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Wuhan is a sub-provincial city located in Hubei Province. The most populous city in central China.

Wuhan in facts and figures

  • 7th largest city in China
  • Urban population – 9.7 million people
  • The city's GDP is 551.5 billion yuan
  • GDP per capita – 45,000 yuan
  • Average net income – 16360 yuan
  • Investments – 3.3. billion $ per year
  • A third of all investments in the city are French
  • Import – 9.3 billion, export – $8.75 billion
  • There are 5,973 enterprises in the city with a share of foreign investment
  • The hottest city in the country with high humidity
  • 35 educational institutions, including Wuhan University, one of the top 10 best universities in the country
  • 350 research institutes
  • More than 50 French companies
  • Citroen cars are produced in the city
  • Top 5 companies in the city:

Dongfeng Automobile Co: development, production of commercial vehicles.

Wuhan Iron & Steel Co: production and distribution of metal and steel products.

China Gezhouba Group Co: general construction contractor.

Wuhan Department Store Group Co: the largest retailer in the region.

Jointown Pharmaceutical Group Co: sale of medicines and honey. equipment.

Geography and climate

The city of Wuhan consists of 3 parts - Wuchang, Hankou, Hanyang, which were previously independent cities. That’s why they are often called the “Three Cities of Wuhan.” The area of ​​the city is 8567 square meters. km.

The climate in Wuhan is subtropical, with monsoons and extremely high humidity - up to 70% and above. When temperatures exceed 25 degrees in summer, it becomes barely bearable. But the temperature can reach even 32 degrees, which will make staying outside, even in the shade, simply dangerous to health. Along with Nanjing and Chongqing, it is one of the “three furnaces of China” due to its extremely hot climate, especially in the summer. The weather in Wuhan is a test for the prepared.

Summer

In summer it is very hot, sometimes unbearable, and all the townspeople spend time in buildings, rarely going outside. Consumption drinking water increases from 1.5 to 3 liters per person.

Autumn

Velvet season for traveling to Wuhan, which begins in late September. The average temperature sometimes drops by exactly 2 times, which immediately feels positive: a moderately cool wind blows, the weather is clear, and sometimes it rains lightly.

Winter

Winter here, by Russian standards, is quite warm: the thermometer rarely shows below 5-6 degrees Celsius, and there is almost no snow, with rare exceptions. But seasonal winds blow, which either raise or lower the overall temperature.

Spring

An exemplary spring begins in mid-April: nature blooms, seasonal allergies appear, as does the flow of tourists. But if you go, it’s best in the fall.

Story

People first appeared in Wuhan 3000 years ago. During the Han Dynasty, Hanyang, a town founded at the confluence of the Yangtze and Han, became an important port. Subsequently, in the 3rd century, separate walls were erected to protect Wuchang and Hanyang. This happened in 223 and 206 years, respectively. As the history and practice of urban planning of those years shows, the construction of a wall around a village means its automatic growth to the size of a city. Under Mongol rule, Wuhan became the capital of Huguang Province, which included Hubei and Hunan.

In the 1700s, Hankou began to lead the region and developed into one of the top 4 trading cities in the country at the time. An important trade commodity was tea, which was grown for export throughout Huguang Province. In the south of modern Hubei, in the territory of Chibi County, Yangloudun tea was grown, which was known in Mongolia and Russia.

After the Second Opium War, foreign trading companies appeared in Hankou. German, French, English, Russian and Japanese concessions operated in the city. In 1860, Kazan merchant Nikolai Ivanov arrived in Hankou and became the Russian consul. In 1873, a brick tea factory was founded in Hankou, which became the world's largest tea producer. The greatest success in the tea business was achieved by Russian merchants, who quickly launched the production of tea in a convenient form of bars, which could be transported at a time by an order of magnitude more than tea in bags, as was customary among Europeans.

In 1911, the Wuchang Uprising occurred, which disbanded the Qing dynasty and established a republic in China. In the 1920s, Wuhan was the capital of the Kuomintang. In 1938, the Battle of Wuhan took place, in which many Soviet volunteer pilots took part, acting together with the Chinese communists against Japanese imperialism. The Japanese nevertheless took the city and made it a springboard for operations in South China. In 1944, the Americans bombed the city and Wuhan was seriously damaged - more than half of the city had to be rebuilt.

In 1967, Wuhan became the site of the Cultural Revolution, which led to clashes within the ranks of the Red Guards. In 1969, after the active intervention of divisions from Beijing, the Red Guards were disbanded and in the city, and throughout the country as a whole, there was a tendency towards the industrialization of the once entirely agricultural country.

Administrative division

The city consists of 6 districts and 7 suburbs, which together form a single Wuhan:


Transport

Wuhan is a major transport hub in all of central China. Therefore, the transport network here is highly developed.

Water transport

Wuhan is one of the largest intermediate ports along the entire Yangtze River. Passenger ships regularly operate between Wuhan and Shanghai and Chongqing. Since according to inland waters It is prohibited to transport people at high speeds (also due to large number ships), the number of passengers has increased significantly over the past 2-3 years. But ships leave the port every day, so you will always have time to take your cruise along the Yangtze. Just in case, the port number is: 027-82839546.

Bus

Highways from Wuhan diverge in all directions, and these are high-speed, broadband routes, the quality of construction of which is not much different from exemplary German autobahns. There are several stations in the city:

  • Jinjiadong: number 027-85870482 (Fajian Avenue, opposite Hankou Railway Station).
  • Fujiapo: Wuchang station, number 027-87274817 (262, Wuliao, Wuchang).
  • Long distance station: number 027-85792444 (Qinghua Road, Hankou).
  • Hongji: number 027-88074968 (located next to Wuchang railway station).

Urban transport

The city is served by electric buses, simple buses, metro, taxis and special tricycle taxis.

The price of a bus ride is usually 2 yuan, but all signs are usually only in English, and seats are a little more common than... never. Taxi is traditionally the most affordable form of transport for tourists who want to be more mobile and not have to wait for a crowded bus to arrive. The starting price is 3 yuan per kilometer, 5 yuan for 2 kilometers and 8 yuan for 3 km. For each subsequent kilometer, from 3 to 7 km - 1.4 yuan, and for a travel distance over 7 km - 2.1 yuan for each kilometer traveled. Always ask for a receipt in a taxi, also make sure that the taxi takes you according to the meter, without verbal agreements on the part of the driver!

Railway transport

Wuhan is one of the four main railway hubs in China, located at the crossroads of the Beijing-Guangzhou and Hankou-Danjiankou lines. Trains depart from Wuhan every day to every city in Hubei Province. The most popular destinations are Beijing, Shanghai, Harbin, Urumqi, Luoyang, Chongqing, Xi'an, Kunming, Chengdu, Liuzhou, Guangzhou, Nanchian, Hefei. Every day more than 70 trains depart from the station, and 120 pass by. A high-speed train runs between Wuhan and 7 cities, taking you to Guangzhou and Zhengzhou in 4 hours, and Beijing in 9 hours. There are 3 main railway stations in Wuhan:


Metropolitan

The Wuhan metro is mistakenly classified as a light rail system (tram, electric car). There are currently 3 lines in the city, but a total of 7 are planned:

Blue line U1: length 28.9 km, 27 stations. The entire line is located in Hankou and does not cross any rivers. Between 2007 and 2010, 15 stations were put into operation. Two stations have not yet been launched.

