Chongqing becoming green logistics hub

"The trade corridor is a public service for China's western provinces and ASEAN countries," said Zeng Jinghua, the project's administration director. "The achievements of the past five years show that it has great potential in boosting regional integration and development."

Another regional development plan also offers Chongqing new opportunities. In January 2020, the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle became the fourth national key region after the Yangtze River Delta region, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, and Chongqing are jointly shouldering the responsibility of leading high-quality development in western China.

Protecting the Yangtze

The Yangtze, the world's third-longest river, flows for 6,300 kilometers from glaciers on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to the East China Sea off Shanghai's coast.

It has fed people living along its banks for thousands of years and is one of the cradles of Chinese civilization, known as China's "mother river". Today, more than 400 million people rely on it for drinking water. Hailed as a major economic engine, the Yangtze River Economic Belt comprises nine provinces and two municipalities and accounts for some 40 percent of the national population and GDP.