夜游长江

Night Travel of Wuhan on the Yangtze River Night Travel of Wuhan on the Yangtze River Now we are at the quay of Wuhan Harbor. Tonight we will enjoy our travel of Wuhan on the Yangtze River. At first, I would like to outline the general situation of this city for you. Wuhan is the provincial capital of Hubei Province, its total area is 8467sqare kilometers and its population is 8.32 million. It is the largest city of Central China and the sixth largest city all over the country too. The history of Wuhan can date back to the Shang Dynasty more than 3500 years ago. Wuhan is located at the joint of the Han River and the Yangtze River which is the third largest river in the world, over 60 kilometers of the Yangtze River cross the city proper of Wuhan. Wuhan is a triple-city, on the north of the Yangtze River are Hankou and Hangyang, on the south is Wuchang. There is an old saying which goes: A ladle can scoop up the waters of two rivers, a cup of tea can make the triple-city fragrant. This is the vivid portrayal to the unique geographical pattern of Wuhan.  The three towns of Hanyang, Wuchang and Hankou have different history. Hanyang developed into a town in the early days of the first century, Wuchang became into a town in the third century, but Hankou developed into a town very late, until the time of the Ming Dynasty, the Han River changed its estuary to the Yangtze River in the last time, Hankou began to become a town.. But it developed very fast, as far as 1740’s, it was very prosperous and regarded as one of the most famous four towns in China, the other three were Zhuxian town in Henan Province, Jingde Town in Jiangxi Province and Foshan Town in Guangdong province. As a famous commercial town, its prosperity benefited from its convenient waterways and land routes. The businessmen all over the country kept pouring in , they transported various goods to the most flourishing street--- Hanzheng Street to transfer, therefore Hankou became the well-known collecting and distributing center of commodities and the communication hub at that time. On the north of the Han River lies the Dragon King Quay. Originally, the Dragon King Quay was built in 1739 during the reign of Emperor Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty. Before this time, the Temple of Dragon King was built here. Because the section of the Han River near the temple is very narrow, the water flows rapidly and the waves surge very high, it has been regarded as a dangerous place since remote time, the local people built the temple to pray for the dragon king to safeguard Hankou. Now the cruise ship we can see is the Dragon Palace Ship, it’s a cruise ship without power which merges dining, entertainment and leisure into an organic whole and moors near the Temple of Dragon King. It’s 110meters long, 13.6meters wide and 24 meters high, it consists of seven stories. Near the Temple of Dragon King, the bridge which looks like a rainbow over the Han River is the Qingchuan Bridge, it was put into operation on December 30,2000. Its major span is 280 meters, it’s an iron-arched bridge. Because this bridge joins the Hangzheng Street and the South Bank Peninsular and facilitates the traveling traders and residents, the locals enjoy the bridge very much and cordially call it “the rainbow bridge”. ) This is the South Bank Peninsular, it’s located at the confluence of the Yangtze River and the Han river, the turbid Yangtze’s water and the clear Han River’s water form a great Chinese character “man”, separating the whole Wuhan City into three parts: Hankou, Hanyang and Wuchang. Now it has become an interesting place for vistors. " What we visit now is the major historical and cultural site under Wuhan City’s protection------Qingchuan Pavilion which is honored as the holy place in South Central China by notable persons. Qingchuan Pavilion is also called Qingchuan Tower. It began to be built in the Emperor Jiajing’s reign of the Ming Dynasty, it was built for commemorating Great Yu and its name derived from the poem THE YELLOW CRANE TOWER of the famous poet CuiHao in the Tang Dynasty. In the history of China, Qingchuan Pavilion was destroyed and rebuilt on several occations. In 1983, the municipal government of Wuhan began to restore Qingchuan Pavilion according to the design during the rule of Emperor Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty, opening to the public on October 1, 1986. From then on, Qingchuan Pavilion and the Yellow Crane Tower stood magnificently on the both banks of the Yangtze River respectively, facing each other and enhancing each other’s beauty, and become a famous scenic spot of Wuhan City. It is regarded as “the Holy Place of South Central China” and “A fantastic Scenic Spot Through Ages”. The grand bridge that we can see just in front of the ship is the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge. It was the first bridge including both highway and railway built over the ten-thousand li Yangtze River after liberation. The bridge began to be built on October 1,1955,it was completed and opened to the traffic on October 15,1957.The bridge is 1156 meters long and 35meters high, with the bridge approach the length is 1670meters.The bridge is made up of three layers: the upper, middle and lower layers, the upper layer is a highway 22.5 meters wide consisting of four lanes, over which four trucks can go side by side; the middle layer is the railway of double tracks so that two trains can pass going in opposite directions, the famous Beijing-Guangzhou Railway passes this bridge; the lower layer consists of nine arches supported by eight piers, the span of each arch is 128 meters, the arches are used for ships to pass. On both ends of the bridge, the visitors can take a lift or go by steps to the surface of the bridge to enjoy the beautiful scenery. Now our ship is going downstream along the river, on the right is Wuchang located on the south of the Yangtze River, this place is called the Gate of Hangyang. Chairman MaoZedong came to Wuhan to inspect in 1956, he began to swim from here. Ladies and gentlemen! This is the best position for us to enjoy the concessions and bund of Wuhan. The high towering building firstly coming into our eyes is the Jiali Plaza, it was built by Wuhan and the Jiali Group in Hongkong jointly. It’s 251 meters high and 61 stories with a construction area of 245000square meters. Now please have a look at this old buildings with a great bell on its top, its original name is the Jianghanguan Building which is located at the south end of the Yanjiang Road of Hankou. This building belonged to Britain Concession in old times. As the ship keeps going downstream along the river, we can see over 100 western-style buildings on the north bank of the Yangtze River, they are the concession ever occupied by some imperialist powers in 1861 after the Second Opium War. According to the unfair treaty, Hankou was opened up for the foreign trading port. Until 1945 after Anti-Japanese War, Wuhan people regained all concessions formally, and ended the disgraceful history of 85 years of imperialist’s setting up the concessions in Hankou. Nowadays, the remained buildings have already become the cultural heritage of Wuhan in modern times. How quickly time flies! Our night Yangtze River trip is over, after you disembark, please follow me to visit the Jianghan Commercial Walking Street. Thank you very much.