Pink Line U2: An underground line that runs under the Yangtze through a tunnel. Connects Wuchang with Hankou, the length of the line is 28 km, consists of 21 stations.

Light Green Line U4: connects Wuchang and Hanyang districts, first 15 stations opened on December 28, 2013. A total of 28 stations are planned on a 30 km section, with this being the second line under the Yangtze.

Subway problems

The metro in Wuhan has received criticism due to the fact that the city is heavily congested with traffic and cannot withstand constant traffic jams. Parts of the city are connected by bridges, which are also often congested, as clearly seen in the connection between Hankou and Wuchang. Initially, it was planned to lay metro lines over the former railway directly along the overpass, but the route today does not meet the requirements of the city, since only 20,000 trips are made per day instead of half a million planned. Substantively speaking, the following metro problems can be identified:


Airport

Wuhan - Tianhe Airport was opened on April 15, 1995. It replaced the old Hankou and Nanhu airports, which served flights to Wuhan. The airport is located in the suburban Huangpi district, 26 km north of the center of Wuhan. It is the busiest airport in central China as it is located at the hub of all air routes in China. The airport receives flights from Chinese airlines Air China, China Southern Airlines, and China Eastern Airlines. In September 2014, China Southern Airlines announced the launch of direct flights to San Francisco. In 2010, the airport handled nearly 12 million passengers, placing it 14th on the list of China's busiest airports.

Terminals

Terminal 2 is currently the main terminal of Tianhe Airport and only serves domestic flights. It handles 13 million passengers and 320,000 tons of cargo annually. Today the airport serves 100 domestic air destinations. Terminal 1 was closed in 2010 after serving international flights for 2 years. Terminal 3 is currently under construction, which will be connected to the city by a direct road, railway connections (tram, electric car) and a metro station. There is also a project to convert the Shanpo military airfield, located in the southern suburbs of the Jiangxia region, into a commercial one - as an option, the city will acquire another airport.

Attractions

Despite the modern appearance, the pace of construction and expansion of the building area, Wuhan, the city's attractions demonstrate a commitment to tradition and history, which is felt in dozens of iconic places in the city:

Guiyuan Temple

It is one of the 4 largest Buddhist temples in Hubei Province. The temple was built in 1658 by the monk Bai Guang. The name of the temple translated means “to achieve nirvana.” Inside, the temple consists of 5 courtyards: central and one on 4 cardinal directions. The temple complex also includes a Lotus Pond and a restaurant. Inside the temple there are 200 halls and almost 47,000 square meters area. The Arhat Hall houses 500 statues of Buddhist saints, and the statues are made in comical poses, unconventional appearances with different facial expressions, among which no two are alike.

Wuhan University

Located in Wuchang, on the shores of the East Lake. It was founded in 1893, when Zhang Zhidong, the governor of Hubei Province, received permission from the emperor himself to open in Wuhan educational institution in a Western manner. In 2000, other universities from the province were united around Wuhan University. In 1928 received the status national university. In 1946, the university consisted of 21 faculties and 8 research institutes. The area of ​​the establishment, including the territory, is 3.36 km2. The university is also a natural arboretum, as more than 800 plant species grow on its territory.

East Lake

A park located in the suburbs of Wuchang. From 87 sq. 33 km of the park area is occupied by the lake. More than 3 million plants grow in the park 372 various types. The park's groves are home to 80 species of birds, and the lake is home to the rarest fish. The park is divided into 6 thematic areas: Millstone Hill, White Horse, Chudi, Tintao, Wild Diving Goose, Luhon Hills. In the west of the park is the monument “Tomb of Nine Brave Women”, where nine female soldiers who died during the peasant war against the Manchus of the Qing Dynasty, which lasted 14 years - from 1850 to 1864, are buried. Qing troops attacked the peasant opposition and left only 9 women alive. But the latter did not want to join the ranks of the Qing army and committed suicide. The most popular and more romantic place in the park is the “Garden of Friendship”, where volunteers plant young trees.

Hubei Provincial Museum

Located in the Wuchang area. In the entire Hubei province, this is the only local history museum containing such a large collection of relics. Remarkably, 812 items from his collection are considered national treasures. The museum is divided into 3 parts:


Mao Zedong's Villa

The villa is located on the shores of the East Lake. From the letters of the chairman of the CCP, you can find out that the villa was called “the house of white clouds and yellow cranes.” The modest building is surrounded entirely by pine trees, plum trees, bamboo and groves, among which winds a path along which the Great Mao loved to walk in the evenings. The villa was opened to the public in 1993.

The villa consists of 3 parts:

1. Private apartment.

Here the Chairman met with world leaders, including President Nixon and Secretary of State Kessinger. It was while in the apartment that Mao Zedong wrote his famous poem “Swimming”. The apartment consists of a bedroom, reception room, living room and dining room. The bedroom is very simple, almost ascetic: Mao’s bathrobe still hangs next to the large bed, and his and his wife’s slippers hang. In the dining room there are chairs with emerald-colored velvet upholstery, plum-colored carpets on the floor, and a purple tablecloth on the table.

2. Assembly hall.

In the hall there are hundreds of chairs upholstered in red fabric. In the foyer there is a wicker chair, above which hangs a painting in which Mao is sitting on this now empty chair. True, tourists sit down and take pictures not without pleasure.

3. Swimming pool.

In the third building there is a swimming pool with 6 lanes, 30 meters long.

Bridge over the Yangtze

For hundreds of years there was not a single bridge across the Yangtze - only ferry crossings. In 1955, construction began on a bridge that two years later connected Snake Hill in Wuchang with Turtle Hill in Hanyang. The length of the bridge is 1700 meters. The lower level of the bridge is for trains, and the upper level is for cars. The width of the roadway is 18 meters. There was a strong earthquake in 2008, but the bridge was not damaged in any way. The bridge is actively visited by tourists, who can climb one of the 7-story towers at both ends of the bridge and look at the entire area. After crossing the bridge, tourists find themselves on Xi Men Kou, a popular Wuhan alley filled with restaurants and shops.

There is also a second cable-stayed bridge with a total length of 4678 meters and a width of up to 33.5 m, carrying 50,000 cars per day. From the first bridge to the southwest, 8.6 km away, there is a third bridge, built between 1997 and 2000. The length of the bridge is 3586 m, width is 26.5 m.

