Wuhan 武汉
—  Sub-provincial city  —
武汉市
From top: Wuhan and the Yangtze River, Yellow Crane Tower, Wuhan Custom House, and Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge
Wuhan City in Hubei
Wuhan Location in China
Coordinates: 30°35′N 114°17′E / 30.583°N 114.283°E / 30.583; 114.283Coordinates: 30°35′N 114°17′E / 30.583°N 114.283°E / 30.583; 114.283
Country	People's Republic of China
Province	Hubei
County-level divisions	13
Township divisions	153
Settled	223 BC
Government
• CPC Wuhan	Ruan Chengfa (阮成发)
• Mayor	Tang Liangzhi (唐良智)
Area[1]
• Total	8,494.41 km2 (3,279.71 sq mi)
Population (2011)[2]
• Total	10,020,000
• Density	1,200/km2 (3,100/sq mi)
Time zone	China Standard (UTC+8)
Postal code	430000 – 430400
Area code(s)	+86/27
GDP[3]	2010
- Total	CNY 556.593 billion USD 82.23 billion (13th)
- Per capita	CNY 56,898 USD 8,405 (44th)
- Growth	14.7%
License plate prefixes	鄂A 鄂O (police and authorities)
Website	http://www.wuhan.gov.cn
City trees: metasequoia;City flowers: plum blossom [citation needed]

Wuhan (simplified Chinese: 武汉; traditional Chinese: 武漢; pinyin: Wǔhàn [wùxân] ( listen)) is the capital of Hubei province, People's Republic of China, and is the most populous city in Central China. It lies at the east of the Jianghan Plain, and the intersection of the middle reaches of the Yangtze and Han rivers. Arising out of the conglomeration of three districts, Wuchang, Hankou, and Hanyang, Wuhan is known as "the nine provinces' leading thoroughfare"; it is a major transportation hub, with dozens of railways, roads and expressways passing through the city. Because of its key role in domestic transportation, Wuhan was sometimes referred to as the "Chicago of China."^[4][5] It is recognized as the political, economic, financial, cultural, educational and transportation center of central China. The city of Wuhan, first termed as such in 1927, has a population of 10,020,000 people (Census 2011)^[2], with about 6,434,373 residents in its urban area. In the 1920s, Wuhan was the national capital of a leftist Kuomintang (KMT) government led by Wang Jingwei in opposition to Chiang Kai-shek, as well as wartime capital in 1937.

History[link]

With a 3,500-year-long history, Wuhan is one of the most ancient and civilized Metropolitan Cities in China, more ancient than Beijing, Xi'an and Nanjing. During the Han Dynasty, Hanyang became a fairly busy port. In the 3rd century AD one of the most famous battles in Chinese history and a central event in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms—the Battle of Red Cliffs—took place in the vicinity of the cliffs near Wuhan. Around that time, walls were built to protect Hanyang (AD 206) and Wuchang (AD 223). The latter event marks the foundation of Wuhan. In AD 223, the Yellow Crane Tower (黄鹤楼) was constructed on the Wuchang side of the Yangtze River. Cui Hao, a celebrated poet of Tang Dynasty, visited the building in the early 8th century; his poem made the building the most celebrated building in southern China. The city has long been renowned as a center for the arts (especially poetry) and for intellectual studies. Under the Mongol rulers (Yuan Dynasty), Wuchang was promoted to the status of provincial capital, and by the dawn of the 18th century, Hankou had become one of China's top four most important towns of trade.

Wuhan Custom House, opened in 1862

In the late 19th century railroads were extended on a north-south axis through the city, making Wuhan an important transshipment point between rail and river traffic. Also during this time period foreign powers extracted mercantile concessions, with the riverfront of Hankou being divided up into various foreign controlled merchant districts. These districts contained trading firm offices, warehouses, and docking facilities.

In 1911, Sun Yat-sen's followers launched the Wuchang Uprising that led to the collapse of the Qing Dynasty and the establishment of the Republic of China. Wuhan was the capital of a leftist Kuomintang government led by Wang Jingwei, in opposition to Chiang Kai-shek during the 1920s.

