Chongqing Southwest China
Chongqing is a major city in Southwest China and one of the five national central cities in the People's Republic of China (PRC). Administratively, it is one of the PRC's four direct-controlled municipalities (the other three are Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin), and the only such municipality in inland China. The municipality was created on 14 March 1997, succeeding the sub-provincial city administration that was part of Sichuan province. As of November 2010, the municipality had a population of 28,846,200, although the urbanized area is estimated to have a population of only 6 or 7 million. The municipality has jurisdiction over 19 districts, 15 counties, and 4 autonomous counties. With an area of 82,401 square kilometres (31,815 sq mi), it is the largest direct-controlled municipality, larger even than one province and an autonomous region. It is possibly the world's largest municipality by population and one of the largest by area. The official abbreviation, , wa...