Yellow Crane Tower

Huanghalou (Yellow Crane Tower) was built on the slope of Snake Mountain in 223 BC. The tower is considered one of the 3 largest in all of Southern China. According to legend, on the site of the tower there was once a tavern, where an old man often came to drink wine. The tavern owner never demanded money from the old man, since he was poor. But one day the old man decided to thank the owner of the tavern: he took an orange peel and drew a crane on the wall of the establishment. In front of guests, all the owner had to do was clap his hands, and the bird’s drawing would come to life and amuse all visitors. Ten years later, the old man appeared again, called the crane, perched on its back and flew into the sky. After the old wizard, no one saw him. In memory of that magic, the already rich shop owner built the Yellow Crane Tower. The tower was built during the era of the Three Kingdoms. Throughout its history, the tower was destroyed to the ground and rebuilt again. Last time it was rebuilt in 1984 and opened to tourists a year later.

Today the tower is a five-tiered structure 52 meters high. On each tier of the tower there is an exhibition on a certain topic: on the 2nd - the legend of the yellow crane, on the 3rd - poems about the tower, on the 4th - a shop with souvenirs. The Yellow Crane Tower is considered a symbol of the city and appears in most pictures and photographs of its views.

Restaurants and cafes

In Wuhan there are thousands of establishments where tourists will be offered absolutely everything that Chinese cuisine is rich in. The city also has plenty of the usual Chinese fast food of noodles and dumplings, as well as a purely Western approach in the form of French fries and burgers. But if you want to visit a special establishment and feel like a “white man”, then we give you a small list of excellent establishments in Wuhan:

  • Lao Hankou: The restaurant serves strictly Hunan cuisine - steamed ribs with millet, tofu dumplings, tofu with beef - nyuru dupi, glutinous rice cake, fried sea dragon, milk custard. Address: 1st Floor, Xunlimen Jinmao Building, 8 Hanjiang North Road, Jianghan District.


  • Guandong Shanghui: The restaurant will exclusively offer Cantonese dishes and desserts. Cantonese tea is served morning and evening with shrimp dumplings, BBQ pork buns and steamed chicken feet, which are very popular among locals. Ground pork broth with pickled eggs and crispy durian cake are also on the list of the most popular dishes. Address: Ximu Grand Hotel, 22 Xinhua Xia Road, Jianghan District.
  • Hujin Restaurant: serves dishes of a provincial - Hubei origin. The signature dish is spicy bullfrog. Other equally popular dishes include crispy spiced ribs, lotus root pork ribs soup, fried chang fish, crab cream tofu and roast duck. Address: 105 Wuchang Bayi Road, Wuchang District.
  • Thailand Gold Orchid Revolving Restaurant: a high-rise Asian-style restaurant with very spicy dishes - crab curry, tom yum goong soup with chicken and shrimp, and also serves salmon. Address: 42nd Floor Howard Johnson Pearl Plaza, 182 Hankou Yanjiang Avenue, Jiang'an District.


  • Colorful Cloud Pavillion: Cantonese food is hard to come by in the city. The restaurant specializes in Cantonese cuisine: crispy durian cake, hupo jima shrimp, and bamboo sesame shrimp are popular dishes. Address: Building 2, Wuhan Tiandi, 68 Lugou Qiao Road, Jiang'an District.
  • Taizi Restaurant: Mostly serves Hubei cuisine. Roast duck, garlic pork ribs, steamed scallops, sea dragon, mushroom soup and shrimp tofu are recommended dishes. Address: 711 Jianshe Avenue, Jiang'an District.
  • Kouwei Hall Restaurant: Traditional Chinese style inside, spicy Hubei dishes - kuwei yutu fish head cooked with green chilies and similar spicy delights. Address: Te 1 Wuchang Zhuodaoquan, Hongshan District.
  • Cangqiao family Japanese restaurant: a family Japanese restaurant that offers a large selection of sushi and rolls, excellent noodles. All dishes are extremely tasty and edible. Address: 8th Floor Qunguang Square, 6 Luoyu Road, Hongshan District.
  • Shishang Fang: A little expensive restaurant, but popular. Recommended dishes are Chinese sweet potato with blueberries and dongpo meat. Address: Grace Garden Hotel, Donghu North Open Economic Zone, Hongshan District.


  • Goya: The menu includes excellent French dishes, such as escargot, fillet steak, garlic bread, tiramisu, pumpkin pudding with caramel. Address: 153 Qingnian Road, Jianghan District.
  • Gianos: A quiet and cozy Western restaurant whose best dish is pizza. Address: Building 1, Chuangye Street, Hongshan District.
  • Dream Italian Restaurant: football memorabilia hangs on the walls, and the menu includes pizza, pasta, creamy soups, the prices are very affordable. Address: 2nd floor Huarong Hotel, 26 Yunlin Street, Jiang'an District.

Shopping in Wuhan

Since Wuhan is considered one of the record-breaking cities in terms of retail trade, rest assured that you can buy anything in the city. And now specifically about iconic shopping places:

  • Clothing: Chicony (6, Luoyu Road, Hongshan), Wuhan Tiandi (Lugouqiao Road, Jianghan), New World Department Store (634, Jiefang Avenue, Jianghan), Wuhan International Square Shopping Center (690, Jiefang Avenue, Jianghan).
  • Furniture and housekeeping: Carpenter Tan (Wansongyuan Road, Jianghan), Uneei (1-4, Building 9 in Wuhan Tiandi, No.68, Lugouqiao Road, Jiang'an).
  • Electronics: Computer World (39, Luoyu Road, Guangbu Village, Hongshan), Huazhong Mall Computer and Digital Products (158, Luoyu Road, Hongshan).

Shopping centers


  1. Wuhan Plaza: Located on Hankoujiefang Avenue. A large shopping center offering an area of ​​80,000 sq. m well-known brands designed for the middle and upper classes.
  2. Wuhan Shopping Mall: Also located on Hankoujiefang Avenue. On the ground floor there is a supermarket, on the second and third floors there are “flagship” stores that sell furniture, decorative items and a variety of home appliances.
  3. Hanshanxinwuzhan Shopping Plaza: Part of the Wuhan International Convention and Exhibition Center.
  4. Triumphal Arch Plaza: located on east Wuchangxu Road, all kinds of clothing brands are sold on the 2nd and 4th floors, and home appliances on the 5th floor.
  5. Zhongnan Business Building: Branch of China Business Shopping Linkage Corporation. Don't be confused by such an official name - this is one of the largest department stores in Wuhan.
  6. Qunguang Plaza: 88,000 square meters of shops offering entirely imported goods.
  7. Asian Trade Plaza: Located at the foot of Hongshan Mountain in Wuchang. It is owned by the Wuchang Group, which for 5 years in a row was the second most important enterprise in the city with economic influence and is one of the 100 strongest enterprises in the world. There are 12 thematic shopping areas in the center.


Conclusion

Wuhan, like all millionaire cities in China, is an interesting fusion of the Western approach to life and Chinese traditions, which together give birth to the notorious “economic miracle”. But if we discard all kinds of five-year plans and the gigantic pace of construction, Wuhan appears as a modern multifaceted city, which has all the opportunities for education, professional growth, as well as for tourist pastime. Just don’t forget that it’s better not to come here in the summer - it’s too hot...

