Chongqing Is The Hottest Place In China In July. My Armpits Told Me So Or Maybe It Was The Hotpot . . .

Once upon a time there was a teacher who had been traveling about China for two weeks.  She was onto her next destination by plane.  She went with her fellow teachers to an airport to catch a flight.  Only flights often change in China with absolutely no warning.  This happened numerous times.  The explanation given was always the same.  "Flight exercises of the Chinese military."

Our flight was off finally and I dozed off.  I opened my eyes to hear people around me laughing.  What I saw when I looked up at the television monitor was a series of cat videos.  Cats of all kinds acting crazy as could be.  They do love a cat video in China.

Even before landing, as far as the eye could see were huge buildings, most of them high rise apartment like structures.  It looked crowded.  And there was a reason for this.

Chongqing is located in Southwestern China.  It is one of the five national central cities of China, and is one of four direct controlled municipalities.  This means it is under direct control of the Chinese government.  I would liken it to being something like a state in the US or a province in Canada in terms of government administration.  Municipalities are the highest-ranked cities in the Peoples Republic of China.  Then come prefecture level cities and then county level cities.

As of the 2010 census, the population of this municipality is over 28 million people.  It is the largest municipality in China.  The area we were in is home to about 7 million people.  So really, it is comparable to the population of the entire state of Texas.

Chongqing is a city that is built on hills and is the place where two of China's large rivers meet, the Jialing River and the Yangtze River.  The city has a lot of islands and more bridges than I have ever seen in one spot.  Over 55 bridges can be found here and many are architectural marvels.

We climbed aboard a night cruise down the muddy Yangtze River.  Getting onto the boat made me nervous because I am a chicken.  Or maybe it was the way the bridge was swaying as we walked across it.   It could have been because of how fast the river was moving.  I remember looking down the river and seeing a bunch of moorings in the water and thinking to myself that if I fell in the speed of the water would pin me immediately to them in a matter of seconds.   I would certainly drown.  I made a video to show my bestie Jenny.

It was fun cruising up and down the river that evening.  The air was thick with humidity the entire time we were there.  I sweat standing, I sweat sitting, I sweat sleeping.  I sweat the entire time.  I have never had such good skin in my life as there were no toxins left in my body.  The amount of water I drank was incredible but was always served warm.  This was not so refreshing and I believe it made me sweat even more.  I used to have a fear of armpit sweat rings.  China crushed that fear.  I no longer care.  

The Dongshuimen Cable-stayed Bridge was one of my favorite to look at because of the color contrast.  It looked so sharp.  I also loved the elegance of the design.

The ride down the river on the boat added a cooler breeze and it was refreshing to sit and take in the view of the city on both sides.  The lights on buildings started to come on as it grew dark.  It was beautiful and I had the best company.  The friends I have made on this trip are incredible.   You really get to know a person or 15 when you are with them 24/7 for a month.

5 am or 11pm, hot hot hot.  What struck me most about social life here is how many people came out at night.  I am a runner and would get up every morning to explore the city.  There were people out, mostly on tracks that could be found around the city, but nothing like the amount of people we would see at night.   People went out at night because frankly, who wants to cook in a small apartment with that humidity hanging around?  

People in China are very social.  The group is of immense importance.  A few blocks from our hotel in Chongqing was a city park of sorts, complete with the exercise equipment characteristic of all parks I saw in every city, a turf soccer field, indoor/outdoor basketball courts, and tennis courts.  There was a huge area in the center we participated in aerobics classes.  I teach a cardio kickboxing class in Maine and the workout that I experienced in the class here left me exhausted.  Non-stop movement for over an hour in 90 degree heat and humidity left me thirsty.  And of course I went back to the hotel and enjoyed a warm water.

A few of us also took the opportunity to participate in the dance classes being offered.  We were warmly accepted by the group and laughed together at our awkward moves.  We tried to keep up as best we could.  You could also join Tai-Chi classes going on.  There were literally hundreds of people in this square every night.

Well the grocery store was an experience of wonder and astonishment.  Nothing is packaged as far as meat goes.  I was surprised to see that one could attain a live rabbit right in the meat department.  Good to know.  I thought of those menacing bunnies from California I had seen.  They don't know how good they have it.  They don't care anyway those apathetic American rabbits.  According to Frederick Simoon, author of Food In China:  A Cultural and Historical Inquiry, since the establishment of the People's Republic of China, China has the largest population of domesticated rabbits.  It accounts for up to 40% of the international rabbit trade (for food).  It is cooked in China most similar to chicken.

It is time for a history lesson friends.  Once upon a time the Shang Dynasty's state of Ba had a capital here.  It was destroyed by the State of Qin and renamed Jiangzhou.  Chongqing had a lot of names after that including Chu Prefecture, Yu Prefecture, and Gong Prefecture.  It was named Chongqing by Emperor Guangzong, otherwise known as Prince Gong.  During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, merchants liked to gather in the city because of the port and customs houses that were set up.  Chongqing was declared a city in 1929.

During WWII, Chongqing was a target for terror bombing carried out by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service and Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service.  Citizens of Chongqing were subjected to over 268 air raids and more than 11,500 bombs were dropped on residential areas, schools, businesses, hospitals, and military targets.  In the first two days of the campaign in 1939, more than 5,000 Chinese civilians were killed.

We visited the General Joseph W. Stilwell Museum situated in the Yuzhong District of Chongqing.  It was founded in memory of General Stilwell who worked as Chief of Staff in the China Theater of Operations.  General Stilwell participated in a series of political and military affairs and cemented a profound friendship with Chinese people fighting side by side in China.

 Meeting room.

General Stilwell's room.

Buildings are even taller when built on hills . . .

Public transportation is awesome in this city.  It was very easy to get around.  One day we traveled to a water park to get a break from the constant heat that this "Furnace" offered.