In 1938, Wuhan and the surrounding region was the site of the Battle of Wuhan, a major conflict in the Second Sino-Japanese War. After being taken by the Japanese in 1938, Wuhan became a major Japanese logistics center for operations in southern China. In December 1944, the city was largely destroyed by U.S. firebombing raids conducted by the Fourteenth Air Force. In 1967, civil strife struck the city in the Wuhan Incident as a result of tensions arising out of by the Cultural Revolution.

The city has been subject to numerous devastating floods, which are supposed to be controlled by the ambitious Three Gorges Dam, a project which was completed in 2008.

Opening Hankou as a trading port[link]

During the Second Opium War (known in the West as the Arrow War, 1856–1860), the Government of Qing Dynasty was defeated by the western powers and signed the Treaties of Tianjin and the Convention of Peking, which stipulated eleven cities or regions (including Hankou) as trading ports. In December 1858, James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin, High Commissioner to China, led four warships up the Yangtze River in Wuhan to collect the information needed for opening the trading port in Wuhan. And in the spring of 1861, Counselor Harry Parkes and Admiral Herbert were sent to Wuhan to open a trading port. On the basis of the Convention of Peking, Harry Parkes concluded the Hankou Lend-Lease Treaty with Guan Wen, the governor-general of Hunan and Hubei. It brought an area of 30.53 square kilometres (11.79 sq mi) along the Yangtze River (from Jianghan Road to Hezuo Road today) to become a British Concession and permitted Britain to set up their consulate in the British Concession. Thus, Hankou became an open trading port.

Hubei under Zhang Zhidong[link]

In the fifteenth year of Guangxu Period (1889) of the Qing Dynasty, Zhang Zhidong was transferred from Guangdong to be the governor-general of Hunan and Hubei. By 1906, he had governed Hubei for 17 years. During this period, he elucidated the theory of “Chinese learning as the basis, Western learning for application,” known as the ti-yong ideal. He set up many heavy industries, founded Hanyang Steel Plant, Daye Iron Mine, Pingxiang Coal Mine and Hubei Arsenal and set up local textile industries, boosting the flourishing modern industry in Wuhan. Meanwhile, he initiated educational reform, opened dozens of modern educational organizations successively, such as Lianghu (Hunan and Hubei) Academy of Classical Learning, Civil General Institute, Military General Institute, Foreign Languages Institute and Lianghu (Hunan and Hubei) General Normal School, and selected a great many students for study overseas, which well promoted the development of China’s modern education. Furthermore, he trained modern military and organized a modern army including a zhen and a xie (both zhen and xie are military units in the Qing Dynasty) in Hubei. All of these laid a solid foundation for the modernization of Wuhan.

Yellow Crane Tower

Wuchang Uprising[link]

The Wuchang Uprising of October 1911, which overthrew the Qing Dynasty, originated in Wuhan. Prior to the uprising, anti-Qing secret societies were active in Wuhan. In September 1911, the outbreak of the protests in Sichuan forced the Qing authorities to send part of the New Army garrisoned in Wuhan to suppress the rebellion. On September 14 the Literature Society and Gongjinhui, two revolutionary organizations in Hubei, set up joint headquarters in Wuchang and planned for an uprising. On the morning of October 9, a bomb at the office of the political arrangement exploded prematurely and alerted local authorities. The proclamation for the uprising, beadroll and the revolutionaries’ official seal fell into the hands of Rui Cheng, the governor-general of Hunan and Hubei, who demolished the uprising headquarters the same day, and set out to arrest the revolutionaries listed in the beadroll. This forced the revolutionaries to launch the uprising earlier than planned.

On the night of 10th, the revolutionaries fired shots to signal the uprising at the engineering barracks of Hubei New Army, and then led on the New Army of all barracks to join the revolution. Under the guidance of Wu Zhaolin, Cai Jimin and others, this revolutionary army seized the official residence of the governor and government offices. Rui Cheng fled in panic into the Chu-Yu Ship, and Zhang Biao, the commander of Qing army, also fled the city. On the morning of 11th, the revolutionary army took the whole city of Wuchang, but leaders such as Jiang Yiwu and Sun Wu disappeared., thus the acephalous revolutionary army recommended Li Yuanhong, the assistant governor of Qing army, as the commander-in-chief. Li founded the Hubei Military Government, proclaimed the abolition of the Qing rule in Hubei, the founding of the Republic of China and published an open telegram calling for other provinces to join the revolution. In the next two months, fourteen other provinces would declare their independence from the Qing government.

