region was for most of the time a unified administrative region with Chongqing as the centre. In the old times Chongqing was called Jiangzhou. Then it was called Bajun, Chuzhou, Yuzhou and Gongzhou. In A.D. 581 Emperor Wendi of Sui Dynasty changed Chuzhou to Yuzhou, thus coming the short form Yu for Chongqing. In 1189 Emperor Guang Zhong of Song Dynasty was first conferred on prince and then ascended the throne. He called it double happiness and Chongqing (doublehappiness) gained its name. It is almost 800 years now. In 1891, Chongqing became an open port. In 1929 Chongqing was formally made a city. During the War of Resistance against Japan Chongqing was capital of the Nationalist government. When the Nationalist government returned to Nanjing, Chongqing remained a municipality directly under the central government. In the years following the founding of New China, Chongqing was the location of CPC Southwest Bureau and Southwest Civil & Military Commission, it was the political, economic and cultural center in the southwest and a city of municipality status. In 1954 Chongqing became a city under the jurisdiction of Sichuan provincial government. In 1983 Chongqing took the lead in experimenting on comprehensive economic structural reforms and was granted provincial jurisdiction over economy. Eight counties of Yongchuan merged into Chongqing.?In 1992, Chongqing was made an open city along the Yangtse River. In Sept. 1996 the Central Government approved Chongqing to administer Wanxian, Fuling and Qianjiang Region on behalf of the province. On March 14, 1997 the 5th Session of the 8th National People's Congress examined and approved to dismiss the original Chongqing and set up Chongqing municipality to administer the original Chongqing, Wanxian, Fuling and Qianjiang Region.
Administrative Division and Population
Presently Chongqing is China's biggest municipality in terms of area and population. It covers an area of 82,000 square kilometers and administers 43 districts, cities and counties, i.e. Yuzhong District, Jiangbei District, Shapingba District, Jiulongpo District, Nanan District, Beibei District, Dadukou District, Ba'nan District, Yubei District, Wansheng District, Shuangqiao District, Jiangjin City, Yongchuan City, Hechuan City, Qijiang County, Changshou County, Tongnan County, Tongliang County, Bishan County, Dazu County, Rongchang County, Longbao District, Tiancheng District, Wuqiao District, Kaixian County, Liangping County, Zhongxian County, Yunyang County, Fengjie County, Wushan County, Wuxi County, Chengkou County, Zhicheng District, Lidu District, Nanchuan City, Dianjiang County, Fengdu County, Wulong County, Yuyang County, Xiushan County, Qianjiang County, Shizhu County, Pengshui County( The latter 5 are Tujia or Miao autonomous counties). In the city there are 1502 town and township offices and subdistrict offices. According to statistics by the end of 1996 the city's population is 30.2277 million, of which agricultural population is 24.4567million, representing 80.91% of the total. Non-agricultural population is 5.771 million. Population density is 367 people per square kilometer. Population of minority nationalities is about 1.7 million, representing 5.72% of the total. They mainly live in a compact community in the southeast area of Chongqing.
Chongqing is located at the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, between 105
17
-110
Chongqing belongs to sub-tropical humid monsoon climate zone. Annual average temperature is around 18
. Average lowest temperature in winter is 6-8
Chongqing is one of China's regions that are rich in biological species. According to incomplete statistics Chongqing has over 2000 species of plants. Only in Jingyuanshan there are more than 1700 species of sub-tropical trees. Rare plants such as metasequoia, Baile tree, Feier tree are preserved. There are more than 30 species of famous trees, more than 1000 species of arbor and 17 species of bamboo. Particularly famous are the four uniques of Jingshan Mountain, i.e. white China fir, giant azalea tree, broad leaf tea and square bamboo shoot. Chongqing is also one of China's important producing bases fo crude Chinese medicines. Output of coptis root, Chinese gall, honeysuckle flower, magnolia bark, yellow-corktree bark and eucommia bark ranks the first in China. Cultivated plants amount to 560 kinds. Major grain crops are rice, corn, wheat and sweet potatoes with rice as the major crop.Economic crops are mainly rapeseeds, peanuts, tung oil, lacquer, tea, silkworm cocoon, sugar cane, jute, bluish dogbane and tobacco. Fruits are mainly citrus, orange, peach and plum. Citrus is most famous.
