About the City-Wuhan
Geography
Wuhan is situated in the middle of Hubei province, 113°41′-115°05′ East, 29°58′-31°22′ North, east of the Jianghan Plain, and the confluence of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and Hanshui River.
The metropolitan area comprises three parts – Wuchang, Hankou, and Hanyang, commonly called the "Three Towns of Wuhan" (hence the name "Wuhan", combining "Wu" from the first city and "Han" from the other two). The consolidation of these three cities occurred in 1927 and Wuhan was thereby established. These three parts face each other across the rivers and are linked by bridges, including one of the first modern bridges in China, known as the "First Bridge". It is simple in geographical structure – low and flat in the middle and hilly in the south, with the Yangtze and Han rivers winding through the city. Wuhan occupies a land area of 8,494.41 square kilometres (3,279.71 sq mi), most of which is plain and decorated with hills and a great number of lakes and pools.
Climate
Wuhan's climate is humid subtropical (K?ppen Cfa) with abundant rainfall and four distinctive seasons. Wuhan is known for its oppressively humid summers, when dewpoints can often reach 26 °C (79 °F) or more.[12] Because of its hot summer weather, Wuhan is commonly known as one of the Three Furnaces of China, along with Nanjing and Chongqing. Spring and autumn are generally mild, while winter is cool with occasional snow. In the recent thirty years, the average annual rainfall is 1269 mm, mainly from June to August; annual temperature is 15.8℃-17.5℃, annual frost free period lasts 211 to 272 days and annual sunlight duration is 1810 to 2100 hours. Extreme temperatures have ranged from ?18.1 °C (?1 °F) to 42.0 °C (108 °F).
Colleges and universities
Wuhan is one of the three scientific and educational centers of China, along with Beijing and Shanghai. It has the largest number of enrolled college students in the world in 2011. The city of Wuhan has 85 higher educational institutions such as Wuhan University and Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Wuhan ranks 3rd in China in scientific and educational strength; it contains three national development zones and four scientific and technologic development parks, as well as numerous enterprise incubators, over 350 research institutes, 1470 hi-tech enterprises, and over 400,000 experts and technicians. Wuhan also boasts eight national colleges and universities among its 36 colleges and universities
Tourist sites
Replica instruments of ancient originals are played at the Hubei Provincial Museum. A replica set of bronze concert bells is in the background and a set of stone chimes is to the right
Wuchang has the largest lake within a city in China, the East Lake, as well as the South Lake. The east lake in Wuhan is 6 times the size of the west lake in Hangzhou. The total area is more than 80 km2 (31 sq mi) of which the lake is covering an area of 33 km2 (13 sq mi). In the spring time the shores of East Lake became a garden of flowers with the Mei blossoms as the king and the Cherry Blossom as the queen among the species. Another famous flower is the lotus. The lake has a long history and especially the Chu Kingdom is well represented around East Lake. At East Lake you find fascinating gardens like the Mei Blossom Garden, Forrest of the Birds, Cheery Blossom Garden and monuments from ancient times, beautiful hills and green nature. Moreover, in the Moshan Botanic Garden there are all possible types of plum blossoms, as well as lotus flowers.
The Hubei Provincial Museum With over 200,000 valued artifacts, this is one of the leading museums in China. Especially the artefacts from the tomb of Marquis Yi (Zenghouyi), who lived in the 5th century B.C., is a world unique treasure. Bell chime of Zeng Hou Yi is a bronze instrument performed 2430 years ago in ancient China(Warring States Period ), and was discovered in Zenghou Yi Tomb in Lei Gutun, a place near Suizhou, Hubei province in 1978. The whole chime weighs 5 tons, can perfectly play sound which was heard 2430 years ago, and was considered "The Eighth Wonders of the World".
The Rock and Bonsai Museum includes a mounted platybelodon skeleton, many unique stones, a quartz crystal the size of an automobile, and an outdoor garden with miniature trees in the penjing ("Chinese Bonsai") style.
