Editor's note: Traveling offers the chance to witness stunning landscapes and experience wonderful cultures. CGTN is bringing you a collection of travel guides to some of the greatest destinations along China's expressways, with the hope of inspiring you to hit the road and explore the charm of the country by car.

Chongqing Municipality, also known as Mountain City, is located in the southwestern region of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River on the Chinese mainland. It is a historical and cultural city with beautiful scenery.

History

In 1189, Emperor Guangzong (1189-1194) was first named King Gong, and then became the 12th emperor of the Song Dynasty (960-1279). He prided himself on this double celebration, from which Chongqing (literally meaning double celebration in Chinese) gets its name.

Culture

Chongqing is the birthplace of Bayu culture, which is one of the most distinctive ethnic cultures in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

It has many wide rivers and mountains, thus transportation was inconvenient in ancient times. Compared with the plains, the complicated geographical environment brings a lot of inconvenience to the daily life of people here.

As a result, the Bayu people develop a tenacious character and are known for being brave and good at fighting.

Transportation

The Baotou-Maoming Expressway starts in Baotou City, north China's Inner Mongolia Province, and ends in Maoming, south China's Guangdong. This expressway spanning north and south of the country is 3,130 kilometers long. As if it is also yearning for the charm of Chongqing, it turned a corner in the middle and passed through this mountain city.

Destination

Chongqing has various natural sceneries including mountains, lakes, forests, waterfalls, gorges and caves. There are more than 300 natural and cultural attractions in total, so it's always a popular choice for every national holiday.

Hongya Cave, formerly known as Hongya Gate, is one of the ancient city gates in Chongqing.

With stilted buildings, its special architectural form makes it look like a scene from a science fiction movie after the lights are turned on at night. And it is on the list of every tourist visiting Chongqing.

Food

Hotpot is the name card of Chongqing cuisine. In May 2016, based on seven criteria, namely cultural connotation, popularity, reputation, representativeness, uniqueness, regionalism and timeliness, Chongqing Hotpot was rated as the first of the "Ten Cultural Symbols of Chongqing."

With spicy beef tallow as the base, the traditional hotpot is dominated by ox stomach. Other authentic dishes almost all feature different parts of cow, such as liver, heart and tongue, but now almost anything can be added to hotpot.

The hotpot taste makes people sweat, and it has become a delicacy that many people can't give up.