How did Chongqing’s population change after it became China’s wartime capital?

After Chongqing became the wartime capital of the Nationalist government in 1938, its population experienced a dramatic increase. The city’s population grew from a prewar total of fewer than 250,000 to more than 1,000,000 people.12

This rapid growth was driven by an influx of government workers, factory personnel, and refugees fleeing Japanese-occupied coastal provinces. The arrival of these groups, along with the relocation of government offices, diplomatic missions, factories, and schools, transformed Chongqing from a parochial city into a more cosmopolitan center. While the population saw a temporary decrease in the late 1940s as people returned to the coastal provinces following the war, the wartime period fundamentally altered the city's demographic scale.12