Hello,
it seems that pretty much all the obvious local spots in Chongqing focus on the (abhorrent) bombing by the Japanese during WW2. It certainly has shaped the city, with many air bunkers now in use as restaurants, etc.
But I would like to know what happened here in the decades and centuries before and there seems to be little obvious information for me to find. (I can speak basic mandarin but not read, hence finding the correct information is a bit difficult.) Can anyone here give me pointers for me to read up with?
Piggyback question: did Chongqing play any major role in the pre-Republican history of China? I only know Chengdu for example was the Capital of the Kingdom of Shu.
I'm afraid I'm more familiar with Japanese history and thus Chongqing's role during the war, but I'd recommend Li Danke's Echoes of Chongqing if you haven't read it. It's a collection of oral histories about the wartime years, but it does give an overview of Chongqing's prewar history, and many of the people interviewed talk about their lives before the war.