Brief Introduction to Wuhan

The City of Wuhan, located in the heart of China is, economically and geographically, the major city in central China. It is also, of course, the capital of Hubei Province. The large Han river converges in Wuhan with the mighty Yangtze River, the longest river in China. Together, they divide the city into the three townships of Wuchang, Hankou and Hanyang. The City with a present population of 9.2 million occupies an overall land area of 8494 square kilometers. Wuhan is well endowed with a beautiful natural landscape backdrop of mountains, rivers and lakes. The special features of rivers and lakes gives the city very unique urban characteristics. There are, for example, 166 large and small lakes both in the city and its immediate surrounding metropolitan area. The water area alone, accounts for about 25% of the total area. This freshwater resource, expressed as a ratio per person, is 11 times more than the average amount available anywhere else in the world.

Wuhan has a long history stretching back as it does more than 3500 years. With its 115 historical and cultural sites in the main urban area all of which are under Government protection rather than under Municipal control, Wuhan is  therefore well- known as one of China’s historical and cultural cities. In the late Qing Dynasty, Zhang Zhidong founded the Hanyang Iron Works and textile mill in Wuhan, which heralded the arrival of modern industry in China. The 1911 Revolution broke out here, which effectively brought the thousand-year-old feudal system in China to an end and established democratic government for, perhaps, the first time. There are numerous famous sites in the city, scenic locations, historical areas and structures such as the Yellow Crane Tower, the Ancient Guqin Terrace and Qingchuan Pavilion and the famous East Lake Scenic Beauty Spot.

The City has a comprehensive and advantageous traffic and transport integrated infrastructure in Wuhan which includes aviation, railways, highways and waterways. An international  airport, the biggest deepwater port in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and one of the top four railway terminals in the country make the city one of the major passenger transport hubs of China. There are 108 scientific research institutions and more than one million college students which, together, firmly establish Wuhan as the third largest educational and scientific centre in China.

Last year  an article on 'Wuhan's metropolitan development' written by ISOCARP Members Bert Smolders and Jos Verweij and their Chinese colleague Huan Huang was published in the journal Scape ('Scape 2, pp. 36-39).