Tim Franco, a Paris-born photographer now based in Shanghai, has spent the past five-plus years documenting the intense change that urbanization has brought to the Chinese mega-city of Chongqing.
Until 1997, Chongqing was a neglected city in the poor Sichuan province. It is two hours by plane to any of China's richer and better-known cities like Beijing, Shanghai, or Shenzhen. It clambers for space between mountains and rivers—the massive Yangtze tears a winding path through the city—and for much of its history, the city was left alone because its geography meant trade with even the rest of China was difficult.
Since 1997, though, it has benefited from the government's elevation to the rank of "municipality," which means it enjoys special status among Chinese cities and extra investment opportunities.
