If the number of bicycles on the streets is an indicator to the prosperity of a mainland city, Chongqing would be second to none.
The city, one of four municipalities directly under the central government's administration, has fewer bicycles than Beijing, Shanghai or Tianjin , but lags behind on other economic indicators.
Gross domestic product last year grew to 411 billion yuan (HK$465.44 billion) - up 15.6 per cent. That was higher than its sister cities but from a smaller base, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
It followed Tianjin's GDP, which jumped 15.1 per cent to 501 billion yuan. Beijing's GDP was 900 billion yuan and Shanghai's 1.2 trillion yuan.
'The Economist once touted Chongqing as China's Chicago because of its geographic niche - at the upper Yangtze River, which serves as a very important water and land gateway to the western parts of the country,' said Li Shirong , deputy director of the Chongqing Foreign Trade and Economic Relations Commission.
'From agricultural products to motor vehicle production, from land resources to labour supply, we meet the requirement of many investors.'
Despite the city's optimism, it is battling for foreign investment with neighbours such as Wuhan in Hubei and Changsha in Hunan .