Chongqing's animal resources amount to 380 species. Rare wild animals are crown deer, wood musk, civet, panther, otter, macaque, golden pheasant and etc. Raised animals amount to over 60 species, live hog, goat, ox and rabbit are prominent species. Rongchang is the nation's famous producing base for studhogs, and Shizhu is a famous base to raise, process and export long hair rabbits. Chongqing has over 120 river fishes. Fishfarming is popular in every district and county. Changshouhu Lake and Dahonghu Lake are fishfarming bases of Chongqing.
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With natural scenes mingled into humane landscape Chognqing's tourist resources are comprehensive and widespread. The long and particular histroy, brilliant culture, mighty mountain and rivers have brought about numerous well known scenic spots, historic relics and magnificent landscape to Chognqing. There are in Chongqing 20 large tourist resorts with more than 1300 scenic spots. Over 300 tourist resorts have been initialy developed, including 4 key state level scenic resorts, 6 key historic relics under state protection, 110 historic relics under city preservation and more than 12000 other historic relics.
Chongqing proper is surrounded by the Yangtse and Jialing Rivers, so landscape is very beautiful. It is known as a "Mountain city" and also a "River city" because its buildings are constructed on hills by the rivers. Night scene of the mountain city is a wonderful sight. The South Hot Spring Park, North Hot Spring park, Jingyunshan summer resort and Nanshan park are situated in the near suburbs and Jiangjin Simianshan forest, Wansheng Yunan Stone Forest, Wulong Furongdong Cave, Xiannushan Grasslands, Nanchuan Jingfushan Forest Park are situated in distant suburbs. Along the Yantse River there are a large number of scenic spots of mountains, rivers, forests, springs, cataracts, gorges and caves such as the mighty Three Gorges, Daninghe and Xiaoninghe River valleys, Yunyang Longgang, Fenjie Heaven Pit and Earth Crevice, Wuxi Hongcheba Grasslands and Wushan Zhiyanhe River Three-colour Cataract. Construction of the Three Gorges dam will form a 600 kilometres long and more than 1000 square kilometres big lake on high gorges, an excellent tourist resort will thus be set up.
Historical sites can be sought after in Chongqing Museum, Hongyan Memorial Hall of Revolution, Geleshan Revolutionary Martyrs Tomb, Jiang Keshek's Residence, Zhang Zizhong's Apartment,Lingyuan, Kongyuan and some other Wartime Capital remains, Dazu Rock Carvngs is the gem of stone sculptures of the later period. Hechuan Diaoyucheng city that is called "the place where Whip of God was broken" is one of China's three ancient battlefields. Fengdu's Ghost City and Ghost King Stone Carvings, Fuling's Baiheliang (the forest of steles under water), Shizhu's Xituoyunti, Zhongxian's Shibaozhan, Yunyang's Zhang Fei Temple, Liangping's Shuangguitang Temple, Fengjie's Baidicheng City, Wushan's Lu You Cave and Ba people's hanging coffins and the natural scenes of the Three Gorges add radiance and beauty to each other. In 1996 Chongqing received 17.16 million tourists from home and abroad and tourist income was 7 billion yuan. Tourism has developed into a mainstay industries of Chongqing.
A General Survey of the Tourist Industry in Chongqing
The travel industry is one of the industries that develop at the quickest speed in Chongqing. From 1988 to 1994. the number of overseas tourists received and the amount of non-trade foreign currency gained annually and progressively increased by 29.7% and 47.4% respectively. The speed of development and rate of increase of this industry are much higher than the average development speed of national economy of Chongqing in the same period. In 1994, Chongqing received 110,000 person-time foreign tourists and gained 45,200,000 United States Dollars of foreign currency. In the same year the domestic travellers reached 24,000,000 person-time with a withdrawal of RMB 387 million yuan. It is hopeful that the travel industry will become a new fast-developing trade in Chongqing's economy and a backbone sector in the Third Industry of Chongqing.
