Wuhan

Wuhan^[a] is the capital of Hubei Province in the People's Republic of China.^[15] With a population of over eleven million, it is the most populous city in Hubei and the ninth-most-populous city in China.^[16] It is also one of the nine national central cities.^[17]

Wuhan historically served as a busy city port for

Antiquity era

The Wuhan area has been settled for 3,500 years.

During the

During the

In fall 550, Hou Jing sent Ren Yue to attack both Xiao Daxin and Xiao Fan's son Xiao Si (蕭嗣). Ren killed Xiao Si in battle, and Xiao Daxin, unable to resist, surrendered, allowing Hou to take his domain under control. Meanwhile, Xiao Guan, who had by now settled at Jiangxia (江夏, in modern Wuhan), was planning to attack Hou, but this drew Xiao Yi's ire—believing that Xiao Guan was intending to contend for the throne—and he sent Wang to attack Xiao Guan. In summer 567, Chen Xu commissioned Wu Mingche as the governor of Xiang Province and had him command a major part of the troops against Hua, along with Chunyu Liang (淳于量). The opposing sides met at Zhuankou (沌口, in modern Wuhan).

The city has long been renowned as a center for the arts (especially poetry) and for intellectual studies. Cui Hao, a celebrated poet of the Tang dynasty, visited the Yellow Crane Tower in the early 8th century; his poem made it the most celebrated building in southern China.^[43]

In spring 877, Wang Xianzhi captured E Prefecture (鄂州, in modern Wuhan). He then returned north, joining forces with Huang again, and they surrounded Song Wei at Song Prefecture (宋州, in modern Shangqiu, Henan). In winter 877, Huang Chao pillaged Qi and Huang (黃州, in modern Wuhan) Prefectures.

Before

Hanyang's Guiyuan Temple was completed in the 15th year of Shunzhi (1658).^[44]

By the dawn of the 18th century, Hankou had become one of China's top four

In the spring of 1861, Counselor

In 1862, Russian tea merchants arrived in the treaty port of Hankou. Russians in Hankou established four factories using assembly lines and machinery to produce brick tea, and became the city's richest industrialists in what would become the Russian concession.[46]^[47] Japanese immigrants, mainly traders, also started arriving in 1874.^[46]

In 1889, Zhang Zhidong was transferred from Viceroy of Liangguang (Guangdong and Guangxi provinces) to Viceroy of Huguang (Hunan and Hubei provinces). He governed the province for 18 years, until 1907. 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 education 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 a 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.

Originally known as the Hubei Arsenal, the Hanyang Arsenal was founded in 1891, who diverted funds from the Nanyang Fleet in Guangdong to build the arsenal. It cost about 250,000 pounds sterling and was built in 4 years.^[48] On April 23, 1894, construction was completed and the arsenal, occupying some 40 acres (160,000 m²), could start production of small-caliber cannons. It built magazine-fed rifles, Gruson quick fire guns, and cartridges.^[49]

In 1896, the Russian Empire also acquired a concession in Hankou.^[50]

Wuchang Uprising

By 1900, according to Collier's magazine, Hankou, the Yangtze River boom town, was "the St. Louis and Chicago of China."^[4] On October 10, 1911, Sun Yat-sen's followers launched the Wuchang Uprising,^[51] which led to the collapse of the Qing state and 2,000 years of dynastic rule,^[52] as well as the establishment of the Republic of China.^[53]

The Wuchang Uprising of October 1911, which overthrew the Qing dynasty, originated in Wuhan.^[51] Before 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.^[54] On September 14 the Literary Society (文學社) and the Progressive Association (共進會), two local revolutionary organizations in Hubei,^[54] 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.^[55] 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.^[55] This forced the revolutionaries to launch the uprising earlier than planned.^[51]

On the night of October 10, the revolutionaries fired shots to signal the uprising at the engineering barracks of Hubei New Army.^[51] They then led the New Army of all barracks to join the revolution.^[56] Under the guidance of Wu Zhaolin, Cai Jimin and others, this revolutionary army seized the official residence of the governor and government offices.^[54] Rui Cheng fled in panic into the Chuyu ship. Zhang Biao, the commander of the Qing army, also fled the city. On the morning of the 11th, the revolutionary army took the whole city of Wuchang, but leaders such as Jiang Yiwu and Sun Wu disappeared.^[51] Thus the leaderless revolutionary army recommended Li Yuanhong, the assistant governor of the Qing army, as the commander-in-chief.^[57] 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.^[51][54]

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

With the northern extension of the

In the 1931 China floods, one of the deadliest flood disasters in world history, Wuhan was a refuge for flood victims from outlying areas, who had been arriving since the late spring. But when the city itself was inundated in the early summer, and after a catastrophic dike failure just before 6:00 AM on July 27,^[65]: 270 an estimated 782,189 urban citizens and rural refugees were left homeless. The flood covered an area of 32 square miles and the city was flooded under many feet of water for close to three months.^{[65]: 269–270} Large numbers gathered on flood islands throughout the city, with 30,000 sheltering on a railway embankment in central Hankou. With little food and a complete breakdown in sanitation, thousands soon began to succumb to diseases.^[66] Jin Shilong, Senior Engineer at the Hubei Flood Prevention Agency, described the flooding:

