Yichang 宜昌
—  Prefecture-level city  —
宜昌市
Yichang skyline at the Yangtze River
Location of Yichang City in Hubei and China
Yichang Location in Hubei
Coordinates: 30°43′N 111°17′E / 30.717°N 111.283°E / 30.717; 111.283Coordinates: 30°43′N 111°17′E / 30.717°N 111.283°E / 30.717; 111.283
Country	People's Republic of China
Province	Hubei
Seat of Government	Xiling District
Government
• CPC Party Secretary	Guo Youming
• Mayor	Li Lecheng
Area
• Prefecture-level city	21,227 km2 (8,196 sq mi)
• Urban	828 km2 (320 sq mi)
Highest elevation	2,427 m (7,963 ft)
Lowest elevation	35 m (115 ft)
Population (2008)
• Prefecture-level city	4,039,000
• Density	190/km2 (490/sq mi)
• Urban	1,330,000
• Urban density	1,600/km2 (4,200/sq mi)
Time zone	China Standard (UTC+8)
Postal codes	443000
Area code(s)	0717
Administrative divisions	420500
Website	http://en.yichang.gov.cn/

Yichang (Chinese: 宜昌; pinyin: Yíchāng) is a prefecture-level city located in western Hubei province, People's Republic of China. It is the second largest city in the province after the capital, Wuhan. The Three Gorges Dam is located within its administrative area, in Yiling District.^[1]

History[link]

Huangling Temple, Sandouping

In ancient times Yichang was known as Yiling. There are historical records telling that in the year 278 BC during the Warring States period, the Qin general Bai Qi set fire to Yiling. In 222 AD Yichang was also the site of the Battle of Yiling during the Three Kingdoms Period.

Under the Qing Guangxu Emperor, Yichang was opened to foreign trade as a trading port after Qing and Great Britain signed Chefoo Convention, which was signed by Sir Thomas Wade and Li Hongzhang in Chefoo on 21 August 1876. The imperial government set up a navigation company there and built wharfs less than 0.5 kilometres (0.31 mi) in length. Since 1949, more than 50 wharves have been constructed at the port so that its wharf area is now over 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) long.

In 1940, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Battle of Zaoyang-Yichang took place in the area.

Administrative divisions[link]

Administratively, it is a prefecture-level city; its municipal government has jurisdiction over five counties, five urban districts, and three satellite county-level cities (Yidu, Dangyang, Zhijiang).

• Xiling District (西陵区) - includes the city center
• Wujiagang District (伍家岗区) - southeastern parts of the urban area, and suburbs
• Dianjun District (点军区) - the part of the urban area southwest of the Changjiang (across from the city center), and suburbs
• Xiaoting District (猇亭区)
• Yiling District (夷陵区) - northern part of the urban area, and suburbs
• Zhijiang City (枝江市)
• Yidu City (宜都市)
• Dangyang City (当阳市)
• Yuan'an County (远安县)
• Xingshan County (兴山县)
• Zigui County (秭归县) - a county whose country seat (Maoping Zhen) is some 50 kilometres (31 mi) west of Yichang center city, next to the Three Gorges Dam
• Changyang Tujia Autonomous County (长阳土家族自治县)
• Wufeng Tujia Autonomous County (五峰土家族自治县)

Geography[link]

On the Yichang-Shennongjia (Yi-Shen) Highway (combined in this area with G209) in Xingshan County

Like most prefecture-level cities, Yichang includes both an urban area (what's labeled on less detailed maps as "Yichang") and the surrounding country area. It covers 21,084 square kilometres (8,141 sq mi) in Western Hubei Province, on both sides of the Chang Jiang (Yangtze) River. The Xiling Gorge (西陵峡), the easternmost of the Three Gorges on the Yangtze River, is located within the prefecture-level city.

Within the prefecture-level city of Yichang, Chang Jiang's is joined by a number of tributaries, including the Qingjiang River (right), Xiang Xi and Huangbo Rivers (leftt).

The central urban area of Yichang is split between several districts. On the right (northeastern) bank of the Yangtze are located Xiling District (where the city center is located), Yiling District (neighborhoods north of the center) and Wujiagang District (southern area). The city area on the opposite (southeastern) bank of the river is included into Dianjun District. All these districts, with the exception of the central Xiling, also include a fair amount of suburban/rural area outside of the city urban core.