As the revolution spread to other parts of the country, the Qing government concentrated loyalist military forces to suppress the uprising in Wuhan. From October 17 to December 1, the revolutionary army and local volunteers defended the city in the Battle of Yangxia against better armed and more numerous Qing forces commanded by Yuan Shikai. After fierce fighting and heavy casualties, Qing forces seized both Hankou and Hanyang, but Yuan agreed to halt the advance on Wuchang and participated in peace talks, which would eventually lead to the return of Sun Yat-sen from exile, founding of the Republic of China on January 1, 1912, the abdication of the Last Emperor on February 12, and the formation of a united provisional government in the spring of 1912. Through the Wuchang Uprising, Wuhan is known as the birthplace of the Xinhai Revolution, named after the Xinhai year on the Chinese calendar. The city has several museums and memorials to the revolution and the thousands of martyrs who died defending the revolution.

National government moved its capital to Wuhan[link]

In 1926, with the north extension of Northern Expedition, the center of Great Revolution shifted from the Pearl River basin to the Yangtze River basin. On November 26, the KMT Central Political Committee decided to move the capital to Wuhan. In middle December, most of the KMT central executive commissioners and National Government commissioners arrived in Wuhan, set up the temporary joint conference of central executive commissioners and National Government commissioners, performed the top functions of central party headquarters and National Government, and declared they would work in Wuhan on January 1, 1927 and decided to combined the three towns of Wuchang, Hankou, and Hanyang into Wuhan City, called “Capital District”. The National Government was located in the Nanyang Building in Hankou, while the central party headquarters and other organizations chose their locations in Hankou or Wuchang.

Battle of Wuhan[link]

In early October 1938, Japanese aggressors moved east and north respectively upon outskirts of Wuhan. As a result, numerous companies and enterprises and large amounts people had to withdraw from Wuhan to the west of Hubei and Sichuan. The KMT navy undertook the responsibility of defending the Yangtze River on patrol and covering the withdrawal. On October 24, while overseeing the waters of the Yangtze River near the town of Jinkou (Jiangxia District in Wuhan) in Wuchang, the KMT warship Zhongshan came up against six Japanese planes. The planes took turns to dive, strafe and bomb the ship. Though two planes were eventually shot down, the Zhongshan warship sank down due to serious damage with 25 casualties.

Completion and opening-to-traffic of the First Yangtze River Bridge[link]

The project of building the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, also known as the First Yangtze River Bridge, was regarded as one of the key projects during the period of the first five-year plan. The Engineering Bureau of the First Yangtze River Bridge, set up by the Ministry of Railway in April 1953, was responsible for the design and construction of the bridge. The document “Resolutions on Building the First Yangtze River Bridge” was passed in the 203rd conference of State Council on January 15, 1954. The technical conference on the routes of the bridge, was held in Hankou on January 15, 1955, determined that the route from Tortoise Hill to Snake Hill was the best choice. On October 25, the bridge proper was under construction. The same day in 1957 the whole project was completed and an opening-to-traffic ceremony was held on October 15. The whole bridge was 1,670 m (5,479.00 ft) long, of which the superstratum was a highway with a width of 22.5 m (73.82 ft) and the substratum was a double-line railway with a width of 18 m (59.06 ft). The bridge proper was 1,156 m (3,792.65 ft) long with two pairs of eight piers and nine arches with a space of 128 m (419.95 ft) between each arch. Thanks to the First Yangtze River Bridge, Beijing-Wuhan and Guangdong-Wuhan railways were available and any place could be reached from Wuchang, Hankou to Hanyang. Thus Wuhan was a thoroughfare to nine provinces not only in reality but in name as well.

Geography[link]

Looking west from the Yellow Crane Tower in Wuchang. The First Bridge over the Yangtze, and the Tortoise Hill in Hanyang, with its TV tower, are in the background

Wuhan is situated in the middle of Hubei province, 113°41′-115°05′ East, 29°58′-31°22′ North, east of the Jianghan Plain, and the confluence of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and Hanshui River.

