Chongqing, China's dark city

Chongqing, the temporary capital of China during World War II, is one of the fastest-growing city in the country. It has been since long the economic hub of western China, and after its government was given municipal control of surrounding territory it has become what is now the world's biggest municipality with 31 million residents. Half of them living in metropolitan areas, enveloped in perpetual fog and pollution. (According to the World Bank, 16 of the planet's dirtiest cities are in...
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Chongqing, the temporary capital of China during World War II, is one of the fastest-growing city in the country. It has been since long the economic hub of western China, and after its government was given municipal control of surrounding territory it has become what is now the world's biggest municipality with 31 million residents. Half of them living in metropolitan areas, enveloped in perpetual fog and pollution. (According to the World Bank, 16 of the planet's dirtiest cities are in China, and Chongqing is one of the worst). Every year hundred of thousands of rural migrants arrive into its districts, looking for work in industrial parks or on the crews building new highways and bridges, or in the army of bangbang, porters who carry goods from the docks up to the mountains slopes. Like much of the rest of China, Chongqing is booming, but, the sudden development meant money, corruption and organised crime. The city is in the midst of a major crackdown against corruption, the number one concern in China. An elderly Chinese woman among the crowd in the commercial district.
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