Chongqing

Mountainous city on the Yangtze in south-west China. Hub for literary places in the city.

At a glance

Source	Author	Role	In one line
Breakneck	Dan Wang	turning point	End of the Guizhou ride: the world’s most dramatic urban setting.

Sub-places

• Chongqing East railway station
• Liziba station
• Luohan Temple (Chongqing)
• Raffles City Chongqing

Breakneck — Dan Wang (2025)

Source: Readwise highlight

Chongqing is my favorite Chinese city to visit because it has the country’s, and perhaps the world’s, most dramatic urban setting.

• Role: turning point
• In the book: The cycling trip ends in Chongqing, built on steep hillsides between the Yangtze and Jialing rivers: stacked buildings, a metro line running through an apartment block, wartime air-raid tunnels turned into hotpot restaurants. Returning in 2022, the author finds the Jialing nearly dry in a drought.
• Why it matters: The end of the bike trip and a vivid case of urban engineering and of climate vulnerability.