Wanzhou District

Wanzhou District

Wanzhou District (simplified Chinese: 万州区; traditional Chinese: 萬州區; pinyin: Wànzhōu Qū) is Chongqing's second most populated urban core area on the upper reaches of the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River in China. It is currently governed as a district of Chongqing Municipality, bordering Sichuan to the northwest and Hubei to the southeast. It was formerly known as Wanxian or Wan County (simplified Chinese: 万县; traditional Chinese: 萬縣; pinyin: Wànxiàn). Prior to Chongqing's formation as a direct-controlled municipality, Wanzhou was part of Sichuan province. The urban core of Wanzhou is 228 km (142 mi) away from Chongqing's city proper. The characters for "Wanzhou" mean "myriad-prefecture"; which is derived from the phrase "the place where myriad rivers converge and myriad traders gather" (万川毕汇、万商云集). Due to the construction of the Three Gorges Dam, 47% of Wanzhou's old urban area was submerged and had to be relocated. The district was part of Wanxian Prefecture (万县地区), then the prefectural Wanxian City (万县市). It was renamed to Wanzhou in late 1990s.