Chongqing has considerably strong comprehensive reception capacity. There are over 200 tourist-related enterprises with an employment of more than 20,000 workers. The 23 foreign tourist hotels have 3,600 guest rooms with 7,200 beds among which 2 hotels are of the 4-star standard and 6 hotels of which are 3-star standard. In Chongqing there exist altogether 96 travel agencies with more than 700 guides of different languages. There are over 360 foreign tourist buses and 59 foreign tourist cruisers sailing on the Three Gorges route.
Chongqing is the hub of communications in Southwest China and the tourist transporation here is considerably convenient. Chongqing Jiangbei Airport has flights to over 40 domestic cities with yearly passenger transport capacity of 1,650,000 person-time. Chongqing Port is the biggest port in the upper reaches of Changjiang River with passenger transport capacity of 9,000,000-10,000,000 person-time each year. Chongqing enjoys special water, land, and air transportation advantages with the Chengdu-Chongqing, Chongqing-Guizhou, Xiangfan-Chongqing railways, 210 & 319 state highways, Chengdu-Chongqing Expressway, and the tourist trains from Chongqing to Yibing, Emei, and Wansheng.
Chongqing is abundant in tourist resources with over 100 tourist attractions. Chongqing's nation-level scenic spots include Mt Jinyun, Simianshan Mountain, and the Three Gorges on the Changjiang River. And its nation-level key cultural relics preservation units include the Site of the Office of the Eighth Route Army in Chongqing, the Site of the "Sino-US Special Technical Cooperation Institute" Concentration Camp, Baodingshan Cliff Inscriptions, Beishan Cliff Inscriptions, the Fishing Fortress Ancient Battlefield in Hechuan, the Anti-Japanese Remains, the Stone Forest in Wansheng, Boating in the Tonggutan Shoal, the Tongjing Canyon, the Hot Cave and Cave Clusters in East Spring, etc.
With the commencement of the construction of the Three Gorges Project and the formation of the cycle tourist lines on Chongqing's periphery, the "mountain city" will make the best use of the golden opportunities to vigorously and extensively develop its tourist industry. The rich natural and cultural tourist resources are gradually been known to the public, and the grand Three Gorges tourist area centered around Chongqing will surely attract more and more travellers with its unique charm.
With 7 districts, 11 counties and 3 county-level municipalities under its jurisdiction at present, Chongqing is the industrial & commercial centre and foreign trade port in the upper reaches of the Changjing River. It is also the hub of water, land, and air transportation in Southwest China with busy rivers and highways radiating in all directions. The three railways connect Chongqing with all other parts of the country. Airliners here fly to & fro 39 domestic cities and charter flights fly directly to and from Hongkong and Nagoya of Japan. Chongqing rich and diversified tourist facilities include over 96 travel agencies, 23 tourist hotels which are entitled to receive foreign guests, 50 other appointed institutions and units that are foreign-related, over 360 deluxe tourist coaches of various kinds, Sichuan dishes, huoguo, and over 100 local snacks.
Chongqing is a place every tourist desires to visit. Honorable guests and dear friends, make a trip here and you'll be warmly received by the hospitable Chongqing people.
Dazu Grottoes are located in Dazu county of Chongqing They include the over 60, 000 figures scattered in more than 100 places carved in the tang Dynasty (618-907) and Song Dynasty (960-1279). Among these places are the key Cultural relics Preservation Unit of Sichuan-Beishan(North Hill) & Baodingshan(Baoding Hill)Sculptures and Inscriptions which are concentrated, splendid, imposing and on a large scale.
