Updated November 04 2016
Chungking - Chongqing - 重慶 Return to: the main index of China's Towns and Cities: The Places Behind the Branch Names
Chungking (now known as Chongqing) was until the 20th century a relatively unimportant regional city deep in China's interior, positioned on the Yangtze River.
The city has ancient origins; the first substantial city wall was constructed about 250 BC. It was repaired and expanded during the 3rd century AD, and again in about 1240. It was rebuilt with solid stone early in the Ming period. In the 1630s, near the end of the Ming, the rebellion of Zhang Xianzhong subjected Chungking to plunder, slaughter, and destruction. The city wall was restored in 1663. |
The city was named Chongqing (“Double-Blessed”) in 1189 under the Nan (Southern) Song dynasty (1127–1279). During the middle Ming Dynasty, breweries and silk manufacturing was established in the city. Some substantial industrial development in the early 1900s saw the appearance of silk mills, plus glass and cigarette manufacturies.
In 1890, the British Consulate General was opened in Chongqing. The following year, the city became the first inland commerce port open to foreigners. The French, German, US and Japanese consulates were opened in Chongqing in 1896-1904.
In 1890, the British Consulate General was opened in Chongqing. The following year, the city became the first inland commerce port open to foreigners. The French, German, US and Japanese consulates were opened in Chongqing in 1896-1904.
Before the Sino-Japanese War, Chungking was mostly a city of narrow streets and crowded housing, occupied by less than 250,000 people. Streets and lanes followed the contours of the hills. The houses were constructed of bamboo, wood, or thatch in the poorer residential areas and of brick in the wealthier areas; throughout there was a high degree of congestion. A vigorous modernization program was introduced when the city became the seat of the Nationalist government in 1938. Most of the city wall was demolished to make way for new streets, and existing streets were graded and widened. The tremendous demand for housing created by an influx of government workers and refugees led to the rapid expansion of the sections west of the Old City, and the population has continued to grow, often in substantial surges ever since. The current (c.2015) population is above 18 million.
left: a Chungking 'local post' stamp of 1893. |
Below: scarce colour photos of Chungking in the early 1940s, by Jack Wilkes.
Chungking (Chongqing) became the capital of Nationalist China from 1938 to 1946, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, as a result of the infamous conquest and occupation of the capital at Nanking (Nanjing) by Japanese forces. As a result all of the allied and many other embassies, around 50 in all, were re-located to the city which became the principle base for Chinese Nationalist and Allied forces against the Japanese during the war. As a result, from 1938 to 1942 Chungking was heavily bombarded by the Japanese, causing massive destruction in the city. Parts of the remaining wall and virtually all of the city’s historic monuments and temples were damaged or destroyed.
Many universities and heavy industry moved to the city from the east, include printing operations such as the Dah Tung and Chung Hwa Printing Company's who resumed production of banknotes and stamps for the Republic at Chungking. Some of the currency printing was still being conducted by the British and had to be flown in across the Himalayas to the city.
The 'French Indochinese' Vinh Thai wrote an account of his involvement in a French secret mission to Chungking from 1943 to 1945, in 'Ancestral Voices.' This is one of his entries on the city;
Many universities and heavy industry moved to the city from the east, include printing operations such as the Dah Tung and Chung Hwa Printing Company's who resumed production of banknotes and stamps for the Republic at Chungking. Some of the currency printing was still being conducted by the British and had to be flown in across the Himalayas to the city.
The 'French Indochinese' Vinh Thai wrote an account of his involvement in a French secret mission to Chungking from 1943 to 1945, in 'Ancestral Voices.' This is one of his entries on the city;
"Here I am, riding through Chungking in a jeep, looking for my new quarters. I am going to dwell... at the very heart of an abstract composition.
That is how the capital appears to me- a manifold monotony, without past, without future, and with a very unsettled present. The buildings are masks of mud and plaster, the roads are sewers, the electric pylons are it's trees and the bus that goes wallowing along in the stink of rotten apples is a hopeless wreck." (P.86, Collins, 1956). |
Below: the steps leading up from the riverside in the increasingly crowded city. Centre: a view of some of the air-raid damage to Chungking by the Japanese.
Post-war
The city briefly became the provisional capital once again in 1949, the Nationalists under Chiang Kai Shek having by then lost control of most of eastern and northern China including the capital at Nanking. Within months the Nationalists fled to Canton and then onto Taiwan leaving mainland China to the victorious communists under Mao Zedong. Chungking returned to being a mere provincial city and the capital was moved from Nanking back to Peking (Beijing).
Due to the wartime destruction, the new communist government (from 1949) had little difficulty in carrying forward the tasks of modernisation and expansion after the war. Modern buildings now stand throughout the city, with skyscrapers dotting the sky in the newer commercial centres. In the northern suburban districts and adjacent areas, large buildings were erected to provide living quarters for workers and accommodations for factories and workshops. More recently, the completion of the Three Gorges Dam and the subsequent relocation or resettlement of some one million inhabitants in the municipality precipitated an economic boom, as massive government investment was used to build new towns, business enterprises, and communications and transportation infrastructure in the affected areas. As a result however; the modern city and region is now heavily polluted.
