Qianjiang District

Thought I'd take some time while we wait to give some details about Chloe's home for the last seven months. She's currently living in the Qianjiang District Social Welfare Institute (Qianjiang District Orphanage). The orphanage resides in the Qianjiang District of Chongqing, China. Scroll down to the pink map of China on the right bar of this blog for the location of Chongqing. The map below shows the location of the district. Chongqing municipality is roughly the size of Austria and has a population over 33 million. Qianjiang is a semi urban area located on its eastern border with a population of about 500,000. The climate is semi-tropical with an average annual temperature of 64 degrees. Summers can be very hot, as high as 109 degrees. Yes, folks, that's HOT! Chongqing has one of the lowest sunshine totals annually in China. That means our rain coat will be our friend. It is said that spring and fall are the best times to visit... Yeah!

The entire area resides on a plateau that is rather hilly. It's one of the only places in china where bicycles are not used. We will be staying in Chongqing proper, a major westernized metropolitan area, several hours away from Chloe's orphanage. The orphanage staff will need to take this long trip through the mountains with our group's children to deliver them to us.

Qianjiang is called "The Throat of Sichuan and Hubei" because it sits on the intersection of Sichuan and Hubei provinces. (Chongqing is actually a municipality within the Sichuan province.) If you're a fan of the Food Network, you may have heard a lot of Sichuan cuisine. Of the eight major schools of China's culinary art, Sichuan cuisine is perhaps the most popular. Sichuan has a reputation for being spicy and flavorful, using many hot peppers. I've been told that if you're an authentic Chinese food fan, this is the best place to visit.