Chongqing - Canadian musician Jon Steingard has been appointed a Chongqing Culture and Tourism Promotion Ambassador, following the debut performance of his original song "City of Light" at "A Concert Night in Chongqing on Nanbin Road" on Sept. 29.
The Chongqing Municipal Commission of Culture and Tourism Development presented Steingard with the certificate at the riverside event, where he performed the track written specifically for the southwestern Chinese metropolis. He is now filming the accompanying music video on location across the city.
Steingard is best known as the voice behind the viral hit "Sold Out," and the performer of "Wildfire," a track featured in the hit game Honkai: Star Rail. His music has accumulated more than 5 billion streams worldwide.
A Song Written Before Ever Setting Foot in the City
What makes the project unusual is that Steingard wrote the song without ever having visited Chongqing.
"I had never been to Chongqing, but I kept seeing videos of this magical city, and I thought, this place has to have a song," he said. His image of the city, rail lines threading through a vertical skyline, riverside teahouses, and lights cascading down the hills at night, became the texture of the melody.
Steingard was determined to avoid the trap of writing what he called a "jingle or an advertisement." He explained: "You can feel when a song is about something that someone actually cares about. I wanted it to feel like a real song made by someone passionate about a place."
From "Cloud Discovery" to First Visit
The song, written in a single day and produced the next, has resonated widely since its release. On TikTok, it has surpassed 9 million views, with many overseas listeners adding Chongqing to their travel wish lists. In China, related hashtags climbed to No. 1 and No. 2 on Douyin's Chongqing list and No. 13 on the national hot list, with total online topic exposure exceeding 30 million.
The accompanying music video, produced by the Western China International Communication Organization, pairs Steingard's song with scenes from across Chongqing, the two rivers, the city's distinctive rail transit, neon-lit streets, and the layered nightscape that inspired the lyrics. Footage will also be adapted into a series of short videos focused on rail, bridges, hotpot, and Sichuan opera for overseas social platforms.
Now that he is finally in Chongqing, Steingard said the bridges have struck him most. "I also love what a bridge represents, connecting things that were separated before," he said. "That's an idea that's rolling around in my mind now."
Chongqing is home to more than 20,000 bridges, including over 100 major crossings of the Yangtze and Jialing rivers, earning it the official designation "The One and Only Capital of Bridges in China" from the Mao Yisheng Bridge Committee in 2005.
Riding a Wave of Inbound Tourism Growth
Steingard's journey from writing from afar to filming on location reflects Chongqing's broader rise as an inbound tourism destination. From January to September 2026, Chongqing ranked sixth among city destinations in China for inbound visitor arrivals, with inbound visitors up 74% year-on-year and tourism spending up 82%, according to Ctrip data.
Southeast Asian markets such as Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia continued to grow steadily, while European and North American markets, including Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, the U.K., France, and Germany, all saw year-on-year increases exceeding 100%. Russia grew more than fivefold, becoming Chongqing's second-largest source market.
In the first half of 2026 alone, Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport handled over 1.48 million international and regional passenger trips, up 40% year-on-year, the fastest growth among China's top 10 airports. Foreign passenger entries and exits surged 86% to over 610,000.
Looking Ahead
Steingard will return to Chongqing on Dec. 10 as part of his "Wo Shi" China tour, performing at YinPai Power livehouse, his first concert in the city that inspired the song.
Officials said Chongqing will continue exploring "music + tourism" and "events + tourism" promotion models, inviting more overseas musicians, sports stars, and internet influencers to create content inspired by the city.
"It's really fun to be on the leading edge of getting to introduce more people to China in general, and also Chongqing specifically," Steingard said. "Every time I've taken those steps outside my own background and culture, I feel like it's made my life richer."