Beishan sculptures and inscriptions. lying 1 kilometre northwest of Dazu County town. began to be carved in late tang Dyansty and the work continued through the Five Dynasties(907-960)to the North & South Song Dynasties. There are over 10, 000 figures of all sorts of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas which are famous for their elegance and exquisiteness. The figures carved in the Tang Dynasty are decorous. full and round in appearance. and simple and honest in temperament. The sculptures carved in the Five Dynasties are ingenious, subtle, and dainty with natural and unrestrained looks while images of the Song Dynasties are graceful in posture, well-proportioned in physical build, and gorgeous in clothes. These works were finely wrought with human beings and deities ingeniously and skilfully merged in the sculptures. exactly conforming to traditional Chinese aesthtic standards.
Baodingshan sculptures and inscriptions, located 15 kilometres northeast to the County town, cared in South Song Dynasty, are the only extant Boddhist Secret Sect Bodhimandala carved on stone in China.
Baodingshan figures are centred around Great Buddha Bent, More than 10, 000 figures were successively carved and inscribed along nearly 400 metre long U-typed cliff bend just like a long picture-story scroll. The overall structure is imposing and magnificent and the composition is wonderful and ingenious These sculptures are very impressive with the skillful combination of scientific principles and artistic models, and with rich social content and flavour of life. There figures are realistic for. they originated from life. They provide rich historic materials for they vividly reflected the life. thoughts. and feelings of the ancient people.
The grottoes represented by sculptures on Beishan and BaodingshanHill outline the development of the grotto art from later Tang Dynasty to later Song Dynasty Pushing Chinese grotto art to a new summit with distinctive national and local characteristics, they are masterpieces of the later period of Chinese grotto art. Dazu Grottoes are now a renowned tourist attraction.
The park is at the foot of Jinyun Mountain north of the city. The quiet place has many springs and valleys as well as temples of Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368-1911). The Guanyin (Bodhisattva) Palace was built with iron tiles and stone pillars. There are also a stone Buddha of the Song Dynasty (960-1279), and a dragon pagoda of the Ming Dynasty (1368 -1644).
Fifty-five kilometers north-east of the city, overlooking the Jialing River, the Northern Hot Spring are in a large park which is the site of a 5th century Buddhist temple.
The spring have an Olympic-size swimming pool where you can bathe to an audi-baths- big tubs where the water comes up to your neck if you sit and up to your waist if you stand. Water temperature averages around 32? (89.6 ?). Swimsuits can be hired here-they're coloured red, symbolizing happiness. There's another group of springs 20km south of Chongqing with hotter waters, but the northern group is said to be better.
Located at Eling Hill, the park was built in 1909, which was originally the home of Lee, a rich businessman, also known as "courteous park", with special plant species and a newly built tower (Liangjiang Pavilion) providing the view of the entire city.
Architectural symbol of Chongqing built in 1951 and designed in the traditional symmetrical and beautifully-proportioned style of Ming and Qing Dynasty palaces, containing a 4000-seat auditorium.
Chongqing's highest point rises 208 metres, the tower "Hongxing Pavilion" built on the top of the hill, provides an excellent view of the city, the rivers and the surroundings.
Chongqing also has the Southern Hot Spring Park, a botanical garden, the Longevity Lake and other places of beauty. The view of Chongqing, the mountainous city, is most attractive at night.
The Fengdu County lying in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. is on the southeast border of the Sichuan Basin. and its area lies on both sides of the Yangtze River. To the west. the county is 172 kilometers from Chongqing. and to the east, it is 476 kilometers from Yichang City. The county covers 2901 square kilometers with 740, 000 population.
Fengdu is an ancient city built in the hills facing the Yangtze River. In Spring and Autumn Period(770 B. C 476 B. C)in Chinese history. it was called "The Other Capital of the Ba nationality" In the second year of Yongyuan in the Eastern Han Dynasty(25 220)when Emperor He reigned over China. the area was specially separated out from the then Zhi County and a new county named Fengdu County was thus established. It has a history of over 1900 years now.
