Brief information about the Wuhan
Wuhan Wuhan ([ù.xân] ; simplified Chinese: 武汉; traditional Chinese: 武漢) is the capital of Hubei province, People's Republic of China.It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over 11 million, the ninth most populous Chinese city, and one of the nine National Central Cities of China.
The name "Wuhan" came from the city's historical origin from the conglomeration of Wuchang, Hankou and Hanyang, which are collectively known as the "Three Towns of Wuhan" (武汉三镇). It lies in the eastern Jianghan Plain, on the confluence of the Yangtze River and its largest tributary, the Han River, and is known as "Nine Provinces' Thoroughfare" (九省通衢).
Historical events taking place in Wuhan include the Wuchang Uprising, which led to the downfall of the Qing dynasty and the establishment of the Republic of China. Wuhan was briefly the capital of China in 1927 under the left wing of the Kuomintang (KMT) government led by Wang Jingwei.
The city later served as the wartime capital of China in 1937 for ten months during the Second Sino-Japanese War. As of early 2020, outside China, Wuhan is most widely recognized as the origin of outbreak of the worldwide pandemic of COVID-19, or coronavirus.
The city has been under lockdown since January 2020 as a result of the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic.Wuhan today is considered the political, economic, financial, commercial, cultural and educational center of Central China. It is a major transportation hub, with dozens of railways, roads and expressways passing through the city and connecting to other major cities.
Because of its key role in domestic transportation, Wuhan is sometimes referred to as "the Chicago of China" by foreign sources. The "Golden Waterway" of the Yangtze River and its largest tributary, the Han River, traverse the urban area and divides Wuhan into the three districts of Wuchang, Hankou and Hanyang.
The Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge crosses the Yangtze in the city. The Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest power station in terms of installed capacity, is located nearby. Historically, Wuhan has suffered risks of flooding, prompting the government to alleviate the situation by introducing ecologically friendly absorption mechanisms.
While Wuhan has been a traditional manufacturing hub for decades, it is also one of the areas promoting modern industrial changes in China. Wuhan consists of three national development zones, four scientific and technological development parks, over 350 research institutes, 1,656 high tech enterprises, numerous enterprise incubators, and investments from 230 Fortune Global 500 firms.
It produced GDP of US$22.4 billion in 2018. The Dongfeng Motor Corporation, an automobile manufacturer, is headquartered in Wuhan. Wuhan is home to multiple notable institutes of higher education, including Wuhan University, which was ranked third nationwide in 2017, and the Huazhong University of Science and Technology.
In 2017, Wuhan was designated as a Creative City by UNESCO, in the field of design. Wuhan is classified as a Beta world city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network.