DOWN BUT NOT OUT

A forest of skyscrapers blocks the mountain views from both sides of the emerald Yangtze River that snakes through Chongqing, a second-tier city of more than 30 million people in central-western China. From here, throngs of tourists clamber aboard cruise ships headed for the Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest hydropower project and an undeniably awe-inspiring feat of humanity harnessing nature.

The dam, more than 600 kilometres away in neighbouring Hubei province, has done more than put Chongqing on the bucket lists of domestic sightseers. It also supplies the landlocked city with unlimited green energy and allows oceangoing ships to access its river port. The dam’s completion, improvements in road and rail connections to the rest of China and beyond, and government initiatives to spur growth in western and central China have all led to a flurry of direct foreign investment over the past 20 years.

At one point Chongqing was one of the fastest-growing