Wuhan

 

Wuhan or 武汉 in mandarin Chinese or Wǔhàn in pinyin is the capital city of Hubei province and is central China’s most heavily populated city with around 11 million inhabitants. It is at the point where the Han River joins the Yangtze and is a conglomeration of three cities (Wuchang, Hankou and Hanyang) to form one large city of Wuhan.

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The Birth of Wuhan

Wuhan (or its three cities) has over 3500 years of history; it is one of China’s most ancient and civilized metropolitan cities. Hanyang was a busy port on the Yangtze River with city walls built to protect the city in AD206. Across the river, Wuchang built a city wall in AD223 and the Yellow Crane Tower 黄鹤楼. By the 8th century this building was the most celebrated one in central China mostly through the poems of Cui Hao. Wuchang became the provincial capital and Hankou, one of China’s top four towns for trade.

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The introduction of the railway in the 19th century made an important gain in trade for both rail and river trade with foreign investment through concessions along the riverfront. The railways to the north were operated out of Hankou and Hanyang, with Wuchang operating the southern routes. At that time there were no bridges across the Yangtze, so ferrying people and goods was a slow but lucrative business.

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Wuhan in the 20th Century

The Wuchang Uprising began on the 10th of October, 1911, led by followers of Sun Yat-sen it led to the collapse of the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China being established. During the 1920’s Wuhan was the capital of the Kuomintang government in opposition to Chiang Kai-shek’s nationalist government. The fall of Nanking in December 1937 during the Second Sino-Japanese War led to Wuhan again becoming the capital until being overrun by the Japanese in 1938 after several air strikes and the Battle of Wuhan. The city was mostly destroyed by the US Air Force in 1944 to rid the city of the Japanese.

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Bridging the Yangtze

The Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge (completed in 1957) was the first crossing point upstream of the mouth of the river. It is 1,670 metres in length, built in two levels; the top level is a road bridge, while below it is a double-track railway. The bridge enabled trains to complete a single journey from the northern cities of China to the south. By the year 2005 there were 56 road and rail bridges crossing the Yangtze River, with new bridges being built or in the planning stages. In Wuhan alone, there are now seven bridges and two tunnels.

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The Furnace City

The climate in Wuhan is described as humid subtropical with mild spring and autumn weather, cool winters with occasional flurries of snow. The city is known for its oppressively hot summers, it is renowned as one of the Four Furnace cities of China, together with Chongqing, Nanchang and Nanjing. The January average is 4C, while the average in July is around 30C, it often tops 40C during the summer months. Even now in late September it can be above 30C. Wuhan gets a lot of rain, particularly in the summer months, last year (2016), lots of the city was flooded which led to major problems with many areas under several feet of water.

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Which Railway Station?

Wuhan has three major train stations, Hankou to the north of the Yangtze River, Wuchang south east of the river and Wuhan in the north east of the city. The stations are a long way from each other so it is important to ensure you go to the correct one. Originally, Hankou station served trains to and from the north, while Wuchang served those to and from the south. Since the construction of bridges over the river both stations serve trains going in all directions, including some high speed trains.

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Wuhan Railway Station opened in 2009, primarily to serve the high speed passenger train network, with trains to Guangzhou taking less than four hours, and regular fast trains to Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing among others. Wuhan has an intercity service to several nearby commuter cities including Xiaogan, Huangshi and Yichang, the first of these commuter lines  to open connected Wuchang to Xianning in 2013.

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Wuhan Metro

Wuhan became the fifth mainland city in China with a metro system when its first 10.2 kilometre section opened in July 2004. The second phase extended the length to 28.8 km in 2010. Line two opened in 2012, extending the system to 56.85km and was the first metro line in China to cross the Yangtze River. Line 4 opened in 2013, giving a connection between Wuhan and Wuchang Railway Stations, this meant all three of Wuhan’s major railway stations were connected through the metro system.

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On average, the daily number of passengers is 1.5 to 2 million; the highest figure on a particular day was on December 31st 2016 with over 3 million passengers. By the end of 2017, seven urban lines and two suburban lines will be in operation, totaling 273.1 km or almost 170 miles. The long term plan is for 25 lines, in total over 1,000 km or 649 miles, making Wuhan’s rail transit system one of the largest in the world by 2049.

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Tourism

China’s largest lake within a city is in Wuchang, East Lake is six times larger than the more famous West Lake in Hangzhou. In the spring the area around the lake is full of cherry blossom and the lotus flower. There are several gardens with a long history as well as ancient monuments dating from the Chu Kingdom.

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The Hubei Provincial Museum is home to more than 200,000 artifacts and is one of China’s leading museums. There are artifacts from Marquis Yi’s tomb, dating from the 5th century BC that are considered to be unique world treasures. A bell chime that was discovered in 1978 dates from the Warring States period of Chinese history and weighs more than 5 tons. It still plays perfectly.

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The Yellow Crane Tower was originally built in 220AD, over the centuries it has been destroyed and rebuilt several times, the last time was in 1884. It had a complete reconstruction in 1981 including an elevator enabling disabled visitors to gain access to the upper levels. Wuhan’s Happy Valley theme park opened in 2012 with many rides suitable for all ages. There are lots of shopping areas across the city, Guanggu Square (Optic Valley), Zhongnan Road, Zhongshan Park being some of the most popular. Jiqing Street (吉庆街) is home to lots of roadside restaurants and street performers in the evening.

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Popular Local Foods

I have lived in Wuhan for over three years and locals will say how wonderful their local delicacies are, however I am not so impressed, I think other provinces have better tasting and varieties  of food, (just  my opinion).

Hot and Dry Noodles, Re-gan mian (热干面) are long, freshly boiled noodles combined in a sesame paste with optional spices to increase the hot taste. Re means hot and gan dry. Many people in Wuhan will eat this for their breakfast. Wuhan is also famous for its style of Duck’s neck or Ya Bozi (鸭脖子), it is a spicy version of duck necks. Soup Dumpling or Xiaolongtangbao（小笼汤包）these thinly skinned dumplings are made of flour, filled with meat, steamed and served in a soup.

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My Opinion on Wuhan

I think Wuhan is a great city, definitely too hot in the summer but a good base to easily get to other cities across China. The city itself has good public transport systems in buses, metro and local commuter trains. On a downside, it is very crowded and travelling on the roads can be very time consuming. I live a little over 20 km from the city centre, it can take over two hours to get there by bus, luckily I live close to a local commuter train line, and using that I can be in Wuchang in a little over 20 minutes. A tram system is currently being constructed and once it is fully operational this will ease some of the traffic from the roads.

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Before I arrived in Wuhan I had heard it was a heavily polluted city with poor air quality, I must say that is not the case, I have seen more clear skies here than in any other city in China, the air quality here is very good all year round.

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