The metropolitan area comprises three parts – Wuchang, Hankou, and Hanyang, commonly called the "Three Towns of Wuhan" (hence the name "Wuhan", combining "Wu" from the first city and "Han" from the other two). The consolidation of these three cities occurred in 1927 and Wuhan was thereby established. These three parts face each other across the rivers and are linked by bridges, including one of the first modern bridges in China, known as the "First Bridge". It is simple in geographical structure – low and flat in the middle and hilly in the south, with the Yangtze and Han rivers winding through the city. Wuhan occupies a land area of 8,494.41 square kilometres (3,279.71 sq mi), most of which is plain and decorated with hills and a great number of lakes and pools.

Climate[link]

Wuhan's climate is humid subtropical (Koppen Cfa) with abundant rainfall and four distinctive seasons. Wuhan is known for its oppressively humid summers, when dewpoints can often reach 26 °C (79 °F) or more.^[7] Because of its hot summer weather, Wuhan is commonly known as one of the Three Furnaces of China, along with Nanjing and Chongqing. Spring and autumn are generally mild, while winter is cool with occasional snow. In the recent thirty years, the average annual rainfall is 1269 mm, mainly from June to August; annual temperature is 15.8℃-17.5℃, annual frost free period lasts 211 to 272 days and annual sunlight duration is 1810 to 2100 hours. Extreme temperatures have ranged from −18.1 °C (−1 °F) to 42.0 °C (108 °F).

Administrative divisions[link]

The sub-provincial city of Wuhan has direct jurisdiction over 13 districts (区 qu):

Map	Name	Hanzi	Hanyu Pinyin	Population (2010 census)[8]	Area (km²)[1]	Density (/km²)
	Central Districts			6,434,373	888.42	7,242
	■ Jiang'an District	江岸区	Jiāng'àn Qū	895,635	64.24	13,942
	■ Jianghan District	江汉区	Jiānghàn Qū	683,492	33.43	20,445
	■ Qiaokou District	硚口区	Qiáokǒu Qū	828,644	46.39	17,863
	■ Hanyang District	汉阳区	Hànyáng Qū	792,183[9]	108.34	7,312
	■ Wuchang District	武昌区	Wǔchāng Qū	1,199,127	87.42	13,717
	■ Qingshan District	青山区	Qīngshān Qū	485,375	68.40	7,096
	■ Hongshan District	洪山区	Hóngshān Qū	1,549,917[10]	480.20	3,228
	Suburban and Rural Districts			3,346,271	7,605.99	440
	■ Dongxihu District	东西湖区	Dōngxīhú Qū	451,880	439.19	1,029
	■ Hannan District	汉南区	Hànnán Qū	114,970	287.70	400
	■ Caidian District	蔡甸区	Càidiàn Qū	410,888	1,108.10	371
	■ Jiangxia District	江夏区	Jiāngxià Qū	644,835	2,010.00	321
	■ Huangpi District	黄陂区	Huángpí Qū	874,938	2,261.00	387
	■ Xinzhou District	新洲区	Xīnzhōu Qū	848,760	1,500.00	566
	Water Region (水上地区)			4,748	-	-
	Total			9,785,392	8,494.41	1,152

Transportation[link]

The First Bridge at Wuhan. This view is upstream, toward the distant Three Gorges and Chongqing

Bridges[link]

Wuhan has six bridges and one tunnel across the Yangtze River. The Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, also called the First Bridge, was built over the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang) in 1957, carrying the railroad directly across the river between Snake Hill (on the left in the picture below) and Turtle Hill. Before this bridge was built it could take up to an entire day to barge railcars across. Including its approaches, it is 5,511 feet (1680 m) long, and it accommodates both a double-track railway on a lower deck and a four lane roadway above. It was built with the assistance of advisers from the Soviet Union.

The Second Bridge, a cable-stayed bridge, built of pre-stressed concrete, has a central span of 400 meters; it is 4,678 meters in length (including 1,877 meters of the main bridge) and 26.5 to 33.5 meters in width. Its main bridgeheads are 90 meters high each, pulling 392 thick slanting cables together in the shape of double fans, so that the central span of the bridge is well poised on the piers and the bridge's stability and vibration resistance are ensured. With six lanes on the deck, the bridge is designed to handle 50,000 motor vehicles passing every day. The bridge was completed in 1995.^{[citation needed]}

Second bridge

The Third Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge was completed in September 2000. Located 8.6 kilometers southwest of the First Bridge, construction of Baishazhou Bridge started in 1997. With an investment of over 1.4 billion yuan (about 170 million U.S. dollars), the bridge, which is 3,586 meters long and 26.5 meters wide, has six lanes and has a capacity of 50,000 vehicles a day. The bridge is expected to serve as a major passage for the future Wuhan Ring Road, enormously easing the city's traffic and aiding local economic development.