WUHAN(inf.) (Chinese: 武汉, pinyin: Wǔhàn) - a city of sub-provincial significance in Hubei Province of the People's Republic of China, administrative center Hubei Province, the most populous city in central China. It stands at the confluence of the Yangtze and Han rivers.

Geography

View from the Yellow Crane Tower located on Snake Hill (Sheshan) in Wuchang. In the background is the First Yangtze Bridge and Turtle Hill (Guishan) in Hanyang with TV tower
The territory of the metropolis consists of 3 parts - Wuchang (武昌, Wuchang), Hankou (汉口, Hankou) and Hanyang (汉阳, Hanyang), which together are called the “Wuhan Tricity”. These three parts stand opposite each other on different banks of the rivers, they are connected by bridges, one of which is considered the first modern bridge in China and is simply called the “First Bridge”. The city center is flat, while the southern part is hilly.

The city is surrounded by lakes and swamps, formed partly from the remains of the old bed of the Yangtze River; access through the lake zone is carried out by dams. Outside the lake area, the city is surrounded by a traffic ring.

Administrative division

The sub-provincial city of Wuhan is divided into 13 districts:

Story

People settled in the area more than 3,000 years ago. During the Han Dynasty, Hanyang, located at the confluence of the Han and Yangtze rivers, became an important port. In the 3rd century, walls were built to protect Hanyang (206) and Wuchang (223). This event is considered the founding of Wuhan. In 223, the Yellow Crane Tower (黄鹤楼) was built on the right bank of the Yangtze, on the Wuchang side. The city has long been famous as a center of the arts (especially poetry) and sciences. Under the Mongol ruler of the Yuan dynasty, Wuhan received the status of the capital of Huguang Province, which included the territory of modern Hubei and Hunan.

About 300 years ago, Hankou became one of the country's four leading trading cities.

Orthodox Church of St. Alexander Nevsky in the Russian concession, opened in 1876 (The temple still exists today, but not as an active church)
An important item of trade in Hankou was tea, grown and processed in many counties in Huguang, and exported to the north of the country, where tea does not originate, and for sale in Mongolia and Russia. Since ancient times, tea from near Yangloudong (羊楼洞), a town in the mountains in the south of modern Hubei (in the territory of modern Chibi County), has been famous.

As a result of the Second Opium War, Hankou was opened to international trade. Foreign concessions were created in the city - British, French, German, Japanese and Russian. Russian entrepreneurs began to play a big role in the local tea trade. Since 1860, Kazan merchant Nikolai Ivanov lived in Hankou with his wife, who soon took up the post of Russian vice-consul. Although at first (1863) Russian merchants located their tea factories in Yangloudun itself, already in 1873 S. V. Litvinov moved his brick tea factory to the more conveniently located Hankow, where it grew into the world's largest manufacturer of brick tea. In 1874 it was followed by the company of Molchanov and Pechatnov and the company of Tokmakov and Molotkov. British entrepreneurs also got involved in the tea business in Hankou.

At the end of the 19th century, a railway crossed Wuhan from north to south, and the city became an important point for transshipment of goods from rail to river transport.

Uprising Square in Wuhan. In the background is the building that housed the rebel headquarters in Hubei after the Wuchang Uprising. A monument to Sun Yat-sen was erected on the square, who, however, did not take part in the uprising
In 1911, supporters of Sun Yat-sen organized the Wuchang Uprising, which led to the fall of the Qing dynasty and the establishment of a republic in China. In the 1920s, Wuhan was the capital of the leftist Kuomintang government, which was in opposition to Chiang Kai-shek.

In 1938, Wuhan and its surrounding area became the site of the Battle of Wuhan during the Second Sino-Japanese War. After the city was captured by the Japanese in 1938, Wuhan became an important transportation hub for Japan for operations in southern China. In December 1944, the city was seriously damaged by American bombing, which was carried out by the 14th Army of the US Air Force.

In 1967 in Wuhan during the Cultural Revolution there were violent clashes between the Red Guards. When the situation in the city reached its limit, residents began to create self-defense units against the outrages of warring factions. Chen Zaidao brought troops into the city and destroyed both local party bodies and the Red Guard and Jiaofan organizations, supporting “a million heroes” - about 500,000 residents. At the same time, he ignored direct orders from Beijing, took two officials under arrest and prevented Zhou Enlai from boarding a plane in Wuhan, threatening with tanks. Several divisions were sent from Beijing, and after the first threat to use fire, Chen Zaidao immediately surrendered. Although such unauthorized actions were condemned, this was the first experience of using the army to restore order, which later made it possible to curtail the political activity of the masses, and by 1969 eliminate the Red Guards.

The city often experienced devastating floods. The most significant flood in modern history occurred in the summer of 1954 (see 1954 Yangtze River Floods), when the water level in Wuhan rose to 27.93 m. In connection with this event, a monument was erected in the Riverside Park in Hankou in 1969, inscribed with Mao Zedong's address to the heroic people of Wuhan, and his poem "Swimming" (1956), in which Mao focused on building dams upstream. In accordance with Mao's plans, the Gezhouba and Sanxia hydroelectric power stations were built in Hubei province upstream of the Yangtze over the next half century.

Transport

First Bridge

The first bridge over the Yangtze River was built in Wuhan in 1957, connecting Snake Hill (in Wuchang) and Turtle Hill (in Hanyang). The total length of the bridge is 1680 m. A four-lane highway and railway crossed the bridge. There are also pedestrian sidewalks. Before the construction of the bridge, ferrying a railway car across the river could take a whole day.

Second bridge

The second, cable-stayed bridge, built of prestressed concrete, has a central span between supports of 400 m, its total length is 4678 m (including 1877 m of the main bridge), and its width is from 26.5 to 33.5 m. Bridge pillars holding 392 metal cables are 90 m high. The bridge has six traffic lanes, which provides a capacity of 50,000 cars per day.

Third Bridge

Construction of the Third Bridge began in 1997 and was completed in September 2000. It is located 8.6 km southwest of the First Bridge. Investments amounted to more than 1.4 billion yuan (about 170 million US dollars). The total length of the bridge is 3586 m, width 26.5 m. The bridge has six traffic lanes, which provides a capacity of 50,000 cars per day.

Railway stations

Until recently, Wuhan was served by two large train stations - in Wuchang and Hankou. Before the construction of the First Bridge, trains left from Wuchang to the south and from Hankou to the north, but now both stations serve all directions.

A new one opened in December 2009 Train Station(Wuhan Station, en) with 11 platforms. It is located on the right (Wuchang) side of the Yangtze, a few kilometers northeast of the historical city center. In the future, the new station will be connected to the center by the 2nd metro line, presumably in 2012.