Climate[link]

Yichang has a four-season, monsoon-influenced, humid subtropical climate (Koppen Cwa), with cool, damp and generally overcast winters, and hot, humid summers. Monthly mean temperatures range from 4.9 °C (40.8 °F) in January to 27.7 °C (81.9 °F) in July, with an annual mean of 16.9 °C (62.4 °F). Sunshine is a bit on the low end, with winter being the cloudiest season, yet rainfall is concentrated from May to September.

Transport[link]

By Plane[link]

Yichang Sanxia Airport is located in the Xiaoting District of Yichang City, 26 kilometers away from the city center and 55 kilometers from the Three Gorges Dam site. The airport[1] is conveniently located, which borders Yihuang Highway in the north, Long River Golden Waterway in the south and Jiaozhi Railway in the east.

Roads and bridges[link]

Yiling Bridge

• China National Highway 318 runs east-west through most of the prefecture-level city, south of the center city
• China National Highway 209 passes through the northwestern corner of the prefecture-level city (Xingshan County)

Several provincial highways connect Yichang center city with most counties.

Several bridges span the Yangtze River within the prefecture-level city of Yichang, including (upstream to downstream):

• Xiling Bridge, connecting Letianxi and Sandouping in Yiling District, a few km downstream from the Three Gorges Dam.
• Yiling Bridge, downtown Yichang (a few km downstream from the Gezhouba Dam). It connects the urban Xiling and Dianjun Districts.
• Yichang Yangtze Highway Bridge, on the Hu-Rong Expressway, downstream of Yichang center city

A railway bridge is constructed downstream of downtown for the new Yiwan Railway. (As of April 2010, Google Maps' satellite view shows a bridge still under construction at 30°39′12″N 111°19′20″E / 30.65333°N 111.32222°E / 30.65333; 111.32222; however, those photos may be many months out of date).

There are several ferry crossings as well.

Waterways[link]

Yichang is an important river port on the Yangtze river. Maoping Town (the county seat of Zigui County), has an active passenger wharf as well.

The Qing River in the southern part of the prefecture, with its cascade of dams, is an important waterway as well.

Railway[link]

The eastern part of the prefecture-level city has railway service. The passenger station in Yichang center city has daily trains to Wuhan (both to Hankou and Wuchang stations), Beijing, and a few other major cities.

Currently, Yichang is a dead-end station. However, construction work has started on the high-speed Hanyi Railway^[2] and the Yiwan Railway (from Hankou (Wuhan) to Yichang to Wanzhou), which will be part of the Huhanrong Passenger Dedicated Line from Shanghai to Wuhan to Chengdu. Besides the new Yichang East Railway Station serving Yichang's main urban area, some the high-speed trains will stop elsewhere in the prefecture, namely at Zhijiang Railway Station on the Hanyi line (in Zhijiang City), and at some stations on the Yiwan line.

Demographics[link]

Yichang has a population of 4,150,000 with urban population of 1,338,000.^[3] Yichang prefecture-level city, is home to many members of the Tujia ethnic group, who mostly live in several counties in the south-west of the prefecture.

Yichang also formed the border between the cultures of Ba in the west (an ancient state in the eastern part of what is now Sichuan Province) and the Chu State in the east (an ancient state in what is now Hubei Province and northern Hunan Province).

Education[link]

Since 2002, Yichang City has been home of the China Three Gorges University (the result of the merger of the University of Hydraulic & Electric Engineering, Yichang and of Hubei Sanxia University), the largest comprehensive university in Hubei Province outside Wuhan, with over 20,400 full-time students.

• China Three Gorges University
• Three Gorges Vocational College of Electric Power

Economy[link]

Yichang has long been a major transit port and distribution center of goods, and serves as the economic hub of western Hubei province and an intermediary between the major cities of Chongqing and Wuhan. Its primary industries are shipping and shipbuilding, taking advantage of its location on the Yangtze River.

Yichang prefecture is the site of many major hydroelectricity projects. The best known of them are the two huge dams on the Yangtze River: the Gezhouba Dam (located just upstream of Yichang central city) and Three Gorges Dam, which is 40 kilometres (25 mi) upstream. The Geheyan Dam and Gaobazhou Dam on the Qing River are important as well. Besides those, a huge number of medium-sized and small power plants operate on smaller rivers and streams within the prefecture.

Twin towns — Sister cities[link]

Yichang is twinned with:

• Metz, France, since 1991
• Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, since 2006

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Yichang

• Official website of Yichang Government (Chinese)
• Official website of Yichang Government - English version

Administrative map[link]

Changyang

Zhijiang

Wufeng

Dangyang

Yidu

Yuan'an

Zigui

Regional Municipality

Xiling

Wujiagang

Yiling

Dianjun

Xiaoting

Municipal government

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