Our Yangtze Three Gorges River Cruise ended this morning in Chongqing, the upriver destination port of our ship. Situated in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River - at the confluence of Yangtze and Jialing Rivers, in Southwest China, Chongqing is a port city with the largest area and population in China. It has an area of 82,400 square kilometers (31, 800 square miles) and shares borders with the provinces of Hubei, Hunan, Guizhou, Sichuan and Shaanxi. Beside the Han people who form the majority of its total population of 30.9 million, there are numerous ethnic groups residing in Chongqing, such as Yi, Tibetan, Miao, Qiang, You and Tujia.

It is a huge commercial city and we only spent a little while there since we had to motor to Chengdu in the afternoon. We visited a huge farmer’s market and a small museum in honor of the American General Joseph W. Stilwell.

General Joseph Warren Stilwell was chief commander of US forces in the China-Burma-India Theatre during World War II. In 1942, ranked as a major general, he was dispatched to CBI and was regarded as the best field commander in the entire United States Army. General Stilwell was a true friend of the Chinese people as well as a Chinese linguist. He is one of the few, if not the only American honored by the Chinese Government.