As the place of nether world, Fengdu, a pearl along the Yangtze, a renowned, distinctive historic and cultural city from the ancient time on, is famous at home and abroad for its rich ghost culture. There many ghost stories spread far and wide Many famous literary works such as "The Pilgrimage to the West", "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio", "The Stories of Zhongkui" etc. have vivid legendary descriptions about the ghost city Fengdu.
The main scenic spots in Fengdu are the Mingshan Hill which was appointed as one of the national key relics in the Three Gorges area along the Yangtze River, Shuangguishan National Forest Park which is famous for its gardening beauty, "the Ghostland & God Palace" and "the Judicial Street in the Nether world" modelled after its ancient structure which are the largest ghost culture spots in the country and which are also the largest dynamic tourist spots in Southwest China. the Huinan Han Graves with their grand and peculiar structure, high density, wide time span, and high cultural value, the Grand Ghost Stone Carving under construction, the Siping Forest Park with low sea level (only 380520 metres above the sea level), Sanfu Virgin Forest Centre, Longhe Scenic Spot(stalactitic cave, boating), and other natural scenic spots.
The unique travel resources are attractive to billions of Chinese and millions of foreigners. Up to now Fengdu has received 250, 000 foreign guests and about 6, 000, 000 domestic guests.
Fengdu Ghost City has become the hottest tourist, attraction in the Three Gorges Scenic Area along the Yangze River.
The Beautiful natural Scenery in Wansheng
Wansheng District, 130 kilometres south of Chongqing in the border region of Sichuan and Guizhou, and renowned for its abundant travel resources and rich produce, is the only experimental tourist district of Chongqing municipality. On its 565 square kilometres area are scattered forests, rivers, fountains, waterfalls, stone forests, and stalactitic caves. The municipal-level Heshan Carp River Scenic Spot is famous for dense virgin forest, rare plants and animals, hunting, and coasting down the hills on grass. Tourists may experience the thrilling drifting in the Carp River without any practical danger. The rare, monstrous, and quaint Wansheng Stone Forest is known as the second largest in China. The Wansheng Hot Spring(41 degrees Celsius)is famous for its health-keeping and medical effects.
Now Wansheng District has had the prerequisites and capacity of receiving tourists. The "Wansheng Stone Forest" express tourist train is especially set up for the tourists to Wansheng. and the Sichuan Guizhou and Sichuan Huan highways pass through the district. Transportation from the city proper to the scenic. spots is very convenient. Politics, economy, commerce, and trade are well developed in this region. The tourist facilities there include a two-star hotel, 60 restaurants and hotels of the middle and ordinary level, dance halls, karaoke halls and other recreational places which can accommodate 3, 000 tourists at the same time. Wansheng is one of the best places for visitors to make a trip to and to carry out scientific inspections in.
Welcome to Wanshen to enjoy yourself in nature
The Red Crag Revolutionary Memorial Museum
The Red Crag Village is the site of the Chongqing Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Eighth Route Army during the Anti-Japanese War and the early period of the War of Liberation. The construction work of the memorial museum started in 1955, and in 1959, Mr. Dong Bi-wu inscribed the name of the museum" The Red Crag Revolutionary Memorial Museum", In 1961, it was for the first time in the country announced as one of the national key relics preservation unit. Zhou En-lai, Dong Bi-wu, Ye Jian-ying, Wang Ruo-fei, Qin Bang-xian, Deng Ying-chao etc. lived and fought for a long time. During the Chongqing Talks between KMT(the Nationalist Party)and the Communist Party in 1945. Mr. Mao Ze-dong also stayed there. The Red Crag, now a renowned sacred place of the revolution and a tourist attraction, is famous in China and the world for the glorious militant achievements gained and the Red Crag Spirit initiated by senior revolutionists such as Mao Ze-dong and Zhou En-lai. Now it has been appointed by Sichuan Provincial Government and Chongqing Municipal Government one of the first patriotic education bases.