There was no warning, only a sudden great wall of water. Most of Wuhan's buildings in those days were only one story high, and for many people there was no escape – they died by the tens of thousands. ... I was just coming off duty at the company's main office, a fairly new three-story building near the center of town ... When I heard the terrible noise and saw the wall of water coming, I raced to the top story of the building. ... I was in one of the tallest and strongest buildings left standing. At that time no one knew whether the water would subside or rise even higher.^[65]: 270

The high-water mark was reached on August 19 at Hankou, with the water level exceeding 16 m (53 ft) above normal.^[67][68] In 1936, when natural disaster struck Central China with widespread flooding affecting Hebei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Wuhan and Chongqing caused by the Yangtze and Huai Rivers bursting their banks, Ong Seok Kim, as Chairman of the Sitiawan Fundraising and Disaster Relief Committee, raised money and materials in support of the victims.^{[69][70][71][72]}

During the Second Sino-Japanese War and following the fall of Nanking in December 1937, Wuhan had become the provisional capital of China's Kuomintang government, and became another focal point of pitched air battles beginning in early 1938 between modern monoplane bomber and fighter aircraft of the Imperial Japanese forces and the Chinese Air Force, which included support from the Soviet Volunteer Group in both planes and personnel, as U.S. support in war materials waned. As the battle raged on through 1938, Wuhan and the surrounding region had become the site of the Battle of Wuhan. After being taken by the Japanese in late 1938, Wuhan became a major Japanese logistics center for operations in southern China.

In early October 1938, Japanese troops moved east and north in the outskirts of Wuhan. As a result, numerous companies and enterprises and large numbers of 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

As a key center on the Yangtze, Wuhan was an important base for Japanese operations in China.[73] On December 18, 1944, in a planned strategic move, and as revenge for the torture and execution of three captured American pilots by Japanese soldiers in the city, Wuhan was bombed by 77 American bombers with the approval of Chiang Kai-Shek. This set off a firestorm that destroyed much of the military resources of the city.^[74] For the next three days, Wuhan was bombed by the Americans, destroying all of the docks and warehouses of Wuhan, as well as the Japanese air bases in the city. The air raids also killed thousands of Chinese civilians.^[74] "According to casualty statistics compiled by Hankou city in 1946, more than 20,000 were killed or injured in the December bombings of 1944."^[75]

Wuhan returned to Chinese control in September 1945. Administratively, Wuchang and Hanyang were initially combined into a new City of Wuchang, but in October 1946 were separated into the City of Wuchang (including Wuchang only) and the County of Hanyang. Hankou became a centrally controlled municipality in August 1947. Militarily, the Wuhan Forward Headquarters was established in Wuhan, headed by Bai Chongxi.^[76]

During the later stages of the Chinese Civil War, Bai sought to broker peace, proposing that the Communist Party could rule northern China while the Nationalist government retained southern China. This was rejected, and on May 15, 1949, Bai and the Wuhan garrison retreated from the city. People's Liberation Army troops entered Wuhan on the afternoon of Monday, May 16, 1949.^[77][78][79]

People's Republic

Before construction of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, Hunslet Engine Company built two extra heavy 0-8-0 locomotives for loading the train ferries for crossing the Yangtze River in Wuhan.

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 first five-year plan. On October 25, 1955, construction began on the bridge proper. The same day in 1957, the whole project was completed and an opening-to-traffic ceremony was held on October 15. The First Yangtze River Bridge united the Beijing–Hankou railway with the Guangdong–Hankou railway into the Beijing–Guangzhou railway, making Wuhan a 'thoroughfare to nine provinces' (九省通衢) in name and in fact.

After Chengdu Conference, Mao went to Chongqing and Wuhan in April to inspect the countryside and factories. In Wuhan, he called all the leaders of provinces and municipalities who had not attended Chengdu Conference to report their work. Tian Jiaying, the secretary of Mao, said that Wuhan Conference was a supplement to Chengdu Conference.^[81]

In July 1967, civil strife struck the city in the

In 1981, the Wuhan City Government commenced reconstruction of the Yellow Crane Tower at a new location, about 1 km (0.62 mi) from the original site, and it was completed in 1985. In 1957, the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge was built with one trestle of the bridge on the site of the tower, which had been last destroyed in 1884.^[83]

During the

In the wake of the United States bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade on May 7, 1999, protests broke out throughout China, including in Wuhan.^[85]

On June 22, 2000, a

The 2019 Military World Games were hosted in Wuhan in October.^[109][110]

In December 2019,

Wuhan is in east-central Hubei, at latitude 29° 58'–31° 22' N and longitude 113° 41'–115° 05' E. Wuhan sits at the confluence of the

The metropolitan area comprises three parts—

• Wuchang lies south east of the Yangtze River that separates it from both Hankou and Hanyang.
• Hankou sits north of the Yangtze River separating it from Wuchang. Hankou is north of the Han River separating it from Hanyang.
• Hanyang lies west of the Yangtze separating it from Wuchang. Hanyang is south of the Han river separating it from Hankou.

