Wuhan, the Central City of the Central Kingdom
中国中心城市
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San José State University
Department of Economics |
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Wuhan is located on both banks of the Changjiang (the Great River, a.k.a the Yangtze River) about six hundred miles upstream from Shanghai and the Pacific Ocean. It is about four hundred miles upstream from Nanjing. Its location is supremely strategic, being where the Hanshui (Han River) joins the Changjiang. The cities which arose at this location were trading cities drawing in the production of the two river basins and serving their markets. Because these cities were so successful with the river trade they became a destination for the land trade routes from north and from the south. Thus Wuhan became the cross roads of nine provinces.
There were three cities at the location that were administratively merged into the city of Wuhan and given a name that combines elements of all three. The cities were:
There are several words for river in Mandarin. He (pronounced huh) as in Huanghe (Yellow River) denotes an old river flowing through a plain. The word jiang denotes a younger, more aggressive river flowing through gorges. The word shui, which means water, when applied to a river denotes a smaller river.
The disadvantage of the strategic location at the confluence of the Changjiang and Hanshui is the danger of severe flooding from heavy rainfall in either of the two river basins. Wuhan is now protected by about a hundred miles of ten-foot high diking.
Wuhan's location on the Changjiang gives it access to ocean as well as river commerce. Its location on the north-south route between Beijing and Guangzhou gives it access to rail and road traffic.
The economic base of Wuhan was traditionally and still is trading. However, south of the city about fifty miles there are deposits of iron ore and coal. In the 1950's an iron and steel complex was built first in Hanyang. The complex was expanded until Wuhan now produces several millions of tons of steel each year. This made Wuhan a major city of industry for China.
In the Ten-Year Plan created under Deng Xiaoping's modernization program Wuhan was to get a new steel complex. It was to process raw steel into a higher quality steel but it was found to require so much electricity that if it operated there would be no power left for anything else in Hubei province. But even if there had been adequate power the area could not supply an adequate amount of the raw steel for its operation.
(To be continued.)
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