The Red Crag Revolutionary Memorial Museum now is in charge of the following historic sites. The Red Crag Village, the Zhou Mansion in 50#, Zengjiayan; the Osmanthus Garden in 65# Zhongshansi Road where the Chongqing Talks and the signing ceremony of "Double-ten Agreement"(the agreement was signed on Oct. 10, thus double-ten) took place. These sites are open all year round. The open hours are 8:30 am 5:30 PM.
In order to provide perfect services to all visitors, the museum managers set up arts and crafts shops in all the historic sites, established Red Crag Travel Agency to organize and receive group visitors; built the Red Crag Villa which has over 70 to and middle graded beds.
The Museum will be waiting for your honoured visit with high quality services and elegant surroundings.
Chongqing Museum of Natural History
Chongqing Museum of Natural History. established in 1930. is located on the Loquat Hill in central Yuzhong District. It collects over 80, 000 valuable natural specimens of, for example, animals, plants, ancient living beings, and ancient human being, especially the fossils of dinosaur skeleton, footprint, and eggs. It is well-known in China and even the world for the large numbers and great varieties of specimens there.
The North Hot Spring Park is situated at the foot of the Jinyun Mountain on the Southern bank of the Jialing River. It is an important part of the Jiajing Mountain Scenic Area, one of the first group of nation-level scenic spots established in 1982 by the State Council. The park was named after he spring which runs incessantly all the year round. The flow volume is about 6000 tons per day and the temperature is between 35? and 37?. Now there are in the park 75 bathrooms a swimming pool(50m long and 16m wide), one indoor triangle swimming pool, and a pool for children to play water in. The park is crowded with tourists in all four seasons and laughters can be heard all the time. Isn't it a good holiday resort!
Chongqing Zoological Garden is situated in the western suburb of Chongqing with undulating green hills, wriggling ravines, and clear waters. In the Garden, the zigzag paths lead to seclusion; an artificial lake is built at the foot of hills, all kinds of birds are flying above and resting on the lake; and the plants on the isle in the middle of the lake is imposingly verdant. The zoo, which began to be built in 1953 occupies 60 hectares of land. It is the largest zoological garden in Southwest-China and one of the large-size in the whole country.
In these years when many rare birds and animals are on the verge of extinction, zoological gardens have become the most important sites for their protection. Now Chongqing Zoological Garden is raising over 1, 000 birds and animals of 170 species. In the Panda Ground which is built at the foot of a hill and at the side of a little stream there live charmingly naive giant and lesser pandas and their offsprings. The pandas, together with the golden monkeys, as good-will envoys of the Chinese people, have visited the United states, Canada, and Japan. When the two years old giant panda "Star of Sichuan", who was horn and raised in this garden, visited South Korea, people there warmly welcomed her, and it aroused quite a sensation. At the same time the giraffes, flamingoes, lion-tailed monkeys, ostriches, mandrills, and Arabian baboons from the United States, Canada, and Japan also successively come to settle down in the garden.
In the zoo. there are some teahouses, restaurants, snack counters, and middle-and small-sized entertainment facilities to provide visitors a joyful and elegant touring environment.
Chongqing Zoological Garden earnestly welcomes friends from all circles to come to visit the zoo!
The ancient Buddhist monastery Arhat Temple, which is in the busiest downtown area of Chongqing, a key Buddhist temple in the Han people region, is a historic site protection unit of the Municipal level.
This temple began to be built in 1064-1067 when Emperor Zhiping of the Northern Song Dynasty reigned over China and in 1885 in the Qing Dynasty Monk Longfa reconstructed the Temple and sculptured the figures in imitation of the Arhat Hall in Baoguang Temple in Xindu, and he resumed the former name of the temple Arhat Temple earned in the Chenghua years of the Ming Dynasty. Though the Zhiping Temple does not exist any more we can trace its former existence form the present name of Zhiping Alley. During the Anti-Japanese War and the Ten Years Upheaval(1966-1976), the temple was ruined for the second time. The present Arhats were molded in spring of 1986. Now the construction work of the Depositary Of Buddhist Texts and the Meditation Room have just been finished, and the carving and molding are under way.
