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Chongqing vs. Chengdu
Trying our best to cope with the unrelenting heat of the past more than one month, the girls and I took the 4.5 hour train ride to neighbouring Chengdu to visit Jennifer's older sister.
There is an intense rivalry developing between the two cities, as both lay claim to being the "major" city in SW China, and often compete for the same investment money, both public and private. While Chongqing literally means "Double Jubilation" (especially apt after being granted direct municipality status by Beijing in 1197, Chengdu means "Mature City", and as the capital of Sichuan province, this is very apparent. While, like CQ, CD is tearing up roads, putting in new clover-leafs left right and centre, and construction goes on at a torrid pace, the city has a more relaxed feel to it, and because of its flatter geography, it feels much more spacious and comfortable. CQ is pretty much entirely sandwiched on a narrow strip of land between the Yangtze and Jialing rivers. But I have told you that before, sorry to repeat myself!
Chengdu has an abundance of road side tea houses and the parks are full of them too, something entirely lacking in CQ. Chongqing boasts some nice hilly views and interesting geological formations, Chengdu is laid out over a plain with easily understood road systems not disimilar to Beijing -- N to S grids and ring roads surrounding the downtown area.
Other than Jiefangbei in the very downtown core, there are other large built-up areas in and around the city like Nanping on the north bank of the Yangtze, Jiangbei on the north bank of the Jialing, and Shapingba, a half hour drive up the peninsula.
In Chengdu on our first morning, I felt an aftershock of an earthquake registered deep below the earth near Yibin City. The plain on which CD is built is an ancient seabed, and the ground is still rather soft compared to CQ which is basically all solid rock. Most buildings in CD are low because of this, although some skyscrapers are popping up as they learn to secure foundations better for large buildings. CQ is, as I have said, the consummate Concrete Jungle, and it goes way up.
We loved the tap water in CD because most of it is from underground sources, keeping it very cool even in the hottest summer months. CQ gets its water from the nearby rivers and reservoirs, which are at the mercy of the heat just like everything else under the sun.
Chongqing people say the Chengdunese are lazy and complacent, CDers say CQers are uncooth and tempermental. All I can say is I love the food in both places, and there are an abundance of attractive women in both cities, unrivalled in all China in my humble and slightly biased opinion!
It will be interesting to see how both cities develop and cope with each other's growth in the coming years. Hopefully, more partnerships will be made, and the governments of both metropoli will pool their resources instead of engaging in unproductive one-upsmanship.
last modified Sep 5, 2006 at 1:23
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