Words and photography Markus Bidaux
NOT EXACTLY PAVAROTTI: Chinese opera in Wulong
More than 30 million people live here, but before I arrive nobody I’ve spoken to outside China had heard of this place. I’m in Chongqing, the largest municipality in the world, with a population greater than London’s. It was the country’s provisional capital during WWII and is, apparently, China’s gay capital today. Most people who travel to this region of central China do so on a cruise along the Yangtze river but if they don’t stop in the city of Chongqing or the surrounding villages and countryside, they really miss out. The city ranks 11th in the world for the most skyscrapers and with two large rivers carving through the city and the surrounding mountains, it makes for a skyline to rival Hong Kong or Shanghai.