If a tourist visits the temple, he will first see the Four Guardians of the World, the Stele Kiosk of the Ming Dynasty, the ancient Buddist cliff inscription of the Northern Song Dynasty, then stepping into the Temple proper and climbing some stairs he will view the imposing Sakyamuni Hall, and lastly he will visit the Depositary and the meditation room. There is also a vegetarian restaurant and a stand for sales of incense and candles.
Huayan Temple lies at the foot of Dalaoshan(Big & Old Mountain)in the west of Chongqing. There is a cave in the mountain cliff, and around the cave a temple was built. Water from the mountain stream splashes all year round just like scattering flowers(in ancient Chinese, the word "flower" is the same as "hua")and thus the temple got its name" Huayan Temple" The grandeur and fame of the temple are composed of three parts: the Huayan Cave, the Reception Hall and The Imposing Sakyamuni Hall. The halls and the houses are solemn and the Buddist figures are stately and respectful. It is one of the most renowned temples in Sichuan.
The temple has had a long history. yet there is no way to trace when it first came into being. From accessible records it is only known that there began to be religious activities in 1599 in the Ming Dynasty and in the Qing Dynasty the activities increased and many considerably prestigious monks gathered there to practice Buddhist Rituals from many parts of the country to have gradually formed a relious community. Together with the addition of houses and renovations to the old buildings. Huayan Temple finally formally came into existence and Master Shengke became the first abbot. From then on 400 years has passed.
When the temple was formally founded. thousands of Buddhist worshipers donated money for enlargement and renovation of the temple. Now it is strikingly magnificent and splendid with numerous vivid old Buddhist figures inside. Outside, the temple is sheltered by countless big and old trees, and the overall view is just like a picture. The eight scenes of "Moonlight on the Pond", "Soughing Pines on the Paling Hill", "Evening Bell from the Temple", "Night Rain in the Trees", "Verdant Twin Peaks", "Rosy Glows on the Winding Stream Water", "White Snow on the Cliff", and" Sounds by Fishes in old Cave "impress every tourist. Nearby is the newly built Huayan Lake which is 250 metres wide and a kilometre long. The lake water is mirror-even without a single ripple. The water view and the mountain scenery help each other to achieve the best effect. Birds are flying, fluttering and singing in the wood and spring water joyfully flows in the little gully among the bushes. You can also swim to your heart's content in the lake. This is the best place for travelers. Once you are here, you can never forget it.
Since its formal foundation in the Qing Dynasty, the temple has had 64 abbots who directed the work there. In these years the religious activities have been carried on more and more prosperously. The temple now has a rich store of relics, musical instruments(for religious purpose), Buddhist classics, poems and paintings by famous celebrities, embroidered horizontal inscribed boards, couplets written on scrolls, and so on. Form the Qing Dynasty on , personages such as Gong Qing-gao, Gong Bing-quan, Lin Sen, Jiang Jie-shi, Feng Yu-xiang, Dai Ji-tao, Ju Zheng, Weng Wen-hao, etc. have visited the temple and left some inscriptions there.
Shengshou Temple on the Baoding Hill
The Shengshou Temple, first built in 1178, is located in Dazu County. through which Chengdu-Chongqing Railway and Chengdu-Chongqing Highway pass. From the county town to the Temple, it only takes about 20 minutes' bus drive.
Up to now the Temple has been constructed to have the following function: to protect the valuable relics of Buddhist culture; to carryout normal religious activities and national and international get-together activities; to train Buddhist personnel and conduct scholastic research of Buddhism; to satisfy the need of religious belief of different people; to provide the best service to tourists and visitors, etc.
The doctrine believed there belongs to the Zen Sect and the abbot now is Master Shi Daguo. The temple is one of the major temples which are announced to be open to foreign guests in Sichuan Province. As one of the 12 scenes in Chongqing, it is a religious sport famous at home and abroad for its sacredness. and it is also a renowned place of Buddhist culture in Southwest China.
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