Travel Guide Wuhan 武汉

The capital of Hubei Province and 12 th City of China in terms of demography, Wuhan is one of China's most important urban centers, the largest river port in the country, and the 2 nd metropolis of the Yangtse River Basin. Located at the confluence of the Changjiang (Blue River) and Hanshui (Han River), Wuhan is a conurbation composed of three original cities: Wuchang, Hanyang and Hankou. The establishment of man in the region dates back to 3,000 years.HistoryDuring the period of Kingdoms (453-221 B.C.), Wuhan developed through the river, a single transport route within the Kingdom of Chu which stretched over the entire medium and low Yangtse. From the Han dynasty (206 BC to 220 ap. The city becomes an important economic, cultural and political center, prefectural headquarters. Under the Ming, Wuhan is already the 4 th urban center of China. Hankou is the most recent entity of the three and the fastest growing entity, assuming a role of engine during the modern period. In 1861, following the second opium war, Hankou was open to foreign powers, with five countries making concessions along the river: England, France, Germany, Russia and Japan. At the end of the nineteenth century, the city became an industrial hub: the first modern steel mill was established in Hanyang in 1891 and many industries developed simultaneously (mills, shipyards). Hankou becomes the business center and center of Wuhan, relegating Wuchang and Hanyang to the periphery. The Japanese advance stops the exemplary development of this metropolis.After liberation in 1949, the first five-year plan (1953-1957) determined a heavy industrial location in Wuhan: mechanical and chemical industries. And at the heart of the project is a steel combination, started during the first five-year plan and to which the Sino-Soviet break and the withdrawal of Russian experts will end. The site will finally be completed in the 1960 s and modernized in the late 1970 s thanks to Western knowledge (Germany, Switzerland, Austria).TodayToday, Wuhan has 9.1 million inhabitants (including 4 million intra-muros) for a total area of 8,467.11 km ². Many foreign companies have chosen to settle in this metropolis, a real hub in central China: Coca-Cola, Citroën, Schneider.