The new station is designed to serve high-speed trains that will run on the new line between Beijing and Guangzhou, the speed of which reaches 350 km/h. The station opened simultaneously with the launch of the Wuhan-Guangzhou high-speed express train. In 2012, an expressway from Wuhan to Beijing was opened.

Airport

Wuhan Tianhe Airport served 14 million passengers in 2012 (14th place among Chinese airports).

Since July 30, 2014, China Southern has operated regular flights Moscow - Wuhan - Guangzhou (travel time 8 hours).

Wuhan Metro

In September 2004, Wuhan became the sixth Chinese city to have a metro (after Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen). The first 10.2 km of the line (10 stations) are on the surface. The minimum interval between two trains is 90 seconds. In 2010, the first line was extended to 25 stations. In 2012, a second line with 21 stations opened.

Economy

Wuhan's GDP in 2005 was 223.8 billion yuan, and its per capita GDP was 26,000 yuan (US$ 3,245). Wuhan recently attracted about 50 French investment firms, which accounted for more than a third of all French investments in China.

Education

There are 8 national and 14 public colleges and universities in Wuhan.

Language

The indigenous people of Wuhan speak a southwestern dialect of Northern Chinese. Because it contains admixtures of southern Chinese dialects, the Wuhan dialect would be an ideal base for a standard Chinese dialect. Putonghua, however, is currently based on the Beijing dialect.

Hubei province is one of the largest and most ancient in China. The center and capital of this administrative unit is the city of Wuhan. His geographical location, what now, what in ancient times was very profitable, since the city began to be built at the confluence of two large rivers- Hanjiang and Yangtze. Wuhan is three separate parts - Hanyang, Wuchang, Hankou, which are united within one city. There is another name for the settlement - the three cities of Wuhan. It is interesting that each part is located opposite the others, spread out on different banks of the rivers. Hanyang, Wuchang, and Hankou are connected by bridges, which are considered landmarks of the city.

Wuhan is a fairly densely populated city with several million residents.

Milestones of history

Archaeologists found on the banks of the rivers the remains of ancient dwellings and tools, which allowed them to establish that the first people appeared in this part of China more than 3 thousand years ago. Already in the 3rd century. By order of the rulers of the Han Dynasty, the settlements of Wuchang and Hanyang were surrounded by fortress walls. It is believed that this was the factor in the unification of disparate settlements, which gradually began to be “pulled” into the city of Wuhan.

In the 3rd century. The Yellow Crane Tower was also built, which is now considered the symbol of the city.

Wuhan gained a reputation as a center of arts and sciences, but at the same time trade and commercial activities were actively developing here.

In the 13th century, when China fell under the influence of the Mongols, the rulers of the Yuan dynasty proclaimed Wuhan as the capital of Huguang Province, which united Hunan and Hubei.

In the 18th century one of the districts of Wuhan - Hankou - was turned into a major trading center of the empire. In this part of the province, tea was grown, which was then processed and exported to the northern regions of China and neighboring states - Russian Empire and Mongolia. The most famous variety of tea grown to this day is considered to be Yangloudong. It grows near the town of the same name in the south of the province.

19th century became a turning point for Wuhan, which had a positive impact on the economic life of this part of the country. Among the most significant events it is worth noting the following:

  • The authorities opened Hankow to international trade, which allowed the creation of several foreign concessions in the city. In particular, Germany, France, Britain, Japan and the Russian Empire created their representative offices;
  • Russian merchants and entrepreneurs began to play a leading role in the tea trade, opening their factories and factories in Yangloudong;
  • The Russians promoted the production of brick tea;
  • The British competed with Russian entrepreneurs;
  • At the end of the 19th century. a railroad was built in the city, which facilitated the transportation of goods from one part of the country to another. For example, regular transportation from railway to river transport was established.

In the 20th century Wuhan fell into the cycle of revolutionary events. First, Sun Yat-sen and his assistants launched the so-called Wuchang Uprising. As a result, the Qing dynasty was overthrown, and China was turned into a republic. In the mid-1920s. Wuhan became the capital of the Kuomintang government. It was left-wing and went into opposition to the ruler Chiang Kai-shek.

Before World War II, a second war broke out between China and Japan, and Wuhan was turned into a center of constant battles. The Sino-Japanese War ended with the victory of the Japanese, who in 1938 turned Wuhan into a springboard for advancing to the south of China.

During World War II, the American Air Force subjected Wuhan to massive bombing. So American troops tried to force the Japanese government to capitulate.

The next major upheavals occurred in Wuhan in the late 1960s, when the city became the center of the Cultural Revolution and the confrontation between the Red Guards. Their organizations were destroyed by the head of the Wuhan Military Region, Chen Zaidao. He used the army to pacify the civilian population and stifle protests against the government.

An important page in the history of the city is the constant floods, which brought real troubles, destruction, flooding, and death to the residents of Wuhan.

The biggest flood occurred in the mid-1950s, when the water in the rivers rose by almost 28 meters. Chinese ruler Mao Zedong, after overcoming the consequences of the flood, decided to build two hydroelectric power stations on the Yangtze.

Significant events in the modern history of Wuhan were the opening of the Russian Consulate General in the city and the construction of the metro.

Attractions

The city is famous for its monuments and historical sites, which Chinese and foreign tourists come to explore. These are monuments of history, architecture, culture, nature, and gastronomy.

Yellow Stork Tower

It is called Huanghalow in Chinese, being a centuries-old symbol of the town. In its form it is a tower-palace, erected on the banks of the Yangtze, in the east of Mount Guishan. The initiator of the construction, according to historians, was the emperor of the Ming dynasty, whose name was Jiajin. The first tower that previously stood on this site dates back to the 3rd century. Then it was rebuilt many times, and in this form the structure survived until the 21st century.

Donghu

This is the largest urban reservoir in the entire country, which is located in the very center of Wuhan. Its area is almost 33 square kilometers. Considering that the shores are heavily indented, local residents nicknamed Donghu the Lake of 99 Bends. This is an unusually beautiful place, which is surrounded by mountains (the highest peak is called Dongfeng) and urban architecture.

Hubei Museum

This is a historical institution that tells the story of the formation and development of Hubei Province. The museum collection includes almost 200 thousand items that represent different periods of the history of Hubei. A large number of exhibits relate to primitive history, found as a result of numerous archaeological expeditions.

Buddhist temple

It is called Guyuyasi, and was erected in the 17th century, the purpose of which was to protect the numerous sculptures of students who studied with Buddha. They froze in very funny and comical poses. Also on the temple grounds there are several figures and statues of Buddha.

Wuhan cuisine

You can taste it in numerous gastronomic establishments. The specificity of cooking is that the food is cooked over coals and sprinkled with chili sauce. These can be pigeons or beans stuffed with rice and meat. All restaurants and cafes serve fish and seafood that is found in Donghu.

