Chongqing, located in the southeastern part of the Sichuan Basin, where the Yangtze River and Jialing rivers meet, is the largest industrial and commercial city in southwestern China and the economic center of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. Since 1997, the city has become the fourth municipality, independent from Sichuan Province, to be under the direct control of the central government. The major port of the upper Yangtze River and gateway to the famous “Three Gorges,” the city is also a busy port , whose location, 2400km upstream from Shanghai at the meeting point between eastern river traffic and overland trade routes with Tibet and Burma, has given Chongqing an enviable commercial acumen.