The Culture of
Wuhan City
Origin of the River City
Like Chongqing, the “Mountain City”, Chengdu, the “Lotus City”, and Kunming, the “Spring City”, Wuhan has its own unique name, the “River City”.
Some may ask why only Wuhan is referred to as the “River City”, since the Yangtze River passes by many cities, large and small, from upstream to downstream. This can be explained by a story about Li Bai, a great poet of the Tang Dynasty. One day when Li Bai visited Wuhan, he met Director Shi in the Yellow Crane Tower, enjoying the music while drinking. Being in a good mood, Li Bai wrote the poem Listening to the Flute from the Yellow Crane Tower with an Official Named Shi. The poem goes like this, “As I go to Changsha as demoted in officialdom, turning my head west I cannot see my home. A plaintive flute number is heard from the Yellow Crane Tower, The River Town seems to bloom in May with the plum flower.” Wuhan people love the name “River Town” in the last line, so they call themselves “River Town People”. Besides the “River City”, Wuhan is also called by other names, and the origins of these names reflect the city’s historical and cultural development.