Urban transport system

Considering that the city is a major communication center connecting waterways and railways. The transport system is represented by the following infrastructure facilities:

  • Three railway stations, one in each part of the city;
  • Two major railway hubs are Beijing-Kowloon and Beijing-Guangzhou, passing through Wuhan;
  • Construction has begun on a new station in Wuchang, which will have 11 platforms. The new transport hub will be connected to the metro;
  • Almost 18 kilometers from the city there is an airport, from which you can get to the city center in just 20 minutes. This is an international airport that receives flights from different countries world, as well as from forty cities in the country. It is the base for numerous charter flights to Macau or Bangkok;
  • In 2004, a metro was built in Wuhan. First, several stations were built, with a total length of 10 kilometers. In 2010 the line was extended to 25 stations. Two years later, the second line, consisting of 21 stations, was completed. Trains run every 1.5 minutes;
  • Taxi;
  • Trolleybuses;
  • Buses.

Wuhan bridges

The city is very large, and getting from one end of the city to the other is very difficult. Therefore, traffic jams constantly arise here, which can reach tens of kilometers.

To facilitate movement around the city and connect its parts with each other, in the late 1950s. the first bridge was built here. The structure was thrown across the Yangtze and had a length of 1.68 kilometers. The bridge connected Wuchang and Hanyang, had four lanes of highway and railway, and sidewalks for pedestrians.

The second bridge was already cable-stayed and was built from concrete. Its length is 4.678 km, it has six lanes, through which more than 50 thousand cars pass per day.

The length of the third bridge was 3.586 km. Like the second bridge, it has six lanes, with the same capacity.

Climate Features

The city is located in a subtropical climate zone, which is subject to the constant influence of monsoon winds. Thanks to this, four seasons can be clearly traced in Wuhan - spring and summer, autumn and winter. The summer and winter months are quite warm, but not hot. The temperature in summer reaches 29 C, and in January it does not drop +3 C. The average summer days is more than 130, spring and autumn stretch for 2 months (each season). In summer it often rains, which is why 1.2 thousand millimeters of precipitation falls here per season. Winters pass without frost.

Cheap flights to Wuhan

From where to where Where Where departure date Find a ticket

Enshi → Wuhan

Enshi

Wuhan

Hangzhou → Wuhan

Hangzhou

Wuhan

Kota Kinabalu → Wuhan

Kota Kinabalu

Wuhan

Nanning → Wuhan

Nanning

Wuhan

Yantai → Wuhan

Yantai

Wuhan

Bangkok → Wuhan

Bangkok

Wuhan

Ningbo → Wuhan

Ningbo

Wuhan

Xining → Wuhan

Xining

Wuhan

Phnom Penh → Wuhan

Phnom Penh

Wuhan

Beijing → Wuhan

Beijing

Wuhan

Yancheng → Wuhan

Yancheng

Wuhan

Shenzhen → Wuhan

Shenzhen

Wuhan

Hong Kong → Wuhan

Hong Kong

Wuhan

Seoul → Wuhan

Seoul

Wuhan

Macau → Wuhan

Macau

Wuhan

Nha Trang → Wuhan

Nha Trang

Wuhan

Zhuhai → Wuhan

Zhuhai

Wuhan

Guangzhou → Wuhan

Guangzhou

Wuhan

Hohhot → Wuhan

Hohhot

Wuhan

Tianjin → Wuhan

Tianjin

Wuhan

Jieyang → Wuhan

Jieyang

Wuhan

Datong → Wuhan

Datong

Wuhan

Denpasar Bali → Wuhan

Denpasar Bali

Wuhan

Dali-Baisky autonomous region→ Wuhan

Dali-Bai Autonomous Okrug

Wuhan

Haikou → Wuhan

Haikou

Wuhan

Shanghai → Wuhan

Shanghai

Wuhan

Moscow → Wuhan

Moscow

Wuhan

Hailinhot → Wuhan

Hailinhot

Wuhan

Saint Petersburg → Wuhan

Saint Petersburg

Wuhan

Ho Chi Minh City → Wuhan

Ho Chi Minh City

Wuhan

Degu → Wuhan

Daegu

Wuhan

Astana → Wuhan

Astana

Wuhan

Kaliningrad → Wuhan

Kaliningrad

Wuhan

Kazan → Wuhan

Kazan

Wuhan

Minsk → Wuhan

Minsk

Wuhan

Rostov-on-Don → Wuhan

Rostov-on-Don

Wuhan

Tyumen → Wuhan

Tyumen

Wuhan

Hanoi → Wuhan

Hanoi

Wuhan

Riga → Wuhan

Riga

Wuhan

Vladivostok → Wuhan

Vladivostok

Wuhan

Stavropol → Wuhan

Stavropol

Wuhan

Krasnodar → Wuhan

Krasnodar

Wuhan

Novosibirsk → Wuhan

Novosibirsk

Wuhan

Krasnoyarsk → Wuhan

Krasnoyarsk

Wuhan

San Francisco → Wuhan

San Francisco

Wuhan

Nizhny Novgorod→ Wuhan

Nizhny Novgorod

Wuhan

Blagoveshchensk → Wuhan

Blagoveshchensk

Wuhan

Makhachkala → Wuhan

Makhachkala

Wuhan

Ufa → Wuhan

Ufa

Wuhan

Samara → Wuhan

Samara

Wuhan

Singapore → Wuhan

Singapore

Wuhan

Karachi → Wuhan

Karachi

Wuhan

Adler → Wuhan

Adler

Wuhan

Tokyo → Wuhan

Tokyo

Wuhan

Almaty → Wuhan

Almaty

Wuhan

Kaohsiung → Wuhan

Kaohsiung

Wuhan

Paris → Wuhan

Paris

Wuhan

Warsaw → Wuhan

Warsaw

Wuhan

Baoshan → Wuhan

Baoshan

Wuhan

Tashkent → Wuhan

Tashkent

Wuhan

Milan → Wuhan

Milan

Wuhan

Irkutsk → Wuhan

Irkutsk

Wuhan

Ulaanbaatar → Wuhan

Ulaanbaatar

Wuhan

BAK → Wuhan

Wuhan

Khabarovsk → Wuhan

Khabarovsk

Wuhan

Brussels → Wuhan

Brussels

Wuhan

Doha → Wuhan

Doha

Wuhan

Tel Aviv → Wuhan

Tel Aviv

Wuhan

Ekaterinburg → Wuhan

Ekaterinburg

Wuhan

Dubai → Wuhan

Dubai

Wuhan

Bishkek → Wuhan

Bishkek

Wuhan

Bukhara → Wuhan

Bukhara

Wuhan

Kyiv → Wuhan

Kyiv

Wuhan

Perm → Wuhan

Permian

Wuhan

Murmansk → Wuhan

Murmansk

Wuhan

Travel notes, day 2

Today is the second day in Wuhan, and I still can’t get rid of sad thoughts... Everywhere you go, wherever you look, there is construction everywhere. The Chinese are rebuilding everything at an incredible pace. Huge historical neighborhoods are being demolished. And these are no longer dusty slums of khatuns, this is already a completely solid historical building. They demolish everything. In some places they are planning to make a new road or interchange, in others they are planning to build new multi-storey residential complexes. Red marks remain everywhere on old buildings - this is a death sentence. This means that heavy construction equipment will arrive soon, and there won’t be another block.