The Yangluo Bridge carries Wuhan's Ring Road across the Yangtze in the city's eastern suburbs (connecting the Hongshan District with the Xinzhou District). It was opened on December 26, 2007.

The Wuhan Tianxingzhou Yangtze River Bridge crosses the Yangtze in the northeastern part of the city, downstream of the Second bridge. Its name is due to the Tianxing Island (Tianxingzhou), above which it crosses the river. Built at the cost of 11 billion yuan, the 4,657-meter cable suspension bridge was opened on December 26, 2009,^[11] in time for the opening of the Wuhan Railway Station. It is a combined road and rail bridge, and carries the Wuhan–Guangzhou High-Speed Railway across the river.

Railways[link]

Until the late 2009, the city proper in Wuhan was served by two major railway stations, namely the Hankou Railway Station in Hankou and the Wuchang Railway Station in Wuchang. As a result, the railway system in China actually did not have a unique designation for the name "Wuhan", and trains heading to Wuhan are marked with the respective borough's station name, and not the city's.

The (original) Hankou Station was the terminus for the Jinghan Railway from Beijing, while the Wuchang Station was the terminus for the Yuehan Railway to Guangzhou. But since the construction of the First Yangtze Bridge and the linking of the two lines into the Jingguang Railway, both Hankou and Wuchang stations have been served by trains going to all directions, which contrasts with the situation in such cities as New York or Moscow, where different stations serve different directions.

With the opening of the Hefei-Wuhan high-speed railway on April 1, 2009,^[12] Wuhan became served by high-speed trains with Hefei, Nanjing, and Shanghai; several trains a day now connect the city with Shanghai, getting there in under 6 hours. As of the early 2010, most of these express trains leave from the Hankou Railway Station.

The new Wuhan Railway Station, opened in 2009

In 2006, construction began on the new Wuhan Railway Station with 11 platforms, located on the northeastern outskirts of the city. In December 2009, the station was opened, as China unveiled its second high-speed train with scheduled runs from Guangzhou to Wuhan. Billed as the fastest train in the world, it can reach a speed of 394 km/h (244.82 mph). The travel time between the two cities has been reduced from ten and a half hours to just three. Eventually, the rail service will extend north to Beijing.^[13]

As of 2011, the new Wuhan Railway Station is primarily used by the Wuhan-Guangzhou high-speed trains, while most regular trains to other destinations continue to use the Hankou and Wuchang stations.

Public transit[link]

When Wuhan Metro opened in September 2004, Wuhan became the fifth Chinese city with a metro system (after Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Guangzhou).^[14] The first 10.2 kilometres (6.3 mi)-long line (10 stations) is an elevated rail (and therefore called 'light rail' in Chinese terminology). It runs from Huangpu to Zongguan in the downtown area of the Hankou District, and it is the first one in the country to use a communication-based train control system (a Moving Block signalling system, provided by Alcatel). The designed minimum interval is only 90 seconds between two trains and it features driverless operation.^[14] Phase 2 of this line will extend the length to 28.8 km (17.90 mi) with 26 stations in total. It plans to start revenue service on July 28, 2010.^[15]

Air[link]

Opened in April 1995, Wuhan Tianhe International Airport is one of the busiest airports in central China and it is located 26 kilometres (16 mi) north of Wuhan. It has also been selected as China's fourth international hub airport after Beijing Capital International Airport, Shanghai-Pudong and Guangzhou Baiyun. A second terminal was completed in March 2008, having been started in February 2005 with an investment of CNY 3.372 billion.

Highway[link]

• China National Highway 318

Tourist sites[link]

Replica instruments of ancient originals are played at the Hubei Provincial Museum. A replica set of bronze concert bells is in the background and a set of stone chimes is to the right

• Wuchang has the largest lake within a city in China, the East Lake, as well as the South Lake. The east lake in Wuhan is 6 times the size of the west lake in Hangzhou. The total area is more than 80 square kilometres of which the lake is covering an area of 33 square kilometres. In the spring time the shores of East Lake became a garden of flowers with the Mei blossoms as the king and the Cherry Blossom as the queen among the species. Another famous flower is the lotus. The lake has a long history and especially the Chu Kingdom is well represented around East Lake. At East Lake you find fascinating gardens like the Mei Blossom Garden, Forrest of the Birds, Cheery Blossom Garden and monuments from ancient times, beautiful hills and green nature. Moreover, in the Moshan Botanic Garden there are all possible types of plum blossoms, as well as lotus flowers.

