About the area:
Chongqing is a major city in central-western China. Administratively, it is one of the People's Republic of China's four provincial-level municipalities, and the only such municipality in western China. The municipality of Chongqing has a registered population of 31,442,300 as of 2005. The boundaries of Chongqing municipality reach much farther into the city's hinterland than the boundaries of the other three provincial level municipalities (Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin), and much of its administrative area, which spans over 80 000 km², is rural.