Some of the Banknotes of Chungking
The Central Bank of China - 中央銀行
During WWII (Second -Sino-Japanese War 1937-45) the Central Bank was administered from Chungking, from 1939. The branches within Japanese occupied areas came under the control of the Japanese puppet bank The Central Reserve Bank of China. In the early stages of the war, the currency issues had to be adapted in an attempt to prevent the Japanese dumping captured nationalist currency into Nationalist areas with the purpose of acquiring resources and undermining the currency. Unmarked currency was not to be accepted. There is at least one known example of someone attempting to falsify a Chungking overprint by hand. The scheme of marking notes with the Chungking branch name was discontinued by 1942. Right: a 100 Dollars of 1928 (issued c.1938) with the Shanghai branch name obliterated and 'Chungking' overprinted in Chinese and English. P199c. |
Right: no study of Chungking money could leave out the various notes issued 1942-45 which depict the ancient Fo-tu-kuan (Fuxingguan) gate near Chungking. The scene was chosen for its close proximity to Chungking and for its status as a fortress symbolising strength, and resistance of the invader. The pailou arch was restored as a symbol of resistance against Japanese aggression - the letters on the arch: 自力 更生 (bottom left and right panels) and 还 我 河山 (meaning: 'give back the rivers and mountains').
Very little of the site remains due to both war damage and the Cultural Revolution. Below: a c.1900 photo of the earlier appearance of the gates and fortifications. |
The Central Bank of China 100 Yuan of 1943 - the sole issue for that year. P 254. Most likely printed in Chungking.
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The Bank of China - 中國銀行
The Chungking branch was established in 1915. As with the other government banks, the Bank of China was administered from Chungking during the war with Japan. From September 1942, the links between the (Shanghai) Bank of China, and the remainder of the bank's network within areas of Japanese control, was severed from Chungking. The bank became an arm of the puppet Central Reserve Bank of China until the end of the war. Right: 100 Yuan of 1940 depicting Dr Sun Yatsen and the Main Hall of the Temple of Heaven at Peking (Beijing). Only the 50 and 100 Yuan of this series (which included 5, 10 and the unusal 25 Yuan issues) were overprinted. Some 100s are found issued without overprint but for some reason no 50s are known without it? The Chungking 100 Yuan has two varieties: one with the place-name overprinted in black (shown right), and a latter more common version with the placenames printed on as part of the plate. At least one example is known of someone attempting to falsify a Chungking overprint on one of these unstamped 100 Yuan notes, by hand. |
The Bank of Communications - 交通銀行
The Chungking (Chongqing) branch had seemingly either been closed or downgraded in 1917. The branch was re-established fully with the arrival of the Nationalist government in 1938. As with the other government banks, the administration of the Bank of Communications was relocated to Chungking during the war with Japan. Several issues of the Bank were extensively forged by the Japanese during this period, mostly due to the Japanese capturing the bank branches and printing facilities in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Right: 5 Yuan of 1914 (issued c.1938) conventionally marked for the Chungking branch in Chinese and English. Unusually, the 50 and 100 Yuan notes of this 1914 series are marked with an extra pair of 'Chungking' branch-names in small Chinese characters, vertically, on both sides. This feature is only found on these specific issues. |
The Farmers Bank of China - 中國農民銀行
The Farmers Bank was administered from Chungking during the war with Japan. Right: for this bank, only the 1941 series of 50, 100 and 500 yuan notes printed by the American Banknote Company, were overprinted for Chungking - and only in Chinese. The 100 yuan is known with and without the overprint; the 50 yuan has been reported without but proof has yet to appear. Conversely, specimen examples of the 500 Yuan are found with the overprint, but issued examples of this are yet to be found, if they exist? Right: a 50 Yuan of 1942; one of the very last notes to be issued for the Farmers Bank as all currency issue was restricted to the Central Bank of China after 1942 (in theory). This note is not overprinted for Chungking however it was assumedly printed in the city, as the Dah Tung Book Co. had relocated there due to the war.
The note is clearly an emergency issue of sorts as it is uses designs obviously created for the Bank of Communications (and appears as an issue of such, along with the Bank of China). |
The Chung Ho Savings Bank
One of numerous small commercial banks in Chungking, and of a type found across China. Right: a scarce 1927 1 Silver Dollar issue by this bank. The American-Oriental Bank of Szechuen 10 Dollars, 1922 (specimen). The bank was established in 1921, and was the only American bank and exchange bank west of Hankow. |
Films of old Chungking
Below: two short but interesting newsreels of Chungking (Chongqing) via Youtube. The left shows the cities stilted architecture and precarious transportation, and was recorded in 1930. The right video reports on a fund raising procession through the city for the troops in 1943.
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