It is simple in terrain—low and flat in the middle and hilly in the south, with the Yangtze and Han rivers winding through the city. The

Government officials include the Mayor of Wuhan (市长), Cheng Yongwen (程用文), and vice-mayors. Numerous bureaus focus on law, public security, and other affairs. Zhou Xianwang (周先旺) was mayor from 2018 to 2021.

Administrative divisions

The sub-provincial city of Wuhan currently comprises 13

Map	District	Chinese ( S )	Pinyin	Population (2010 census)[127][7][8]	Area (km2)[9]	Density (/km2)
Jiang'an Jianghan Qiaokou Hanyang Wuchang Qingshan Hongshan Dongxihu Hannan Caidian Jiangxia Huangpi Xinzhou
	Central Districts			6,434,373	888.42	7,242
	Jiang'an	江岸区	Jiāng'àn Qū	895,635	64.24	13,942
	Jianghan	江汉区	Jiānghàn Qū	683,492	33.43	20,445
	Qiaokou	硚口区	Qiáokǒu Qū	828,644	46.39	17,863
	Hanyang	汉阳区	Hànyáng Qū	792,183[128]	108.34	7,312
	Wuchang	武昌区	Wǔchāng Qū	1,199,127	87.42	13,717
	Qingshan	青山区	Qīngshān Qū	485,375	68.40	7,096
	Hongshan	洪山区	Hóngshān Qū	1,549,917[129]	480.20	3,228
	Suburban and Rural Districts			3,346,271	7,605.99	440
	Dongxihu	东西湖区	Dōngxīhú Qū	451,880	439.19	1,029
	Hannan	汉南区	Hànnán Qū	114,970	287.70	400
	Caidian	蔡甸区	Càidiàn Qū	410,888	1,108.10	371
	Jiangxia	江夏区	Jiāngxià Qū	644,835	2,010.00	321
	Huangpi	黄陂区	Huángpí Qū	874,938	2,261.00	387
	Xinzhou	新洲区	Xīnzhōu Qū	848,760	1,500.00	566
	Water Region (水域)			4,748	-	-
	Total			9,785,392	8,494.41	1,152

Diplomatic missions

There are four countries that have consulates in Wuhan:

Consulate	Year	Consular District
France Consulate General Wuhan[130]	October 10, 1998	Hubei/Hunan/Jiangxi
United States Consulate General Wuhan[131]	November 20, 2008	Hubei/Hunan/Henan/Jiangxi
Republic of Korea Consulate General Wuhan[132]	October 25, 2010	Hubei/Hunan/Henan/Jiangxi
United Kingdom Consulate General Wuhan[133]	January 8, 2015	Hubei/Henan

The current U.S. Consul General, Jamie Fouss, was posted to Wuhan in August 2017. The office of the

In 2015, Japan[136] and Russia^[137] announced their intentions to establish consular offices in Wuhan.

Economy

Up until the 21st century, Wuhan was largely an agricultural region. Since 2004 it has been a focal point of the Rise of Central China Plan, which aims to build less-developed inland economies into hubs of advanced manufacturing.

Since 1890,^[114] the steel industry has been the backbone of Wuhan's industry.^[138] In 2010, automobile industry exceeded GDP for Wuhan Iron and Steel Corporation (WISCO) steel for the first time. There are 5 car manufacturers, including Dongfeng Honda, Citroën, SAIC-GM, DFM Passenger Vehicle and Dongfeng Renault. Dongfeng-Citroen Automobile Co., Ltd is headquartered in the city.^[138]

As of 2016, Wuhan has attracted foreign investment from over 80 countries, with 5,973 foreign-invested enterprises established in the city with a total capital injection of $22.45 billion

Wuhan is an important center for economy, trade, finance, transportation, information technology, and education in China. Its major industries include optic-electronic, automobile manufacturing, iron and steel manufacturing, new pharmaceutical sector, biology engineering, new materials industry and environmental protection. Environmental sustainability is highlighted in Wuhan's list of emerging industries, which include energy efficiency technology and renewable energy.[139]

As of 2021, Wuhan is ranked among the world's top 100 financial centers, according to the Global Financial Centres Index.^[32]

Wuhan CBD

Wuhan Yangtze River Tunnel of Road and Rail

Industrial zones

Major industrial zones in Wuhan include in chronological order:

• Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone

Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone is a national level industrial zone incorporated in 1993.^[141] 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, and Telecommunications Equipment.

