As the second largest city in Chongqing, the area is known for zha cai, a hot pickled mustard tuber,[1] as well as serving as the location of former U.S. Peace Corps teacher Peter Hessler's best-selling memoir River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze.

The district spans an area of 2,941.46 square kilometres (1,135.70 sq mi),[2] and has a population of 1,115,016, per the 2020 Chinese Census.

[4] Following the State of Chu, the area was incorporated into the Qin dynasty as the Ba Commandery [zh].

[4] The area reorganized in 227 BCE, under the rule of King Zhaoxiang of Qin, as Zhi County [zh].

[4] Hanping County was subordinate to the Fuling Commandery [zh], whose capital was located in present-day Yushan [zh] in the nearby Pengshui Miao and Tujia Autonomous County, to the southeast of Fuling District.

[citation needed] In 1913, shortly after the establishment of the Republic of China, Fu Zhou was reorganized as Fuling County.

[4] On September 15, 1996, legislature passed by the State Council placed the prefecture-level city of Fuling under the administration of Chongqing.

Fuling District is located on the southeastern edge of the Sichuan Basin, between latitude 29°21' to 30°01' north, and longitude 106°56' to 107°43' east, covering an area of 2,941.46 square kilometres (1,135.70 sq mi).

[2] Fuling City is located at the confluence of the Wu River and the Yangtze, in the heart of the Three Gorges Reservoir Region.

[citation needed] Fuling District had a total gross domestic product (GDP) of 140.274 billion renminbi (RMB) as of 2021, an 8.7% increase from 2020.

[10] Historically, Fuling was primarily served by Yangtze river boats, as the development of ground transportation was slow, due to the difficult terrain.

The White Crane Ridge (Baiheliang), a rock outcrop on the Yangtze River, has been used as a hydrological station recording water levels since the Tang Dynasty.

With the flooding of the Yangtze as part of the Three Gorges Dam project, the White Crane Ridge Underwater Museum was opened in 2009 to protect the carvings and allow viewing by visitors under the new water level of the river.

[12] Fuling is well known for its Wu River brand zha cai pickled mustard tuber.

The Fuling Zhacai company is listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, and in 2021 celebrated selling 15 billion packets.

When imbibing large amounts of alcohol many people became so sick and they could not drink heavily all the time.

Therefore, according to Hessler, consumption of alcohol was not habitual but instead was a ritual, and therefore drinking patterns were "abusive with light consequences.