The Chinese generally treat historical buildings very carelessly. Here it is quite normal to demolish the center of a thousand-year-old city and then rebuild it again. The Chinese don't see the difference between old and new. More precisely, they see: the new one is better, cleaner, they can install air conditioning and have bigger windows. In general, all this is sad. Cities become the same, boring, plastic, unreal. Endless towers, fakes, copies are growing everywhere. Eh, such a country has been screwed up!

On the other hand, this is an incentive to go to China faster, to look, photograph and remember faster. Our children will no longer see old China.

I met a local resident in China. Well, locals, Pavel has been studying Chinese medicine for 5 years. Lives in Wuhan. I asked him what was good about the city. Among the new advantages:

1. Wuhan is located in the center of China. Close to everything!
2. Pavel says that Wuhan has the most beautiful girls.
3. There is also Ugan here - the first metalworking plant. I don’t know how big a plus this is, but still!
4. Electric cars operate as taxis here. And also fully electric buses. Although for modern China This is not a unique case.

01. In the morning I look out of the window and see blue sky! At first I couldn’t believe my eyes, but then I remembered that today was Sunday, which means they were burning a little less coal, and the smog cleared! Beauty! By the way, if you are going to China, plan your climbs on observation decks on weekends or holidays. Then it will be possible to at least see something.

02. The Chinese are able to build extremely terrible multi-story buildings. The problem is not only in the architecture, but in their general condition. They are almost always terribly dirty. Some kind of shit is flowing down the facades from everywhere. Of course, no one washes anything. It is easier to demolish and rebuild than to restore an old building.

03. In the foreground is the historical buildings of Wuhan. Tiled roofs, narrow winding streets. These areas could be renovated, put in order, and it would be no worse than in Europe.

04. But all the buildings already have red marks. This means that all this will soon be demolished.

05. Information was posted on the wall about how to receive compensation for demolished housing. It is very important for the Chinese to receive such compensation. If they consider its size unfair, then sometimes they even decide to protest. For example, they cover their entire house or balcony with white sheets with large hieroglyphs, thus putting forward their demands to the authorities. Or they even refuse to move out of the house to be demolished.

06. Another area. The buildings are brick and in good condition. In Europe, this would be a pleasant area for tourists to stroll through. After the Second Opium War, Wuhan was divided into foreign zones of influence. Several concessions were created here: French, British, German, Japanese and even Russian. So the Europeans actively built up the city, including residential buildings.

07. In China, all this will be demolished and multi-story anthills will be built.

08. See the gray fence in the foreground? This is the first signal of impending demolition. This type of fence is used to cover historical buildings near tourist routes so that guests are not embarrassed by the sight of working equipment. Soon it will all be demolished and new buildings will be built.

09. Mix of old colonial buildings and new buildings in the center.

10. A giant new waterfront park.

11. Overpasses and skyscrapers are growing in place of old neighborhoods. By the way, driving around Wuhan is pure hell. Not a single navigator can help you figure out the intricacies of local overpasses. You constantly take the right turn.

12. Chinese military!

13. And this is the tallest building in the city and the second tallest in all of China! Or rather, when it is completed in 2018, it will even be the tallest in China until the construction of Sky City in Changsha is completed. This is the Wuhan Greenland Center, a future 125-story skyscraper with an expected height of 636 meters. This is 4 meters higher than the Shanghai Tower. The Greenland Center will house offices, apartments, and a hotel.

When completed it will look like this:

14. Here it is, a real Chinese remake. The usual mediocre fake. It seems like everything is like in the picture, but something is wrong))) And such vile parodies of historical buildings are being made all over the country. Horror.

15. The bridge that he built Soviet Union in 1957. This is the first bridge across the Yangtze River, it is two-tiered: trains travel along the lower one, cars travel along the upper one. Surprisingly, there are also pedestrian sidewalks. Before the bridge was opened, crossing the Yangtze was a real problem for the city. There were pontoons here, and ferries went from one to the other. A railway car could take a whole day to be transported, and pedestrians also had a hard time.

16. By the way, a trolleybus runs across the bridge!

To combat traffic jams, Wuhan introduced restrictions on the passage of cars on bridges. On even days, cars with license plates ending in even numbers can drive on bridges, and vice versa. If you drive across the bridge on the wrong day, you get a fine.

17. And this is the metro. In China, there is a metro in every second village, and even more so in Wuhan, the largest city in central China.

18. In China, everything becomes outdated and becomes unusable very quickly. What was built 20 years ago is now time to demolish. Pay attention to the overpass; you have to climb three flights of stairs to reach it. There is no normal barrier-free environment here, like almost everywhere else in China.

19.

20. Gloomy old houses

21. Garbage is thrown directly under the windows.

22. There is bustle downstairs, all the first floors are eateries and shops. There is noise, din, smells everywhere. In general, it's fun). The real life that urbanists dream about in Moscow. All that remains now is to bring this life into a civilized form. We can start by weaning the Chinese from shitting on the street. They love this business.

China has simplified rules for small and medium-sized businesses. Everyone pays the same tax no matter how much they sell. That's why small businesses are thriving here. Cafes, hardware stores, stationery stores, dry cleaners, and so on open on the first floors of houses.

23. New town is coming.

24. And European culture is rapidly advancing on China. European cafes and shops are opening everywhere. Even normal coffee shops have appeared here, where they make good coffee! Well, there is a Starbucks in every major city in the country. In general, China has a very flexible society that does not live within any rigid framework. The Chinese easily adapt to everything new and do not give up their traditions. The country has existed for 5 thousand years, but China remains China.

25. Well, you can never tell from this photo that this is China. Well, maybe the flashlight will tell you.

26. There are some bars everywhere, there is even craft beer!

27. Here's a selection of local stores for hipsters.

In China, you can now pay for everything using QR codes. They have their own WeChat messenger, but the Chinese use it not only for communication, but also as a payment system. Imagine if you could pay for anything via Telegram! Things like Apple Pay don’t take root in China because everyone here pays with their smartphones. They just scan these QR codes and that’s it. Moreover, you can pay anywhere: in markets, in subway passages, and so on.

Bank cards are used less and less in everyday life in China, because they are considered inconvenient and outdated.

28. Fashionable matches!

29. Drink in the form of blood!

30. Fashion

31. Soon the Chinese will forget that they are Chinese!

32.

33. You can even see modern street art on the streets.

34.

35. Entrance to the hostel

36.

37. We accidentally found an abandoned hotel. It is unknown who abandoned it and why. But even the cars in the yard are old.

38. Mysterious story. There is furniture inside, the whole interior. But the doors are closed. And the hotel is located in the city center! What could have happened here?

