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. |
| Notes on China | Dwarkesh Patel | subject | Chongqing is praised as the best city he has visited; he got a cheap two-floor hotel room overlooking two rivers and the skyline, and from atop its tallest building compares the endless skyscrapers to the Hubble Deep Field. |
Sub-places
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.
Notes on China — Dwarkesh Patel (2024)
Source: Original · Readwise highlight
Chongqing is by far the coolest city I’ve ever visited. It’s this insane cyberpunk multi-level metropolis of over 20 million people.
- Role: subject
- In the article: Chongqing is praised as the best city he has visited; he got a cheap two-floor hotel room overlooking two rivers and the skyline, and from atop its tallest building compares the endless skyscrapers to the Hubble Deep Field. A mall there is also where high schoolers ask for selfies.
- Why it matters: Chongqing is the emotional high point of the trip and the piece’s main image of urban scale. It also recurs in the Youngsters section.