Wuhan(553 views)

Release date:2011-06-17 00:38:14

Wuhan is the capital city of Hubei Province. It is where Yangtze River meets Hanjiang River making it a fertile land. With towns Hankou and Hanyang on the western bank of the Yangtze River and another town named Wuchang on the eastern bank, Wuhan is also known as ‘Three Towns of Wuhan’. With history of 3,500 years Wuhan was famous even in ancient times and was also the cradle of Chu civilization. Merchants used Yangtze River network to do trading and soon Hankou became the centre of trade and transportation in the central China.

Wuhan, currently an education hub has both historical attractions and natural scenery for its travelers. Among the attractions, East Lake, Hubei Provincial Museum and Yellow Crane Tower are famous.

East Lake, located on the south bank of Yangtze River is the natural attraction in Wuhan City. It is the largest lake within a city in China and hence it makes the number one attraction in Wuhan. With 87 square kilometers area, East Lake is larger than West Lake in Hangzhou. East Lake scenic area consists of scenic spots such as Luohong Hills, Mo Hill, Bai Ma, Luo Yan, Tingtao and Chuidi of which Tingtao and Mo Hill are most important. Tingtao scenic area is most beautiful during autumn and ‘Listening to the Waves’, Tingtao Xuan is an important building here. Here, you can sit and relax drinking tea at ‘Land of Water and Cloud’, Shuiyun Xiang teahouse. At Tingtao Inn of Wine you can sample local fish dishes.

To the northern side there is a ‘Poetry Reciting Pavilion’, built in memory of a great patriotic poet, Qu Yuan. You can also visit the first allegory sculpture park in China where magnificent sculpture and allegories are exhibited. Mo Hill has beautiful scenery and is rich in vegetation. Mo Hill is noted for its internationally famous cherry blossom garden and plum blossom garden. It is beautiful throughout the year as there are 13 gardens each with different flowers such as orchids, lotus, cherry blossom, plum blossom, etc... that bloom according to each season. The cherry blossom garden is so full of cherry blossoms that it became one among the three famous cherry blossom gardens in the world. Mo Hill is also the best place to know more about Chu culture. East Lake tops the attractions in the Wuhan City as it has many activities around such as slides, yacht, ropeways, skate rink, children’ park etc… Other attractions in the proximity are Bird Forest, Friendship Forest, and East Lake Ocean Park.

Yellow Crane Tower is the main landmark of Wuhan and a must- see spot while visiting Wuhan. You can find plenty of quotations and poems by famous poets that brought fame even in ancient times. Located on Snake Hill, it is one of the famous towers on the southern part of Yangtze River and is also known as ‘First Scenery under Heaven’. This tower was constructed by Xin family in thanks to a Taoist priest. Since it was built and rebuilt during different dynasties, the Yellow Crane Tower reflects multi-architectural style. Standing 51.4 meters high it has 5 floors. Its yellow upturned eaves invoke resemblance to a yellow crane that is about to take- off. Each floor in the tower offers variety of things to see; first floor summarizes you about the legend of the Yellow Crane Tower and has a huge porcelain picture with clouds and cranes painted, third floor has poems and quotations by famous people of different dynasties. You can also see pavilions, bronze sculpture of crane etc…From the top of the tower you can see the beautiful Yangtze River and bordering city.

Other attractions in Wuhan are Mao ZeDong Villa, Guiyuan Buddhist Temple, Heptachord Terrace and Yangtze River Bridge, which is the first railway highway that built across Yangtze. It is a two-level bridge with bus route on top and rail route on bottom.

For those who are interested in history and relics, there are interesting museums in Wuhan. Hubei Provincial Museum has remarkable pieces of history exhibited that shows the rich culture and traditions of the ancient times. National Stone Museum is yet another famous museum where rare stones are exhibited.

To experience night life in Wuhan, one must visit Hankou Bund Area, where there are plenty of bars and pubs. For shopping, Zhongshan Dadao and Jiefang Dadao streets are the best. Wuhan, is an excellent spot to visit during a weekend.

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