• The Hubei Provincial Museum With over 200,000 valued artefacts, this is one of the leading museums in China. Especially the artefacts from the tomb of Marquis Yi (Zenghouyi), who lived in the 5th century B.C., is a world unique treasure. Bell chime of Zeng Hou Yi is a bronze instrument performed 2430 years ago in ancient China(Warring States Period ), and was discovered in Zenghou Yi Tomb in Lei Gutun, a place near Suizhou, Hubei province in 1978. The whole chime weighs 5 tons, can perfectly play sound which was heard 2430 years ago, and was considered "The Eighth Wonders of the World".

• The Rock and Bonsai Museum includes a mounted platybelodon skeleton, many unique stones, a quartz crystal the size of an automobile, and an outdoor garden with miniature trees in the penjing ("Chinese Bonsai") style.

• Jiqing Street(吉庆街) holds many roadside restaurants and street performers during the evening, and is the site of a Live Show (生活秀) with stories of events on this street by contemporary writer Chi Li.

• The Lute Platform in Hanyang was where the legendary musician Yu Boya is said to have played. This is the birthplace of the renowned legendary of seeking soul mate through “high mountains and flowing water”. According to the story of 知音 (zhi yin, "understanding music"), 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.^{[citation needed]}

• Some luxury riverboat tours begin here after a flight from Beijing or Shanghai, with several days of flatland cruising and then climbing through the Three Gorges with passage upstream past the Gezhouba and Three Gorges dams to the city of Chongqing. With the completion of the dam a number of cruises now start from the upstream side and continue west, with tourists traveling by motor coach from Wuhan.

• The Yellow Crane Tower (Huanghelou), which has enjoyed the reputation of "the first tower under heaven" in China for centuries, is presumed to have been first built in approximately 220 AD. The tower has been destroyed and reconstructed numerous times, was burned last according to some sources in 1884. The tower underwent complete reconstruction in 1981. The reconstruction utilized modern materials and added an elevator, while maintaining the traditional design in the tower's outward appearance.

East lake   Ancient bronze concert bells at the Hubei Provincial Museum   Hubei Provincial Museum   Yellow Crane Tower Bell of Wuhan   Yellow Crane Tower of Wuhan

Economy[link]

Wuhan is a sub-provincial city. Its GDP was 450 billion CNY^[16] and GDP per capita was approximately 64,000 CNY^[16] as of 2009. In 2008, the city's annual average disposable income was 16,360 CNY.^[17] Wuhan has currently attracted about 50 French companies, representing over one third of French investment in China, and the highest level of French investment in any Chinese city.^[18]

Wuhan is an important center for economy, trade, finance, transportation, information technology, and education in China. Its major industries includes optic-electronic, automobile manufacturing, steel manufacturing, new pharmaceutical sector, biology engineering, new materials industry and environmental protection. Wuhan Iron & Steel (Group) Co. and Dongfeng-Citroen Automobile Co., Ltd headquartered in the city.

Wuhan is one of the cities with the most competitive force for domestic trade in China. Wuhan, close next to Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou in its volume of retail, is among the top list of China's metropolises. Wuhan Department Store, Zhongshang Company, Hanyang Department Store, and Central Department Store enjoy highest reputation and are Wuhan's four major commercial enterprises and listed companies. Hanzhengjie Small Commodities Market has been prosperous for hundreds of years and enjoys a worldwide reputation.