Jiqing Street(吉庆街) holds many roadside restaurants and street performers during the evening, and is the site of a Live Show (生活秀) with stories of events on this street by contemporary writer Chi Li.
The Lute Platform in Hanyang was where the legendary musician Yu Boya is said to have played. This is the birthplace of the renowned legendary of seeking soul mate through “high mountains and flowing water”. According to the story of 知音 (zhi yin, "understanding music"), Yu Boya played for the last time over the grave of his friend Zhong Ziqi, then smashed his lute because the only person able to appreciate his music was dead.[citation needed]
Some luxury riverboat tours begin here after a flight from Beijing or Shanghai, with several days of flatland cruising and then climbing through the Three Gorges with passage upstream past the Gezhouba and Three Gorges dams to the city of Chongqing. With the completion of the dam a number of cruises now start from the upstream side and continue west, with tourists traveling by motor coach from Wuhan.
The Yellow Crane Tower (Huanghelou), which has enjoyed the reputation of "the first tower under heaven" in China for centuries, is presumed to have been first built in approximately 220 AD. The tower has been destroyed and reconstructed numerous times, was burned last according to some sources in 1884. The tower underwent complete reconstruction in 1981. The reconstruction utilized modern materials and added an elevator, while maintaining the traditional design in the tower's outward appearance.
Culture
Wuhan is one of the birthplaces of the brilliant ancient Chu Culture in China. Han opera, which is the local opera of Wuhan area, was one of China's oldest and most popular operas. During the late Qing dynasty, Han opera, blended with Hui opera, gave birth to Peking opera, the most popular opera in modern China. Therefore Han opera is called "mother of Peking opera" in China.
Cuisine
“No needs to be particular about the recipes, all food have their own uses. Rice wine and tangyuan are excellent midnight snacks, while fat bream and flowering Chinese cabbages are great delicacies.” Hankou Zhuzhici (an ancient book recording stories about Wuhan) produced during Daoguang Period of Qing Dynasty, reflects indirectly the eating habits and a wide variety of distinctive snacks with a long history in Wuhan, such as Qingshuizong (a pyramid-shaped dumpling made of glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves) in Period of the Warring States, Chunbinbian in Northern & Southern Dynasties, mung bean jelly in Sui Dynasty, youguo (a deep-fried twisted dough stick) in Song & Yuan Dynasties, rice wine and mianwo in Ming & Qing Dynasties as well as three-delicacy stuffed skin of bean milk, tangbao (steamed dumpling filled with minced meat and gravy) and hot braised noodles in modern times.
Besides the snacks, Hubei cuisine ranks as one of China’s ten major styles of cooking with many representative dishes. With development of more than 2,000 years, Hubei cuisine, originating in Chu Cuisine in ancient times, has developed a lot of distinctive dishes with its own characteristics, such as steamed blunt-snout bream in clear soup, preserved ham with flowering Chinese cabbage, etc.
Guozao is a popular way to say having breakfast in Wuhan. It is generally said that Guangzhou is the paradise for eating and Shanghai for dressing, while Wuhan is a combination of both. Sitting favorably at the heart of China, Wuhan has gathered and mixed together various habits and customs from neighboring cities and provinces in all directions, which gives rise to a saying of concentrating diverse customs from different places.
Doupi on the left and Re-gan mianon the right
1. Hot and Dry Noodles, Re-gan mian (热干面) consists of long freshly boiled noodles mixed with sesame paste. The Chinese word re means hot and gan means dry. It is considered to be the most typical local food for breakfast.
2. Duck's neck or Ya Bozi (鸭脖子) is a local version of this popular Chinese dish, made of duck necks and spices.
3. Bean skin or Doupi (豆皮）is a popular local dish with a filling of egg, rice, beef, mushrooms and beans cooked between two large round soybean skins and cut into pieces, structurally like a stuffed pizza without enclosing edges.
4. Soup dumpling or Xiaolongtangbao（小笼汤包）is a kind of dumpling with thin skin made of flour, steamed with very juicy meat inside so that is why it is called Tang (soup) Bao (bun), because every time one takes a bite from it the soup inside spills out.