• Wuhan Export Processing Zone

Wuhan Export Processing Zone was established in 2000. It is located in Wuhan Economic and Technology Development Zone, planned to cover 2.7 square kilometers (1.0 square mile) of land. The first 0.7-square-kilometer (0.3-square-mile) area has already been created.^[142]

• 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 center for optoelectronic products with key players like Yangtze Optical Fiber and Cable,^[143] (the largest fiber-optical cable maker in China), and Fiberhome Telecommunications.^[144] Wuhan Donghu New Technology Development Zone also represents the development center for China's laser industry with key players such as HG Tech^[145] and Chutian Laser being based in the zone.^[146]

• 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.^[147] The planned area is 0.67 square kilometers (0.26 square miles) with total floor area of 6,000,000 square meters (65,000,000 square feet). 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.

• Wuhan Biolake

Biolake is an industrial base established in 2008 in the

The encompassing metropolitan area was estimated by the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) to have, as of 2010^[update], a population of 19 million.^[161][162] As of November 2019, urban development status considering both spatial and socioeconomic processes has been examined using Night Time Lighting data and land cover data as proxies; it showed Wuhan's high concentration of socioeconomic activities compared to its urban spatial development.^[163]

Religion

• Religious sites in Wuhan
• 
  Baotong Buddhist Temple
• 
  Gude Buddhist Temple
• 
  St. Alexander Nevsky Church
• 
  Holy Family Catholic Church

Transportation

Railways

The (original) Hankou Station was the terminus for the

With the opening of the

As of 2011[update], 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.

Construction work is carried out on several lines of the new

Metro

Trams

Trams were brought to the streets of Wuhan on July 28, 2017, with the first line (Auto-city T1 Line) opened that day.^[173] The trams under construction or planning in Wuhan are:

• Auto-city trams, with Lines T1, T2, T6, and T8 in the Wuhan Economic Development Area, in the far western reaches on Hanyang. T1 Line is operational as of 2017.
• Optics Valley trams, two lines (T1 and T2) south and east of Guanggu Circle (Guanggu Guangchang) in southeastern Wuchang. The system opened on January 18, 2018.^[174]
• The Old Hankou Streetcar, a loop line around Hankou city.

Maritime transport

Wuhan is a major hub for maritime transport in central China. The Port of Wuhan provide services for the local population and shipping services.

Ferry

Located on the banks of the Yangtze River, Wuhan has a long history of ferry services. Modern ferry services were established in 1900 by steam boat. In 1937, a train ferry was established to transport train cars from Hankou to Wuchang.^[175] There are numbered stops around Wuhan where people can get on and off the ferry and there is a tourist ferry in the night.

Currently, ferry services are provided by the Wuhan Ferry Company. In 2010, the company bought ten new ships to replace those that had been in service for 29 years.^[176]

Airports

• China National Highway 107
• China National Highway 316
• China National Highway 318
• G42 Shanghai–Chengdu Expressway
• G0422 Wuhan–Shenzhen Expressway

Bicycle-sharing system

As of May 2011^[update], the Wuhan and Hangzhou Public Bicycle bike-share systems in China were the largest in the world, with around 90,000 and 60,000 bicycles respectively.^[182] In 2012 the Wuhan and Hangzhou Public Bicycle programs in China are the largest in the world, with around 90,000 and 60,000 bicycles respectively. China has seen a rise in private "dockless" bike shares with fleets that dwarf systems in size outside China.^[183] Initially, a number of traditional (third-generation) docked public bike systems operated by local municipal governments opened across China, with the largest ones being in Wuhan and Hangzhou. The first was introduced in Beijing in 2007. However, third-generation bike sharing is not considered successful for the majority cities in China. Bike sharing in Beijing virtually stopped and it also has encountered difficulties in Shanghai and Wuhan.^[184]

Destinations

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.

• The Yellow Crane Tower (Huanghelou) is presumed to have been first built in approximately 220 AD. The tower has been destroyed and reconstructed numerous times, and 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.
• Wuchang has the largest and second largest lakes within a city in China, the East Lake and Tangxun Lake, as well as the South Lake. East Lake in Wuhan is six times the size of the West Lake in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. The total area is more than 80 km² (31 sq mi) of which the lake is covering an area of 33 km² (13 sq mi). In the springtime, the shores of East Lake become a garden of flowers with the Mei blossoms as the king and the Cherry Blossom as the queen among the species at East Lake Cherry Blossom Park. Another famous flower is the lotus. The lake has a long history and especially the Chu Kingdom is well represented around East Lake. Moreover, in the Moshan
  Botanic Garden there are many types of plum blossoms, as well as lotus flowers.