There are 35 higher educational institutions including the well-known Wuhan University, Huazhong University of Science & Technology, 3 state-level development zones and many enterprise incubators. Wuhan ranks third in China in overall strength of science and technology.^[19]

Industrial zones[link]

Headquarters of Wu Chuan (Wuhan Shipbuilding Company)

Major industrial zones in Wuhan include:

• Wuhan Donghu New Technology Development Zone

Wuhan Donghu New Technology Development Zone is a national level high-tech development zone. Optical-electronics, telecommunications, and equipment manufacturing are the core industries of Wuhan East Lake High-Tech Development Zone (ELHTZ) while software outsourcing and electronics are also encouraged. ELHTZ is China's largest production centre for optical-electronic products with key players like Changfei Fiber-optical Cables (the largest fiber-optical cable maker in China), Fenghuo Telecommunications and Wuhan Research Institute of Post and Telecommunications (the largest research institute in optical telecommunications in China). Wuhan Donghu New Technology Development Zone also represents the development centre for China's laser industry with key players such as HUST Technologies and Chutian Laser being based in the zone.^[20]

• Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone

Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone is a national level industrial zone incorporated in 1993.^[21] Its current zone size is about 10–25 square km and it plans to expand to 25–50 square km. Industries encouraged in Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone include Auto-mobile Production/Assembly, Biotechnology/Pharmaceuticals, Chemicals Production and Processing, Food/Beverage Processing, Heavy Industry, Telecommunications Equipment.

• Wuhan Export Processing Zone

Wuhan Export Processing Zone was established in 2000. It is located in Wuhan Economic & Technology Development Zone, planned to cover land of 2.7sqkm. The first 0.7sqkm area has been launched.^[22]

• Wuhan Optical Valley (Guanggu) Software Park

Wuhan Optical Valley (Guanggu) Software Park is located in Wuhan Donghu New Technology Development Zone. Wuhan Optics Valley Software Park is jointly developed by East Lake High-Tech Development Zone and Dalian Software Park Co., Ltd.^[23] The planned area is 0.67 sqkm with total floor area of 600,000 square meters. The zone is 8.5 km (5.28 mi) away from the 316 National Highway and is 46.7 km (29.02 mi) away from the Wuhan Tianhe Airport.

Colleges and universities[link]

Huazhong Agricultural University

Wuhan is one of the three scientific and educational centers of China, along with Beijing and Shanghai. Wuhan has the largest number of enrolled college students in China. Wuhan has 35 higher educational institutions such as Wuhan University and Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Wuhan ranks 3rd in China in scientific and educational strength: it contains three national development zones and four scientific and technologic development parks, as well as numerous enterprise incubators, over 350 research institutes, 1470 hi-tech enterprises, and over 400,000 experts and technicians. Wuhan also boasts eight national colleges and universities^[24] and fourteen public colleges and universities.^[25]

National[link]

Public[link]

Culture[link]

Wuhan is one of the birthplaces of the brilliant ancient Chu Culture in China. Han opera, which is the local opera of Wuhan area, was one of China's oldest and most popular operas. During the late Qing dynasty, Han opera, blended with Hui opera, gave birth to Peking opera, the most popular opera in modern China. Therefore Han opera is called "mother of Peking opera" in China.

Language[link]

Wuhan natives speak a variety of Southwestern Mandarin Chinese.

Cuisine[link]

“No needs to be particular about the recipes, all food have their own uses. Rice wine and tangyuan are excellent midnight snacks, while fat bream and flowering Chinese cabbages are great delicacies.” Hankou Zhuzhici (an ancient book recording stories about Wuhan) produced during Daoguang Period of Qing Dynasty, reflects indirectly the eating habits and a wide variety of distinctive snacks with a long history in Wuhan, such as Qingshuizong (a pyramid-shaped dumpling made of glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves) in Period of the Warring States, Chunbinbian in Northern & Southern Dynasties, mung bean jelly in Sui Dynasty, youguo (a deep-fried twisted dough stick) in Song & Yuan Dynasties, rice wine and mianwo in Ming & Qing Dynasties as well as three-delicacy stuffed skin of bean milk, tangbao (steamed dumpling filled with minced meat and gravy) and hot braised noodles in modern times.

Besides the snacks, Hubei cuisine ranks as one of China’s ten major styles of cooking with many representative dishes. With development of more than 2,000 years, Hubei cuisine, originating in Chu Cuisine in ancient times, has developed a lot of distinctive dishes with its own characteristics, such as steamed blunt-snout bream in clear soup, preserved ham with flowering Chinese cabbage, etc.

Guozao is a popular way to say having breakfast in Wuhan. It is generally said that Guangzhou is the paradise for eating and Shanghai for dressing, while Wuhan is a combination of both. Sitting favorably at the heart of China, Wuhan has gathered and mixed together various habits and customs from neighboring cities and provinces in all directions, which gives rise to a saying of concentrating diverse customs from different places.

