Wuhan, Hubei, China

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Other names of Wuhan:
Hanyang-Hankou-Wuchang (Wuhan is a consortium of the three cities)
Jiangcheng (江城)

Short form: Not applicable

Wuhan (From Wikipedia)
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Wuhan (Simplified Chinese: 武汉; Traditional Chinese: 武漢; Hanyu Pinyin: Wǔhàn) is the capital of Hubei province, and is the most populous city in central China. It lies at the confluence of the Yangtze and Han River. It has a population of approximately 8,310,000 people. In the 1920s, Wuhan was the capital of a leftist Chinese Nationalist government led by Wang Jingwei in opposition to Chiang Kai-shek. 

History

The area was first settled more than 3,000 years ago. During the Han Dynasty, Hanyang became a fairly busy port. In the 3rd century AD, walls were built to protect Hanyang (AD 206) and Wuchang (AD 223). The latter event marks the foundation of Wuhan. In AD 223, the Yellow Crane Tower (黄鹤楼) was constructed on the Wuchang side of the Yangtze River. Cui Hao, a celebrated poet of Tang Dynasty, visited the building in the early 8th Century; his poem made the building the most celebrated building in southern China. The city has long been renowned as a center for the arts (especially poetry) and for intellectual studies. Under the Mongol ruler (Yuan Dynasty), Wuchang was promoted to the status of provincial capital. By approximately 300 years ago, Hankou had become one of the country's top four trading towns.

In the late 1800s railroads were extended on a north-south axis through this city, which then became an important transhipment point between rail and river traffic. At this time foreign powers extracted mercantile concessions, with the riverfront of Hankou being divided up into various foreign controlled merchant districts. These districts contained trading firm offices, warehouses, and docking facilities.

In 1911, Sun Yat-sen's followers launched the Wuchang Uprising that led to the collapse of the Qing Dynasty and the establishment of the Republic of China. Wuhan was the capital of a leftist Kuomintang government led by Wang Jingwei in opposition to Chiang Kai-shek during the 1920s.

The city has been subject to numerous devastating floods, which are supposed to be controlled by the ambitious Three Gorges Dam. That project is set to be completed in 2009, but is plagued by environmental, technical, and social issues.