Well if one knows a little bit of Chinese culture/history, Chongqing was never traditionally mentioned as the place for beautiful women. I think the fame of beautiful women coming from Chongqing is a recent (historically) event that may be traced to the time when the KMT (governing party of China before 1949) had to move the national capital from Nanjing in 1937 away from the invading Japanese incursion to the temporary site, Chongqing until the war's end at 1945.
You can imagine who went to Chongqing and the rest of Sichuan. These people came from all over China including HK, fleeing from the Japanese invaders. They were all the government officials, wealthy elites, business elites, cultural elites, and academic elites and entourage. What did most of these elites (mostly male) like to do....?
They liked to visit salons and brothels and keep mistresses and concubines. When I was growing up I heard stories about how my uncles and grandfather would meet up in the high-end brothels (like today's hostess ktvs) or nightclubs to network and do business in the company of beautiful women. It was considered normal and not immoral.
So I can only surmise that these elites naturally brought along their beautiful women (dancing girls, glamorous singers, mistresses, concubines, high-end hookers, hostesses, etc) and their women's entourage (female assistants, beauticians, spa ladies, maids, cooks, etc) from Canton, Shanghai, Peking, Suzhou, Nanjing, Hong Kong, and other rich neighborhoods to the temporary wartime capital of Chongqing to keep them company as they wait for the war's end so they can go home.
When the communists took over in 1949, many people could not get out of China especially somewhere like Sichuan which is landlocked. Many of the wealthy left because they had the means and money but of of course they couldn't take their mistresses or the rest of the night girls as I can imagine the no. 1 wife objecting. So these women who followed the money and men to Chongqing couldn't leave and had to stay there raise families that had those beautiful babies that grew up to be the women you see now.
In conclusion, it is a combination of an artificial concentration of the genetics of the most beautiful women from all over of China, great weather, clean water, and spicy food that makes that Chongqing beauty.
On a side note, the same is sometimes said about Singapore. Singapore has many attractive women because it is said that most of the original Chinese female settlers of Singapore came from the night trade, ie prostitution, dancing girls, night club, etc. to entertain the many Chinese male labourers in the 19th century and early 20th century.
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Last edited by doghead at 20-10-2010 15:16 ]