The History of
Wuhan City
Wuhan City History
Origin of the Three Towns
Wuhan is composed of three towns, namely Wuchang, Hanyang and Hankou. They are different from each other in terms of history, scale and speed of development.
Wuchang got its name at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 25–220) and the beginning of the Three Kingdoms Period (AD 220–280). In order to compete with Liu Bei for Jingzhou, Sun Quan moved the capital from Jianye (present-day Nanjing) to E County in AD 221 and renamed it “Wuchang”, which means “making the country prosperous through military governance”. The name “Wuchang” here refers to the present-day Ezhou. According to archaeological excavations, Wuchang was a habitat of the ancients since the Neolithic Age. Evidence has been found in Fangyingtai in Shuiguohu Subdistrict, Laoren Bridge in South Lake, and Xujiadun and Qizidun in Huashan Township, Hongshan District.
The origin of the name of Hanyang is closely related to the Han River. As the old saying goes, “Yang refers to the southern side of a hill or the northern bank of a river”. In ancient times, Hanyang was located in the north of the Han River and the south of Turtle Mountain with a large amount of sunshine, so it got the name Hanyang.
In the second year of the Daye Period in the Sui Dynasty (AD 606), Hanjin County was renamed Hanyang County, which is the origin of the name of Hanyang. It was not until the Tang Dynasty when the county seat was moved to downtown Hanyang that the place developed rapidly.
Wuchang and Hanyang were established in the same period, with a history of about 1,800 years.
Hankou and Hanyang had developed synchronously for a long time in history. In the tenth year of the Chenghua Period in the Ming Dynasty (AD 1474), the Han River was diverted to meet the Yangtze River at the northern foot of Turtle Mountain (the Han River was diverted at least eight times in history). It was not until at that time that Hankou began to develop independently, with a recorded history of only more than 500 years. With city walls built early, both Hanyang and Hankou were once taken as the county seats.
As Hankou quickly became an emerging commercial port, it far outperformed Wuchang and Hanyang in terms of reputation and development speed. In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, Hankou was listed as one of the four famous towns in China together with Zhuxian Town in Henan, Foshan Town in Guangdong and Jingdezhen in Jiangxi, known as “the Chicago of China” in foreign countries.
At the beginning of 1927, the Wuhan National Government merged Wuchang and Hankou (having jurisdiction over Hanyang County) to form the capital and named it Wuhan. Today, “Wuhan City” is composed of the three towns of Wuchang, Hankou and Hanyang.
