City Context · Chongqing Times Square

02CITY IN NUMBERSA Mighty River City, Seen in Numbers

Scale

3.4RMB T GDP 2025 1-hr Drive Catchment 20 M

Honours

New 1st-tier City China Internet-Famous City China Most Liveable City Top 100 Global Destinations World's First Hot Spring Capital

Momentum

520 M+ Tourist Visits · 2026 Projected Tourism Revenue RMB 550 B+

03TERRAINThe Mountain Is the City, the City the Mountain

Two RiversOne Vertical City

The Yangtze and the Jialing meet at the Yuzhong peninsula, and the city climbs the ridges in layers. Here the ground floor is not always the ground, and a rooftop may turn out to be another street. Elevation is not an obstacle to be overcome — it is the most basic spatial grammar of the city.

01 Two Rivers, Four Banks The Yangtze and the Jialing embrace the Yuzhong peninsula, meeting at Chaotianmen.
02 A Train Through a Building Line 2 at Liziba station runs straight through a residential block.
03 Cableway Across the River The Yangtze cableway crosses the water, giving an aerial view of both banks.
04 Stilted Houses on the Cliff Hongyadong is built against the cliff, terraced level upon level, its lights stacking into a facade after dark.
05 Stone Steps Shibati and the mountain paths link the upper and lower halves of the city.
06 A City of Bridges Bridges stitch back together an urban fabric cut apart by rivers.

In Chongqing, nature is not the backdrop to the city — it is the way the city is built.

04THE MONUMENTStone Inscribes the Years, the City Remembers

One MonumentOne City's Memory

The full name of Jiefangbei is the People's Liberation Monument: 27.5 metres tall, eight storeys, octagonal in form, its crown shaped like a steel helmet to signify an enduring alarm. Its predecessor was the wooden "Spiritual Fortress" raised at the centre of the city on 12 March 1940 to bolster wartime morale; it was renamed the Monument to the Victory of the War of Resistance in 1945, and re-inscribed by Liu Bocheng as the People's Liberation Monument in 1950. It stands at the crossing of the Golden Cross Street — Chongqing Times Square rises at the heart of the Golden Cross Street in Jiefangbei, a ten-metre walk away.

1940 The Spiritual Fortress Raised at the centre of the city on 12 March, in timber, to bolster wartime morale.
1945 Monument to Victory Renamed after the victory, commemorating the War of Resistance.
1950 People's Liberation Monument Re-inscribed by Liu Bocheng, and known as such ever since — the central coordinate of the city.
Today The Jiefangbei District Around the monument has grown one of the most vital commercial districts in China.

27.5 metres tall · eight storeysOctagonal form · helmet-shaped crown, signifying an enduring alarm

Within walking distance of Chongqing Times Square100 Zourong Road · the heart of the Golden Cross Street

05CULTUREEveryday Life, Living Heritage

Three Millennia of Bayuand the Warmth of Everyday Life

Chongqing is the birthplace of Bayu culture, with more than three thousand years of urban history. In 1189, Emperor Guangzong of Song — enfeoffed as Prince of Gong and then enthroned — took the omen of "double celebration" and elevated Gongzhou to Chongqing Prefecture. The name of this city is itself a benediction.

01 Bayu Origins Ancient land of the Ba state, the old city of Jiangzhou — three millennia of continuous settlement.
02 How It Got Its Name In 1189 Gongzhou became Chongqing Prefecture, meaning "double celebration".
03 Opened to Trade Opened to foreign trade in the modern era, the commercial gateway of the upper Yangtze.
04 Wartime Capital The national government moved here in December 1937; formally designated the wartime capital in 1940, until 1949.
05 Huguang Guild Hall A standing witness to the "Huguang Fills Sichuan" migration.
06 A Municipality Chongqing became a directly-administered municipality in 1997.

Culture in the Everyday

Dockyard culture, the boatmen's work songs of the Chuanjiang, nine-grid hotpot, air-raid shelters turned into bookshops and wine cellars — the culture of Chongqing is not only displayed in museums. It is lived, daily.

Culture and nature here are not two separate subjects. They are two faces of the same city.

06CITYSCAPELight and Shadow, a City Like Painting

The Mountain City

A layered, three-dimensional city — a different face by day and by night.

Photography by Zhang Kunkun

07CQTS IN THE CITYHeart of the City, Window of the Era

Chongqing Times Squareat the Heart of the City

Chongqing Times Square sits in the Jiefangbei business district — the city centre at its most vibrant. At 100 Zourong Road, Line 2 Linjiangmen station opens directly into the mall at B1 and B2.

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