Editor’s note: As we pray for Chongqing this August, several house church pastors told us about Chongqing, its people, and the needs they see around them. Chongqing is a mega-city in southwest China, spread over a geographical landmass the size of Austria. Many of Chongqing’s residents actually live in more rural areas, but all told, the municipal area has a population of about 32 million. The city is known for its famous hot pot, hot temperatures, and many mountains and hills.

Be sure to look up Parts One and Two of our series on Chongqing. This interview has been lightly condensed and edited for clarity and length.

Crowded City of Hills

China Partnership: How is your city unique among China’s cities?
Ke Dong: There is a lot of delicious food!

Ning Lu: There is a lot of entertainment. The word for entertainment is two characters in Chinese: “Yan” and “le.”[1]  Yan means “to eat,” and le is “to be happy.”

In addition to eating, the entertainment in Chongqing is also quite good. Many celebrities give concerts in Chongqing. There are many concerts every week, given by all kinds of celebrities. In Chongqing, people spend a lot of money. Generally, the brothers and sisters in our church who are Chongqing people do not save money. They spend all their money right away, and live paycheck to paycheck.

No matter what time it is – evening or daytime, weekends or weekdays – Three Gorges Square is always full of people.

Another thing that is unique about Chongqing is that it is very three-dimensional, with lots of mountains and rivers. It’s different from other cities, the roads and streets go up and down.

The population density in Chongqing is actually quite high. Although it total population may not be that large, the population in the main urban area is. Because the main urban area is full of mountains, the usable area is very small. There are often many people crowded into one place. For example, no matter what time it is – evening or daytime, weekends or weekdays – Three Gorges Square is always full of people.

Ke Dong: Compared to other Chinese cities, people in Chongqing are more straightforward. It’s easier to build relationships with them.

Anxiety About How to Live

Xu Jingle: There are many elderly people in our church in Chongqing. Because they are older, they are very concerned about their health. They really like to go out and dance in the squares.

I think Chongqing people are straightforward and easy to get along with.

There is a lot of delicious food. Here’s an example of what that looks like. Recently, several produce stores opened near the community where I live. The owner of those stores brings things from all over – for example, Tibet – back to his shop. Cordyceps might be sold out in just a few hours! He went to Yunnan Province and brought back honey. People didn’t care too much about the price; as long as it was local produce, it would sell out quickly. In the past few days, they have been selling watermelons. People really love good food, and the stores sells all the seasonal vegetables and fruits.

Chongqing taxis are probably more famous than taxi cabs in other cities. They drive faster, too.

Recently I’ve been looking at the topographic map of Chongqing. I realized that the area where I live has undergone great changes in its landform. While it used to be all hills, now it has been flattened. It has changed a lot.

People are anxious about how to live, mainly because the economy of all of Chongqing is now in decline… A large number of people have lost their jobs.

The elderly people in Chongqing have a deep attachment to the past. One man said, “This piece of land belongs to this building. It actually used to be my land.” When I asked if he preferred the past or the present, he felt very conflicted. The elderly feel entangled in all these changes.

This reflects a commonality in the current situation: everyone’s life is very torn. People are anxious about how to live, mainly because the economy of all of Chongqing is now in decline. For example, the budget for road construction this year was originally planned at 30 billion renminbi, but now it has been cut to 3 billion. A large number of people have lost their jobs, and this also affects brothers and sisters in the church.

A Rootless People

Zhang Peihong: Chongqing is not like other “plains” cities, including northern cities. Chongqing was known as a port city, as it is on the Yangtze River. In the past, people would come through the port here and follow the Yangtze River to other places, like Wuhan or other cities on the Central Plains. People did not regard Chongqing as their hometown. They were always coming through Chongqing and headed to another place. People were always moving.

There are two rivers in Chongqing: the Yangtze River, and the Jialing River. These two rivers flank an area known as the Yuzhong Peninsula. This peninsula area is the traditional downtown of Chongqing, and now has areas known as Jiangbei and Nan’an. But now, because Chongqing is a municipal area directly under the central government, the entire central urban area of Chongqing has expanded. Chongqing is one of four municipalities directly under the central government, and the only one in the southwest region.

Because of this, many people from other places have come to Chongqing. A large number of new immigrants from Sichuan Province, from the areas surrounding Chongqing, from other cities and provinces, and even from northeast China have come here.

In the past, people would come through the port here and follow the Yangtze River to other places… People did not regard Chongqing as their hometown. They were always coming through and headed to another place. People were always moving.

Among the four of us pastors here today, three of us did not grow up in Chongqing. But all of us settled down here. Among the brothers and sisters in our church, maybe one-third or even 50 percent of the believers in our churches came from other cities and settled here.

If you compare Chongqing with other cities, like Chengdu or Harbin or Hohhot, each city has their own identity. People will say, “ I am from Hohhot.” Each of those cities has something that can be said to connote this identity.

But for Chongqing, many times Chongqing people do not have a cultural or historical level of identity. We can say, “People enjoy eating hot pot,” or, “They are very straightforward,” but this does not express the cultural level. When you look at roots or history, a lot of Chongqing people cannot find their identity in their city.

Just now, we said that people in Chongqing are straightforward, pursue enjoyment, and are very willing to spend money. Maybe the reason they pursue these things is because, from a historical perspective, they do not have a deep level of identity.

[1] “宴乐” means “to live in ease and comfort; to wine and dine.”

Ning Lu, Ke Dong, Xu Jingle, and Zhang Peihong are pseudonyms for house church pastors in Chongqing.

Pray for Chongqing people to find their identity in being known by God, not in their city or pleasures of this life.