BangBang

“Bangbang (porter)”, also known as “Lifu” or “Lige” in Chongqing, and has a long history, which is closely related to the topography of this mountain city and the port economy. Although names are different, they are all jobs that need to earn money by strength. With the passage of time and social development, the goods they carry on their shoulders are constantly changing, but the spirit of carrying the load forward and climbing over the hill remains the same.

Before the Chongqing Port was opened, due to the inconvenience of transportation, many goods were carried on people’s shoulders. After the opening of the port, the entry of commerce and ships increased the volume of material transactions, and a large number of labor force entered the city to make a living. The men often started from being a porter, accumulated the original capital, and then transferred to the small handicraft industry.

After the opening of the port, Chongqing’s urban scale has been expanded and its population has been growing rapidly. Due to the hard geology of the mountain city, it was inconvenient to dig wells, which led to the serious lack of domestic water in the city although Chongqing is surrounded by two rivers. Therefore, there appeared a special job in Chongqing － water porter. They delivered water for urban residents by shoulder poles. At its peak, the number of water porters reached 20,000.

In addition to water porters, Chongqing ushered in the period with a larger scale of development during the Anti Japanese war. At that time, there were such strong men who relied on their strength to survive by carrying water, carrying goods and carrying poles and sedans.Porters were proud of becoming “stevedores”.

Hotpot

Hotpot, called huoguo, or “firepot” in Chinese is one of Chongqing’s claims to fame. In cities across China, one can find hot pot restaurants, but only Chongqing people can really stand a real hot pot, so if you want authenticity, taste a real hot pot while you are in Chongqing.

Born on the banks of the Yangtze River, hotpot was originally eaten by poor boatmen. Then it spread to the rest of China. It’s eaten year-round, even in the summer month when the city itself resembles a furnace. People gather around fire-pot filled with flavorful and nutritious soup base. You have a choice of spicy, pure or combo for the soup. You can dip almost anything you like in your pot, from Chinese mushrooms and squid to tofu and lotus root. The fire dances under the pot, the heavily oiled and spiced soup boils with hazy steam, and the people are bathed in sweat.

Hotpot restaurants can be found all over Chongqing, not to mention all over China, but no one eats hotpot quite like a Chongqing people, the chillies they used are much, much hotter than the ones found in neighbouring Chengdu.

There are a great variety of hotpots, including Yuanyang (Double Tastes) hotpot, four tastes hotpot, fish head hotpot, tonic hotpot, entire sheep hotpot, etc. Chongqing hotpot is characterized by its spiciness, but to suit customers of different preference, salty, sweet or sour flavors of hotpot are available. As long as you can stand the spiciness, you are advised to try the spiciest one to ensure an authentic experience.

Mountain City

On an overpass more than a dozen meters tall, a train runs through a 19-story residential building, and then reemerges on the other side.For residents in southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality, the train trip has been a daily commute since 2004, when the local government built Liziba station between the sixth and eighth floors of the building on an essential train route.

But in recent years, tourists’ videos and photos of the sky train went viral on Chinese social media.

“Sky corridors” linking closely built high-rises and hot pot parties under large neon-lit billboards are just some of the things in Chongqing that have captivated internet users across the country.During this year’s Spring Festival Holiday, from Feb. 4 to Feb. 10, the mountain city with 30 million permanent residents saw 47 million visitors, ranking first among Chinese cities.During a campaign on China’s popular short-video sharing platform Douyin, which lets users log places they visited during the Spring Festival, the city also became the top destination.

Chongqing sits at the confluence of the Yangtze River and the Jialing River. In the middle is the Yuzhong peninsula, home to the heart of the city. Unlike China’s sprawling, flat cities like Beijing and Shenzhen, Chongqing is a high-density city. Its mountains and rivers mean it is harder to build on, so there is a greater need to build up and pack high rises in every available space.

As such, Chongqing’s infrastructure and public transportation are very different from other Chinese cities.Streets run through both the first and the eighth floor of a building, buses park inside high-rises, and basketball courts are built on roofs.”It’s a fresh, new experience for me compared to living in a flat city, especially in terms of transport,” said Yang Hua, a young tourist from the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou.

Apart from the train that runs through the building, Yang also experienced a cross-river cableway which offers an overview of the Yangtze River as well as a ferry ride.”Chongqing’s online fame is indispensable with the extraordinary urban designs tailored to the rivers and its mountainous landscape,” said Zhang Haipeng, a senior engineer with the municipal geographic information center.

The explosive growth of visitors following Chongqing’s online publicity has also posed new challenges, as many of the hot sites are part of the public transportation or residential buildings which are not designed for tourists.

At the Liziba train station, the local government set up a new viewing platform and increased the number of toilets. At the Yangtze cableway, an online reservation and queuing system were put in place.The city has also set up new sightseeing bus routes and increased ferry rides on the river.

“High-quality and effective tourism products and services are what make instant fame long-lasting,” said Liu Qi, head of the municipal culture and tourism development commission.