Chongqing (simplified Chinese: 重庆; traditional Chinese: 重慶; Chinese Postal Map Romanization: Chungking) is a major city in Southwest China and one of the five national central cities of China. Administratively, it is one of the PRC's four direct-controlled municipalities (the other three are Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin), and the only such municipality in inland China.

The municipality was created on 14 March 1997, succeeding the sub-provincial city administration that was part of Sichuan Province. As of November 2010, the municipality had a population of 28,846,200. It has jurisdiction over 19 districts, 15 counties, and 4 autonomous counties. With an area of 82,401 km² (31,800 mi²), it is the largest direct-controlled municipality, larger even than one province and an autonomous region, as well as Taiwan. It is possibly the world's largest municipality by population and one of the largest by area.