Our 11-day Yangtze River cruise began in Chongqing — the fabled City of Mountain. It was my second visit, but for my wife Rosa, it was her very first time. For both of us, however, the city had always lived in our imagination long before we set foot on its steep streets.
We had heard so many stories about Chongqing: that its endless stairways could exhaust even the strongest legs, that its slopes were so steep cars could hardly stop without rolling backward. But what truly drew us here was more than curiosity — it was history, memory, and a sense of rediscovery.
When I was a student, I first encountered Chongqing in the pages of Red Rock, a novel that vividly portrayed the struggles of the Communists fighting against the Nationalist-led government. The book’s images of bravery and sacrifice left a lasting impression. Later, I learned that Chongqing had been the wartime capital of China during the eight-year War of Resistance against Japanese aggression in the 1940s — a city that bore the weight of a nation’s hope and survival.
Today, this once battle-scarred city stands proudly as one of China’s four great municipalities, alongside Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin. Modern Chongqing dazzles with its lights and energy, earning it the nickname “Little Hong Kong.” When night falls, the city glows — towers shimmer above the rivers, bridges are strung with jewels of light, and boats glide like lanterns on water.
Rosa and I stayed near the Liberation Monument, the heart of Chongqing’s bustling downtown. It was the perfect place to feel the city’s pulse. The streets were alive with what the Chinese call “people mountain, people sea” — waves of people moving through bright shopping streets, laughter echoing between high-rises, and the aroma of spicy hotpot floating in the evening air.
We joined the crowd for a walking tour, blending in with locals who seemed to celebrate life simply by being out together. Along the street-side restaurants, we saw people dining, chatting, and raising glasses of local beer — savoring the warmth of friendship and food against the hot weather even in the early Fall at the beginning of October, which is a little bit out of the season.
During our stay in the city, we watched the performance based on the novel of Red Rock to tell the story of how the local people led by the communists to their last fight to usher in the liberation of the city. The performance is a kind of patriotic education project, but taking that behind, the whole performance is well organized, an artistic creation even for those who have not visited the city for a long time like us.
We also enjoyed an Emperor’s Dinner, a dinner theater with waiters and waitresses in the costumes of the Han dynasty to serve delicious food only for the dignitaries in the old days while watching the live performances. The performances tell brief stories from the slave society about 770 B.C. to the last emperor in the Qing dynasty before 1911 in China.
That night, standing with Rosa under the neon skyline on the Century Legend Cruise, the only luxury river cruise from Chongqing to Shanghai in China, we felt that Chongqing was more than a starting point for our cruise. It was a living story — of mountains and rivers, of hardship and rebirth, of modern beauty rising from the depths of history. The cruise purposedly started our journey at night with all the lights on over the city so we could enjoy the full beauty of Chongqing.
And so, our Yangtze River journey began — with hearts full of wonder in the City of Mountain.