Erfurt vs Chongqing

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Erfurt ( AIR-furt, AIR-foort; German pronunciation: [ˈɛʁfʊʁt] (listen)) is the capital and largest city in the state of Thuringia, central Germany. It is located in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, within the wide valley of the Gera river. It is located 100 km (62 mi) south-west of Leipzig, 300 km (186 mi) south-west of Berlin, 400 km (249 mi) north of Munich and 250 km (155 mi) north-east of Frankfurt. Together with a string of neighbouring cities Gotha, Weimar, Jena and others, Erfurt forms the central metropolitan corridor of Thuringia called Thüringer Städtekette (German "Thuringian city chain") with over 500,000 inhabitants. Erfurt's old town is one of the best preserved medieval city centres in Germany. Tourist attractions include the Krämerbrücke (Merchants' bridge), the Old Synagogue, the ensemble of Erfurt Cathedral and Severikirche (St Severus's Church) and Petersberg Citadel, one of the largest and best preserved town fortresses in Europe. The city's economy is based on agriculture, horticulture and microelectronics. Its central location has led to it becoming a logistics hub for Germany and central Europe. Erfurt hosts the second-largest trade fair in eastern Germany (after Leipzig) as well as the public television children's channel KiKa.

The city is situated on the Via Regia, a medieval trade and pilgrims' road network. Modern day Erfurt is also a hub for ICE high speed trains and other German and European transport networks. Erfurt was first mentioned in 742, as Saint Boniface founded the diocese. Although the town did not belong to any of the Thuringian states politically, it quickly became the economic centre of the region and it was a member of the Hanseatic League. It was part of the Electorate of Mainz during the Holy Roman Empire, and later became part of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1802. From 1949 until 1990 Erfurt was part of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). The University of Erfurt was founded in 1379, making it the first university to be established within the geographic area which constitutes modern-day Germany. It closed in 1816 and was re-established in 1994, with the main modern campus on what was a teachers' training college. Martin Luther (1483–1546) was its most famous student, studying there from 1501 before entering St Augustine's Monastery in 1505. Other noted Erfurters include the medieval philosopher and mystic Meister Eckhart (c. 1260–1328), the Baroque composer Johann Pachelbel (1653–1706) and the sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920).

Source: Wikipedia

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Chongqing (Sichuanese pronunciation: [tsʰoŋ˨˩tɕʰin˨˩˦], Standard Mandarin pronunciation: [ʈʂʰʊ̌ŋ.tɕʰîŋ] (listen), UK: , US: ,), alternately romanized as Chungking, is a megacity in southwest China. Administratively, it is one of the four municipalities under the direct administration of central government of the People's Republic of China (the other three are Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin), and the only such municipality located far away from the coast. The municipality of Chongqing, which is around the size of Austria, includes the city of Chongqing and various non-connected cities. As the Chongqing municipality government directly administers the city of Chongqing, as well as rural counties, and other cities not connected to the city of Chongqing, Chongqing municipality can technically claim to be the largest city proper in the world, even though this is due to a classification technicality and not because it is actually the world's largest urban area. This title belongs to the Guangzhou-Shenzhen Pearl River Delta agglomeration. Chongqing was a municipality during the Republic of China (ROC) administration, within the Sichuan Province. It served as its wartime capital during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945), being one of the world's anti-fascist command centers. The current municipality was separated from Sichuan province on 14 March 1997 to help develop the central and western parts of China.

The Chongqing administrative municipality has a population of over 30 million. The city of Chongqing, comprising 9 urban and suburban districts, has a population of 8,750,000 as of 2018. According to the 2010 census, Chongqing is the most populous Chinese municipality, and also the largest direct-controlled municipality in China, containing 26 districts, eight counties, and four autonomous counties. The official abbreviation of the city, "Yú" (渝), was approved by the State Council on 18 April 1997. This abbreviation is derived from the old name of a part of the Jialing River that runs through Chongqing and feeds into the Yangtze River. Chongqing has a significant history and culture. Being one of China's National Central Cities, it serves as the economic centre of the Sichuan Basin and the upstream Yangtze. It is a major manufacturing centre and transportation hub; a July 2012 report by the Economist Intelligence Unit described it as one of China's "13 emerging megalopolises". Chongqing is ranked as a Beta global city. Chongqing is also one of the top 100 science cities in the world by scientific research as tracked by the Nature Index according to the Nature Index 2020 Science Cities and home to several notable universities, including Chongqing University and Southwest University.

Source: Wikipedia