39. A legendary place for all swimmers. More precisely, to swim across the muddy waters of the great Yangtze River. It says here that this is a swimming base in winter.

40. "Winter Swimming"

41. The guys are preparing to repeat the feat of Mao Zedong.

42. By the way, the current is quite strong! And the water is quite cold, as swimmers say.

43. This is the "Swimming" monument. Engraved on it is a poem that Mao Zedong dedicated to the Wuhan people who bravely overcame the consequences of the 1954 Yangtze flood. The water level on the river within the city then rose to almost 28 meters. Then dams were built upstream, and such floods no longer happened.

44. On the ferry.

45.

46. ​​A dog bathing in a river arouses great interest among the public.

47.

48. In general, the Chinese love dogs.

49. Recently I was in Wuhan scary tale. One man saved up for a long time for a dog of some rare and expensive breed, in the end he bought it, but this dog was stolen from him. The man looked for her everywhere, promised a big reward... The dog was eventually found. Or rather, not the dog, but the restaurant to which the dog was sold. There was no time to save the dog.

50. But now cats are in fashion! Cats are everywhere. Not a single fashionable cafe today can do without cats in the interior.

51. The fashion for cats was brought to China by the Japanese.

52. Cleaning carp, which are caught in these very muddy waters.

53. Street food. The chef is wearing a mask not for sanitary reasons, but because it is impossible to breathe due to what and how he cooks.

54.

55. Looks appetizing if you don’t know what kind of oil they cook it with;)

56. Squids.

57. Street buffet!

58. Wuhan Station. Every Chinese village has a train station larger than any train station you could find in Russia. depart every minute, the buildings themselves are gigantic in size.

59. From the station I am going to Hefei. By high-speed train the journey takes two hours. A business class ticket cost 1,250 rubles.

60. Previously, there were two train stations in Wuhan: from one train they went to the south, from the other – to the north. As new bridges were built across the Yangtze, transport problems were solved.

61. The station in Hefei has gigantic spaces, huge waiting rooms. The size of local train stations is amazing.

62. Queue for a taxi.

63. Or rather, not even one queue, but four, and there may be more. I drove 400 km between Wuhan and Hefei for two hours, stood in line for a taxi for an hour and drove for about another hour to the hotel. The line moves slowly, because, firstly, there are few taxi cars, and secondly, some Chinese allow themselves to be stupid.

64. A man with a cart and a bunch of junk is trying to put it all into the car. Moreover, this is not a porter’s cart, but his own.

65. The trunk does not close...) And so every second Chinese. They are terribly stupid, which is why all movement is delayed.

66. Why I love China is that there are very inexpensive hotels here. In Europe or Russia, a 5-star hotel would cost big money, and in China, in almost any city, for 4-5 thousand rubles you can rent a good 5-star hotel with a huge room, a large bathroom and good furniture.

Continue tomorrow.

Wuhan is one of the largest metropolises in China, the population is more than 3 million people, the largest industrial center of one of the most economically powerful provinces of the country - Hubei.

Wuhan is a conglomerate of three once independent cities: Hankou, Hanyang and Wuchang.

Wuchang was founded during the Han Dynasty, became the capital of the region during the Yuan Dynasty, and was once surrounded by powerful city walls.

Hankou was just a village until the Treaty of Nanjing, which opened it up foreign trade. In Hankou, 5 foreign concession zones were formed, one of which was Russian, since 1896. When it was built in the 1920s railway Beijing - Wuhan, Hankou began to develop rapidly and became the first major industrial center in the interior of China. To this day, on the streets of Hankou, especially on Yanjiang Dadao in the northeastern part of the city, you can see colonial-style buildings that now house various government agencies.

The smallest of the cities of Wuhan is Hanyang, it was founded in the 7th century AD, and at the end of the 19th century it developed as the country's first center of modern metallurgy.

The Japanese occupation completely destroyed the city's production facilities, and now there is only light industry here.

It was Wuhan that became the site of the uprising in 1911, which led to the fall of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Chinese Revolution. During the uprising, Hankow was practically burned to the ground.

Today, few tourists head to Wuhan specifically, but most pass through on the large ferry route from Chongqing to Shanghai. For them, Wuhan is a good stopover, a gateway to the glittering giants of Nanjing and Shanghai.

Wuhan is a rare city on the Yangtze that can be said to be on both banks of the river.

The Hankou and Hanyang sectors are separated by the Han River, which flows into the Yangtze. The city center is Hankou, especially the area around Zhongshan Dadao Road, and its main avenue is Jiefang Dadao.

The main hotels, shops, restaurants, and street markets are located here.

There is a huge new railway station 5 km northeast of Hankou, and the main Yangtze ferry terminal is also in Hankou.

Guiyuan Temple (Guiyuan Si) is a Buddhist temple dating back to the Ming and Qing dynasties. Its main attraction is the statues of Buddha's disciples frozen in comical poses. Maitreya Buddha and Shakyamuni Buddha also stand here.

The atmosphere is relaxed: beggars gather in front of the temple for alms, monks occasionally strike a gong or bell to entertain the public, photographers hunt for potential clients.

The temple is reached by bus No. 45 down Zhongshandadao and over the bridge over the Han River.

The Yangtze River Bridge (Wuhan Changjiang Daqiao) is an undoubted landmark of Wuhan.

The 1100 meter bridge, 80 m high, connects the Wuchang and Hanyang sectors. The bridge was completed in 1957 and marked the first major engineering achievement of the new China. A second road bridge across the Yangtze is currently under construction north of the city.

The Hubei Provincial Museum (Hubeisheng Bowuguan) is a must-see if you are interested in archaeology. Its collection of ancient artifacts comes from the Zhenghouyi Tomb, 433 BC, excavated in 1978.

The selection of musical instruments is especially impressive: bronze bells, wooden drums, Pan flutes - all still in working order, producing stunning harmonious sounds.

The museum is located in the Wuchang sector behind Donghu Lake - bus No. 14 from the Wuchang ferry.

Next to the museum is a wonderful botanical garden on Moshan Hill.

Wuhan cuisine, although not as famous as its neighbor, Sichuan cuisine, nevertheless offers a number of specific dishes: pigeons roasted whole on a charcoal grill, generously sprinkled with chili, doupi - an exotic snack made from beans stuffed with rice and meat.

Many restaurants in the city serve fish freshly caught in Lake Donghu.

In Wuhan, you can watch one of China's best acrobatic groups perform at the imposing, round, red-domed Wuhan Acrobatics Palace (Wuhan Zajiting) on ​​Jianshe Dadao in northern Hankou.

Another place of truly mass entertainment for the local population is the so-called “Paradise for the Masses” (Minzhong Leyuan) on Zhongshandadao - a three-story entertainment palace with a large courtyard.

Karaoke, discos, acrobatic shows, folk song concerts, Peking operas are held here, as well as shooting galleries, billiard rooms and tea houses.

Entrance ticket - 3 yuan.

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