• The
  Marquis Yi of Zeng (Zeng Hou Yi), who lived in the 5th century BC, is a world unique treasure. The bell chime of Marquis Yi of Zeng is a bronze instrument performed 2430 years ago in ancient China (Warring States Period), and was discovered in the Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng in Suizhou
  , Hubei in 1978. The whole chime weighs 5 tons, can perfectly play sound which was heard 2430 years ago, and was considered "The Eighth Wonder of the World".
• The
  bronze ware, paintings and calligraphy, jade, wood carving, enamel ware
  , seals and so on. As a modern comprehensive museum, Wuhan Museum has the function in cultural relic collection, academic reach, publicity and education, cultural exchange, and recreation and entertainment.

[185]

• Hongshan District. Opened on April 29, 2012, it is the fifth installation of the Happy Valley theme park chain.^[186]
• 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 with stories of events on this street by contemporary writer Chi Li.
• The
  Yu Boya is said to have played. This is the birthplace of the renowned legend of seeking a soul mate through "high mountains and flowing water". According to the story behind the Chinese word '知音' (zhīyīn; '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.^[187]
• Mao's Villa (毛澤東別墅), Mao Zedong's villa between 1960 and 1974; includes garden, living quarters, conference room, bomb shelter and swimming pool.^[188][189]
• 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 motorcoach from Wuhan.
• Southern Song dynasty
  .
• Wuchang with many tourist attractions, including Han Show theater, Madame Tussauds wax museum, and Movie Culture Park, etc. This project was initiated as a water connecting channel between East Lake and Shahu Lake
  .
• Wuhan Zoo in Hanyang.^[190]
• The
  Jianghan District. The market is located in the newer part of the city near shops and apartment blocks and is close to Hankou railway station. The market has been identified as a possible point of origin of the COVID-19 pandemic.^[191]
• The Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) is located in the Wuchan District. It is, "the key laboratory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences for newly emerging and fulminating infectious disease pathogen and biosecurity."^[192]

The institute has been an active premier research center for the study of coronaviruses.^[193]

View from within the Wuhan Stones Park (武汉奇石园) along Lumo Road.

Education

Schools and universities

As of 2023, there are 82 higher educational institutions in Wuhan, making it a leading educational hub in the Central China region.^[194] Prominent institutions include Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Wuhan University. Three state-level development zones and many enterprise incubators are also significant in Wuhan's education and business development. Wuhan ranks third in China in overall strength of science and technology.^[195]

As of the end of 2013, in Wuhan there were 1,024 kindergartens with 224,300 children, 590 primary schools with 424,000 students, 369 general high schools with 314,000 students, 105 secondary vocational and technical schools with 98,600 students, and 80 colleges and universities with 966,400 undergraduates and junior college students and 107,400 postgraduate students.^[196] There are several international schools in Wuhan.

Wuhan is also a major city in the world by scientific research outputs and it ranks 10th globally, 6th in the Asia-Pacific and 5th in China (after Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing and Guangzhou).^[29]

Wuhan University is another Project 985 and Class A Double First Class University,^[197] which was ranked 101th in the world, 15th in Asia and 9th in China by the 2023 Academic Ranking of World Universities^[204] and 150th in the world by the U.S. News & World Report,^[205] whiile it was ranked the 194th by the 2024 QS World University Rankings^[206] and 164th by the 2024 Times Higher Education;^[207] established in 1893, the old Wuhan University absorbed three other schools (two of them being its spin-offs since the 1950s) in 2000 to become a university with 36 schools in 6 faculties. Since the 1950s it has received international students from more than 109 countries.^[208]

Scientific research

Wuhan contains three national development zones and four scientific and technological development parks, as well as numerous enterprise incubators, over 350 research institutes, 1470 high-tech enterprises, and over 400,000 experts and technicians.

Founded in 1958, the Wuhan Branch of Chinese Academy of Sciences is one of the twelve national branches of CAS. It is composed of 9 independent organizations, including the headquarters at Xiaohongshan, Wuchang. It has had a staff of 3,900, among which 8 are CAS fellows, and one is a Chinese Academy of Engineering fellow. As of 2013, the achievements gained by WHB had won 23 National Awards and 778 Provincial Awards.^[209] Wuhan Research Institute of Post and Telecommunications (now known as FiberHome Technologies Group) is the national center for optical communication research in China, and is where the first optical fiber in the country was produced.^[210] The Wuhan Institute of Virology is also operated by the CAS.

Wuhan is a major site for water planning and research in central China.[213]^: 117

Media

The headquarters of

The plum blossom is the city's emblem, chosen partly because of the long history of local plum cultivation and use, and partly to recognize the plum's current economic significance in terms of cultivation and research. Local wild plums were used medicinally during the Qin and Han dynasties. Cultivation of the fruit began during the Song dynasty. Some traditional new year customs revolve around the planting of plums.

Language

Wuhan natives speak a variety of Southwestern Mandarin Chinese referred to as Wuhan dialect that differs slightly between the districts of Wuhan, including Wuchang dialect in Wuchang District, Hankou dialect in the Hankou districts, Hanyang dialect in Hanyang District, and Qingshan dialect in Qingshan District.

