Wanzhou

Wanzhou is the largest district outside Chongqing's urban core, a Yangtze River port city about 270 kilometers northeast of downtown Chongqing on the edge of the Three Gorges. Its population has grown rapidly to around 1.6 million as it absorbed relocated residents after the Three Gorges Dam submerged nearly half of its historic old town, and it now anchors the regional economy of northeastern Chongqing with manufacturing, logistics, and Yangtze River shipping. Chongqing Three Gorges University, the district's main institution of higher learning, trains thousands of students and reflects Wanzhou's role as an educational and administrative hub for the wider Three Gorges reservoir area. The city is best known nationwide for Wanzhou kaoyu, a whole grilled fish smothered in chili and Sichuan pepper that has spread to restaurants across China, alongside dishes like zhajiangmian noodles and bamboo-steamed gege. Visitors come for the thundering Wanzhou Waterfall Group, said to be among Asia's largest single-curtain falls, as well as the cliffside inscriptions of Taibai Rock Park and the ancient hilltop stronghold of Tianzi Fortress. Wanzhou Wuqiao Airport and Wanzhou North high-speed railway station connect the district to Chongqing, Chengdu, and beyond.