Wuhan, referred to as "Han", also known as Jiangcheng, Hubei Province, the jurisdiction of prefecture-level cities, the provincial capital, sub-provincial cities, national central cities, mega-cities, the State Council approved the determination of the central region of China's central city, the country's important industrial bases, science and education bases and comprehensive transportation hub, the People's Liberation Army Joint Logistics Force organs resident. The city has 13 districts under its jurisdiction, with a total area of 8,569.15 square kilometers. As of the end of 2022, the resident population was 13,739,900, and the GDP in 2023 was 200.165 billion yuan.
Wuhan is located in the eastern part of the Jianghan Plain and the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, where the Yangtze River and its largest tributary, the Han River, converge, forming a pattern of three Wuhan towns (Wuchang, Hankou, and Hanyang) separated by the river. The city has long stretches of rivers and lakes and harbors, and the watershed accounts for one-fourth of the city's total area, which is rated as an international wetland city. As the economic and geographic center of China, Wuhan is known as the "Thoroughfare of Nine Provinces", the largest inland land, water and air transportation hub in China, the middle reaches of the Yangtze River shipping center, with its high-speed rail network radiating half of China, and it is the only city in Central China with direct flights to five continents in the world.
Wuhan is the core city of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the strategic pivot point for the rise of central China, and a pilot zone for comprehensive innovation and reform, and China Optics Valley is committed to building a globally influential innovation and entrepreneurship center. According to the requirements of the National Development and Reform Commission, Wuhan is accelerating to build a national central city supported by four major functions: a national economic center, a high-level science and technology innovation center, a commerce and logistics center, and an international communication center.
Wuhan is a national historical and cultural city and an important birthplace of Chu culture. Since the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period, Wuhan has been a military and commercial town in southern China, and became the provincial capital of Huguang province in the Yuan Dynasty, and was known as "the first prosperous place in Chu" and one of the "four gatherings in the world" in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. In the late Qing Dynasty, the opening of Hankou and the foreign affairs movement started the modernization process of Wuhan, making it an important economic center of modern China. Wuhan was the first place of the Xinhai Revolution and has become the political, military and cultural center of the country several times in modern history.