Cuisine

Hubei cuisine is one of China's ten major styles of cooking. With a history of more than 2,000 years, Hubei cuisine, originating in ancient Chu cuisine, has developed a number of distinctive dishes, such as steamed blunt-snout bream in clear soup, preserved ham with flowering Chinese cabbage, and others. On the third day of the third month of the lunar calendar, many in Wuhan eat dìcài zhǔ jīdàn (地菜煮鸡蛋), an egg dish which is supposed to prevent illness in the coming year.^[215]

"No need to be particular about the recipes; all foods have their own uses. Rice wine and tangyuan are excellent midnight snacks, while fat bream and flowering Chinese cabbages are great delicacies."^[216] This attitude expressed in Hankou Zhuzhici 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 the Period of the Warring States, Chunbinbian in Northern and Southern dynasties, mung bean jelly in the Sui dynasty, youguo (a deep-fried twisted dough stick) in the Song and Yuan dynasties, rice wine and mianwo in the Ming and Qing dynasties, as well as three-delicacy stuffed skin of bean milk,^{[clarification needed]} tangbao (steamed dumpling filled with minced meat and gravy) and hot braised noodles (reganmian) in modern times.

Guozao (過早) is a popular way to say 'having breakfast' in Wuhan, and a part of the city's culture. As a hub for land transport in China, Wuhan has gathered and mixed together various habits and customs from neighboring cities and provinces in all directions, which gives rise to a concentration of diverse cuisines from different places. The most famous place to guozao (have breakfast) is Hubu Street (戶部巷), a 150-meter-long street in the neighborhood of Simenkou (司门口). Along its short length one can find nearly all the traditional foods of Wuhan, such as:

• Hot and dry noodles, re-gan mian (热干面
  ), consists of long freshly boiled noodles mixed with sesame paste. 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 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, hence the name: tang (soup) bao (bun) – every time one takes a bite from it the "soup" inside is liable to spill out.
• A salty doughnut or mianwo (麪窩) is a kind of savory donut with a salty taste. It is much thinner than a common donut and is a typical Wuhan local food.
• Shaomai wrapped in oil cake (油饼包烧麦): 1 oil cake is filled with 4 pieces of heavy oil siomai, and the heavy oil is required to put diced meat, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and black pepper in it.
• Paste Soup Noodles (糊汤粉): It is a snack variety that uses round rice noodles as the main ingredient, fish paste soup, small shrimp, and chopped green onion as accessories.

Opera

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. Thus Han opera has been called the "mother of Peking opera."^[217][218]

Sports

Wuhan had a professional football team,

The Wuhan Gators are a professional arena football team based in Wuhan. They are members of the China Arena Football League (CAFL).^[219]

The 13,000-seat Wuhan Sports Center Gymnasium held the 2011 FIBA Asia Championship and was one of the venues for the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup.^[220] The 7th Military World Games were hosted in Wuhan from Oct 18 to 27, 2019.^[221][222]

The city has been the venue for the women's tennis tournament, the Wuhan Open, one of the WTA's Premier 5 tournaments, since 2014.

Architecture

Bridges

Wuhan has

The Second Bridge, a cable-stayed bridge built of prestressed concrete, has a central span of 400 meters (1,300 feet); it is 4,678 meters (15,348 feet) in length (including 1,877 meters (6,158 feet) of the main bridge) and 26.5 to 33.5 meters (86.9 to 109.9 feet) in width. Its main bridgeheads are 90 meters (300 feet) 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 the daily passage of 50,000 motor vehicles. The bridge was completed in 1995.

The

The

Politics

• Li Yuanhong – former President of the Republic of China (1916–17, 1922–23).
• Wu Yi – former Vice-Premier and Minister of Health of the People's Republic of China^[228]

Business

• Wei Brian – Chinese entrepreneur

Science

• Chang-Lin Tien – seventh Chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley (1990–1997) and a major founder of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE). Professor Tien is the first Asian to head a top university in the United States.
• E Dongchen – "father of polar surveying and mapping" in China
• Long Lehao – Aerospace engineer and the chief designer of Long March expendable launch system rockets
• Weiping Zou – Charles B. de Nancrede Professor of Pathology, Immunology, Biology, and Surgery at the University of Michigan, American Association for Cancer Research Cancer Immunology (CIMM) Chairperson 2018–2019, Abstract Programming Chair for the American Association of Immunologists

