Wuhan

Meaning of the name
"Valiant Chinese" (a contraction of the names of the three cities of which it is a conglomerate: Wuchang, Hankou, and Hanyang)

Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, is an iron and steel city on the Yangtze. With a population of nearly four million, Wuhan is one of China's largest cities. It is actually a conglomeration of what were once three independent cities: Wuchang, on the south bank, Hanyang, and the former treaty port of Hankou on the north.

Wuchang was established during the Han Dynasty, became a regional capital under the Yuan and is now the seat of the provincial government. It used to be a walled city, but the walls have long since gone. Hankou, on the other hand, was barely more than a village until the Treaty of Nanjing opened it to foreign trade. There were five foreign concession areas in Hankou, all grouped around present-day Zhongshan Dadao. Later, with the Beijing-Wuhan railway in the 1920s, Hankou really began to expand and became a major industrial center in China.

Hanyang has been outstripped by neighboring Hankou and today is the smallest municipality. Its history can date back to 600 AD. During the second half of the 19th century it was developed for heavy industry. The plant for the manufacture of iron and steel which was built at Hanyang in 1891 was the first modern one in China. But the 1930s depression and the Japanese invasion totally ruined Hanyang's heavy industry and then the majority of the city switched to the light industry.

Attractions in Wuhan

Neighboring Areas: Anhui, Jiangxi, Hunan, Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Henan provinces

Population: 7.16 million

History
The three cities that make up Wuhan had separate histories until recently. Wuchang was founded by the 1st century AD, and was established as a regional capital under the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368).

Hankou was known since the Song dynasty (960-1279) as one of China's leading commercial centers. It was opened to foreign trade as a treaty port in 1861, becoming the center of the booming tea trade. The British, Russian, French, German, and Japanese all had Foreign Concessions here, and foreign nationals enjoyed an imported lifestyle similar to that of foreigners in Shanghai. In the 1911 revolution that overthrew the Qing dynasty, Hankou was burnt to the ground.

In 1937-38 the Guomindang set up their capital in Hankou, before being pushed out by the Japanese in a bloody battle.

At the initiative of a Qing dynasty official, the village of Hanyang became one of the first Chinese-developed factory towns in the 1890s.

After suffering from the depression of the 1930s and the Japanese occupation of 1938-45, heavy industry declined and light industry has since prevailed in Hanyang.

In 1911, the Republican Revolution broke out in the barracks at Wuchang, which led to the toppling of the last emperor of China. While helping to slowly build the Communist movement in China, Mao Zedong ran a Peasant Movement Institute in Wuchang in the late 1920s.

The Communist government conglomerated the three separate cities in 1950, and named the resulting city Wuhan. The Communists continued building Wuhan, until today it is the largest industrial and trading city in central China. It has an iron and steel works, research institutes for the study and control of the Yangzi River, and contains three new Special Economic Zones set up to attract foreign investment to central China.

At the start of the Cultural Revolution, in 1966, the official Chinese press reported that Chairman Mao Zedong (then age 73) swam across the Yangzi River at Wuhan. The story was intended to quash rumours that Mao was either gravely ill or dead.

Culture
A 2400 year-old tomb excavated at Wuhan contained many musical instruments, including a magnificent collection of bells. The musical instruments are now at the Hubei Provincial Museum in Wuhan, along with important collections of bronzes, lacquerware, jade and gold objects, calligraphy and paintings.

Food
Local specialties include steamed meat, grilled poultry, fried sliced pork kidney, and sweet soup with lotus seed and white fungus.

Folklore
Because of its hot summer weather, Wuhan is known as one of the 'Three Furnaces' of China, along with Nanjing and Chongqing. Wuhan is by far the hottest of the Three Furnaces; the average temperature in July is 37.2¡ãC, and the maximum often exceeds 40¡ãC.

The Lute Platform in Hanyang was where the legendary musician Yu Boya is said to have played. Yu Boya played for the last time over the grave of his friend Zhong Ziqi, then smashed his lute because the only person able to appreciate his music was dead.

Climate belongs to the subtropical humid monsoon climate; four seasons clearly demarcated; with cold and dry winters, hot and humid summers, plenty of sunshine; with the frost free period of 220-250 days; called as "the Stove"; one of the cities famous for its hot in China

Average Temperature: 16C

Mountains: the Dabieshan Mountains, the Guishan Mountain, Sheshan Mountain, the Luojia Mountain, Hongshan Mountain, the Cishan Mountain, Nanwangshan Mountain and the Moshan Mountain

Rivers: The Yangtze River, Hanshui River, Daoshui River, Sheshui River, Jushui River, the East Lake, the South Lake, Shahu Lake, Yuehu Lake and Moshui Lake