Doupi on the left and Re-gan mian on the right

• Hot and Dry Noodles, Re-gan mian (热干面) consists of long freshly boiled noodles mixed with sesame paste. The Chinese word re means hot and gan means dry. It is considered to be the most typical local food for breakfast.
• Duck's neck or Ya Bozi (鸭脖子) is a local version of this popular Chinese dish, made of duck necks and spices.
• Bean skin or Doupi (豆皮）is a popular local dish with a filling of egg, rice, beef, mushrooms and beans cooked between two large round soybean skins and cut into pieces, structurally like a stuffed pizza without enclosing edges.
• Soup dumpling or Xiaolongtangbao（小笼汤包）is a kind of dumpling with thin skin made of flour, steamed with very juicy meat inside so that is why it is called Tang (soup) Bao (bun), because every time one takes a bite from it the soup inside spills out.
• A salty doughnut or Mianwo (面窝) is a kind of doughnut with a salty taste. It's much thinner than a common doughnut, and is a typical Wuhan local food.

Notable people[link]

Li Na

• Zhong Ziqi (钟子期) – ancient Chinese musician whose musical composition Flowing Water had been burned on a CD carried by the U.S. space probe Voyager 1 as a representative of the earth civilization in the hope of being picked by humans from other planets.
• Peng Xiuwen – composer and conductor
• Paula Tsui – singer who spent most of her singing career in Hong Kong
• Xu Fan (徐帆) – actress^{[citation needed]}
• Liu Yifei – actress and singer
• Li Yuanhong – former President of the Republic of China.
• Xiong Bingkun (熊秉坤) – armyman who called the start to the Wuhan Uprising in the 1911 Revolution of China which gave birth to the Republic of China, Asia's first democratic country.
• Chang-Lin Tien – seventh Chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley (1990–1997), the first Asian to head a major university in the United States.^{[citation needed]}
• Li Ting – female tennis player, Olympic gold medalist (in woman's doubles, Athens 2004)
• Fu Mingxia – female diver, four-time Olympic gold Medalist (1 in Barcelona 1992, 2 in Atlanta 1996, 1 in Sydney 2000), the only athlete that had won gold medals at 3 Olympiads as well as one of the very few divers in the world who are able to win world championship in both platform diving and springboard diving. diver
• Zhou Jihong – woman diving athlete, Olympic gold medalist (Los Angeles 1984), the first Chinese who has won an Olympic gold medal in diving.
• Qiao Hong – woman table tennis player, two-time Olympic gold medalist (in woman's doubles, Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996)
• Wu Yi – former Vice-Premier and Minister Of Health of the People's Republic of China^[26]
• Xiao Hailiang – Olympic gold medalist (in 3m springboard synchronized diving, Sydney 2000) diver
• Gao Ling –, professional badminton player, two-time Olympic gold medalist (Sydney 2000, Athens 2004)
• Li Na – female tennis player, Champion of the French Open 2011
• Chi Li – modern writer^{[citation needed]}
• Zhou Mi – Super Junior M member
• Tang Jie Li – AIBA Women's Boxing World Champion
• Tian Yuan – singer and actress
• Xiao Bowei – Silver medal in nba2k11 competition by International nba2k11 committee(Toronto, 2012).

Sister cities[link]

Wuhan is twinned with:

A karaoke bar near the HUST campus

• Faisalabad, Pakistan

Diplomatic representation[link]

As of October 2011 there are three countries that have consulates in Wuhan:

•  France^[27]
•  Republic of Korea^[28]
•  USA^[29]

The U.S. Consul General, the Honorable Ms. Diane L. Sovereign, has been stationed in Wuhan since November 30, 2009. The office of the U.S. Consulate General, Central China (located in Wuhan) celebrated its official opening on November 20, 2008 and is the first new American consulate in China in over 20 years.^[30][31]

Gallery[link]

See also[link]

	People's Republic of China portal
	China portal

• List of tallest buildings in Wuhan
• 1954 Yangtze River Floods
• List of cities in the People's Republic of China by population
• List of current and former capitals of subnational entities of China

References[link]

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (December 2008)

Bibliography[link]

Notes[link]