Sports

• Deng Zhuoxiang – professional football player, scored many goals for Chinese national team in important games including 3:0 South Korea and 1:0 France in 2010.
• Fu Mingxia – female diver, four-time Olympic Gold Medalist (one in Barcelona 1992, two in Atlanta 1996, one in Sydney 2000), the only diver that has won gold medals at three Olympics as well as one of the very few divers in the world who is able to win world championships in both platform diving and springboard diving.
• Gao Ling – professional badminton player, two-time Olympic gold medalist (Sydney 2000, Athens 2004).
• Hao Junmin – professional football player, played for Schalke 04 in the German League.
• Hu Jia – Chinese diver who won the gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in the men's 10 meter platform.
• Guangzhou Evergrande in the Chinese Super League
  .
• Li Na – former tennis player, champion of the French Open 2011 and Australian Open 2014.
• Li Ting – tennis player, Olympic gold medalist (in women's doubles, Athens 2004).
• Liang Patti – Chinese American acrobat.
• Qiao Hong – female table tennis player, two-time Olympic gold medalist (in women's doubles, Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996).
• Rong Hao – professional football player, with six Chinese Super League titles and two AFC Champions League champion titles.
• AIBA Women's Boxing World Champion.^[229]
• Xiao Hailiang – Chinese diver, Olympic gold medalist (in 3-meter (9.8-foot) springboard synchronized diving, Sydney 2000).
• Zeng Cheng – professional football player, with six Chinese Super League titles and two AFC Champions League champion titles.
• Zhou Jihong – female diver, Olympic gold medalist (Los Angeles 1984), the first Chinese athlete to win an Olympic gold medal in diving.
• Tian Tao – Olympic weightlifter
• Lü Xiaojun – Olympic weightlifter

Arts

• Chi Li – writer^[230]
• Han Dong – singer, member of Dreamcatcher
• Jayne Meadows – actress
• Laura Gao, graphic novelist, author of Messy Roots^[231]
• Liu Yifei – actress and singer. Childhood friend with Yao Beina
• Paula Tsui – singer who spent most of her singing career in Hong Kong
• Peng Xiuwen – composer and conductor
• Sunny Xie – singer and actress
• Tian Yuan
  – singer and actress
• Wang Kai – actor
• Wang Xiaosong – artist who studied in Germany and is now professor at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou
• Xie Fang – actress and author
• Xu Fan – actress
• Yan Wenjing – writer whose work is included as one of the literary selections on the Putonghua Proficiency Test.
• Yang Caiyu – actress
• Yao Beina – singer, (during 2005–2015) known as the "Voice of China", spiritual leader of organ donation and charity (1981–2015).
• Yin Yezi – actress
• Chinese American
  author, speaker, television host and chef
• Yuan Hong – actor
• Zhao Yue - actress and singer, member of SNH48 and BonBon Girls 303
• Super Junior M
• Zhu Yilong – actor

Other fields

• Saint Francis Regis Clet was martyred here
• Hua Mulan – Ancient Chinese heroine whose story has been passed through ages in China and has been presented in a great number of books and motion pictures, including the Disney animated feature Mulan (1998).
• Samuel David Hawkins - American soldier in the Korean War who was captured by the North, subsequently defected to China at the time of the Korean Armistice Agreement. He worked as a mechanic in Wuhan until 1957.
• Xinhai Revolution
• Xiong Bingkun [zh] (熊秉坤) – the soldier who started and led the Wuhan Uprising in the Chinese Revolution of 1911 which gave birth to the Republic of China, Asia's first republic country.
• Zhong Ziqi – The best friend of Yu Boya, an ancient Chinese musician whose musical composition "Flowing Water" was included on the Voyager Golden Record
• Ai Jingjing – Chinese novelist.

Sister cities

Wuhan is

Wuhan

Ōita

Pittsburgh

5

1

Galați

Kyiv

Khartoum

7

4

Cheongju

6

Christchurch

Markham

Kópavogur

Ashdod

3

İzmir

Tijuana

Saratov

Concepción

Bishkek

Chalcis

Izhevsk

2

Entebbe

Bangkok

class=notpageimage|

Sister cities of Wuhan
1. Manchester 2. Swansea 3. Essonne 4. Bordeaux 5. Duisburg 6. Sankt Pölten 7. Győr

City	Country	Since
Ōita	Japan	September 7, 1979
Pittsburgh	United States	September 8, 1982
Duisburg	Germany	October 8, 1982
Manchester	United Kingdom	September 16, 1986[233]
Galați	Romania	August 12, 1987
Kyiv	Ukraine	October 19, 1990
Khartoum	Sudan	September 27, 1995
Győr	Hungary	October 19, 1995
Bordeaux[234]	France	June 18, 1998
Cheongju	South Korea	October 29, 2000
Sankt Pölten	Austria	December 20, 2005
Christchurch[235]	New Zealand	April 4, 2006
Markham	Canada	September 12, 2006
Kópavogur	Iceland	April 25, 2008
Ashdod[236]	Israel	November 8, 2011
Essonne (not a city but a department)[237]	France	December 21, 2012
İzmir	Turkey	June 6, 2013
Tijuana[238]	Mexico	July 12, 2013[239]
Saratov[240]	Russia	August 7, 2015
Concepción[241]	Chile	April 7, 2016
Bishkek	Kyrgyzstan	November 15, 2016
Chalcis	Greece	May 11, 2017
Izhevsk	Russia	June 16, 2017
Swansea[242]	Wales	January 31, 2018
Entebbe	Uganda	April 13, 2018
Bangkok[243]	Thailand	November 16, 2018

