Chongqing became a municipality reporting directly to the central government in 1997. With a population of 30 million, it is large city. However 97% of Chongqing is rural with 24 million in the rural area. Chongqing has almost 10,000 factories. Its major strengths are steel and motorcycles. The auto industry produced 160,000 cars in 1997. In 1997 one-third of its 8,000 state-owned enterprises operated at a loss. Serious power shortages hamper the city during peak demands. When we lived there in 1988, the power went off at eight in the morning and didn't come back on until five in the afternoon. The Three-Gorges Dam project will relieve this when it comes on line in 2009. Chongqing is one of the "Three Furnaces" of China with temperatures over 100F in the summer. Acid rain, smoky humidity in the summer and persistent winter smog can make Chongqing an uncomfortable place to live. The Three Gorges project will slow the flow of the Yangzi and will increase the water pollution. Only 12.5% of waste is treated before discharge into the river.