And Wuhan has friendly exchange relationships with:^[244]

City	Country	Since
Kobe	Japan	February 16, 1998
Hirosaki	Japan	October 17, 2003
St. Louis	United States	September 27, 2004
Atlanta	United States	September 9, 2006
Daejeon	South Korea	November 1, 2006
Gwangju	South Korea	September 6, 2007
Kolkata	India	July 24, 2008
Suwon	South Korea	December 5, 2008
Taebaek	South Korea	December 5, 2008
Columbus	United States	October 30, 2009
Bremen	Germany	November 6, 2009
Port Louis	Mauritius	November 10, 2009
Cebu City	Philippines	August 19, 2011
Yogyakarta	Indonesia	November 12, 2011
Perm	Russia	September 10, 2012
Chicago	United States	September 20, 2012
Košice	Slovakia	November 6, 2012
Naples	Italy	September 18, 2012
Moselle	France	July 16, 2013
San Francisco	United States	November 21, 2013
Siem Reap Province	Cambodia	November 21, 2013
Biratnagar	Nepal	November 21, 2013
Bangkok	Thailand	November 21, 2013
Częstochowa	Poland	March 14, 2014
Oliveira de Azeméis	Portugal	April 11, 2014
Sydney	Australia	May 30, 2014
Durban	South Africa	June 2014
Burlingame	United States	June 23, 2014
Menlo Park	United States	June 23, 2014
Cupertino	United States	June 23, 2014
East Palo Alto	United States	June 23, 2014
Hayward	United States	June 23, 2014
Millbrae	United States	June 23, 2014
Moraga	United States	June 23, 2014
Morgan Hill	United States	June 23, 2014
Mountain View	United States	June 23, 2014
Oakley	United States	June 23, 2014
Union City	United States	June 23, 2014
Betong	Thailand	June 25, 2014
Salo	Finland	August 25, 2014
Gävle	Sweden	August 27, 2014
Patan	Nepal	October 20, 2014
Pattaya	Thailand	October 24, 2014
Berane	Montenegro	October 24, 2014
Córdoba	Argentina	October 24, 2014
Liège	Belgium	October 29, 2014
Lille	France	November 3, 2014
Holbæk	Denmark	November 24, 2014
Heraklion	Greece	December 11, 2014
Cape Town	South Africa	December 9, 2014
São Luís	Brazil	April 29, 2015
Varaždin	Croatia	May 7, 2015
Kota Kinabalu	Malaysia	May 20, 2015
Erdőkertes, Pest Megye	Hungary	July 4, 2015
Gold Coast	Australia	September 29, 2015
Le Mans	France	November 1, 2015
Southern Province	Sri Lanka	December 3, 2015
Galle	Sri Lanka	December 5, 2015
Mungyeong	South Korea	December 22, 2015
Daegu	South Korea	March 25, 2016
Tacoma	United States	April 5, 2016
Lima	Peru	April 8, 2016
Tabriz	Iran	May 28, 2016
Marrakesh	Morocco	June 3, 2016
Phnom Penh	Cambodia	July 11, 2016
Dublin	Ireland	September 5, 2016
Houston	United States	September 10, 2016
Jinja	Uganda	September 20, 2016
Pucallpa	Peru	September 20, 2016
Maribor	Slovenia	September 23, 2016
Montego Bay	Jamaica	September 28, 2016
Victoria	Seychelles	October 17, 2016
Kemi	Finland	November 25, 2016
San Nicolás de los Arroyos	Argentina	December 16, 2016
Foz do Iguaçu	Brazil	March 9, 2017
Dunkirk	France	March 20, 2017
Jihlava	Czech Republic	May 10, 2017
Brest	Belarus	August 29, 2017
Zhytomyr	Ukraine	November 14, 2017
Marseille	France	November 20, 2017
Herstal	Belgium	May 21, 2018
Fergana	Uzbekistan	October 14, 2018

Former Twinnings

The city of Arnhem has unilaterally ended its twinning with Wuhan on July 21, 2021, citing concerns about the persecution of Uyghurs in China.^[245]

City	Country	From	Until
Arnhem	Netherlands	September 6, 1999	July 21, 2021

Nature and wildlife

In Chinese mythology, the Baiji ("Yangtze River dolphin") has many origin stories. In one legend, the Baiji was the daughter of a general who was deported from the city of Wuhan during a war. During his duty, the daughter ran away. Later, the general met a woman who told him how her father was a general, and when he realized that she was his daughter, he threw himself into the river out of shame. The daughter ran after him and also fell into the river. Before they were drowned, the daughter was transformed into a dolphin, and the general a porpoise.^[246]

See also

• Historical capitals of China
• List of cities in the People's Republic of China by population
• List of current and former capitals of subnational entities of China

Notes

References