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110-451: The district is composed of an area of reconstituted traditional mid-19th century shikumen ("stone gate") houses on narrow alleys, some adjoining houses which now serve as book stores, cafes and restaurants, and shopping malls. Most of the cafes and restaurants feature both indoor and outdoor seating. Xintiandi has an active nightlife on weekdays as well as weekends, though romantic settings are more common than loud music and dance places. It

220-641: A Creative City by UNESCO , in the field of design. Wuhan is classified as a Beta- (global second tier) city together with seven other cities in China, including Changsha , Dalian , Jinan , Shenyang , Xiamen , Xi'an and Zhengzhou by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network . Wuhan is also one of the world's top 100 financial centers, according to the Global Financial Centres Index . The name "Wuhan" comes from

330-782: A center for the arts (especially poetry) and for intellectual studies. Cui Hao , a celebrated poet of the Tang dynasty , visited the Yellow Crane Tower in the early 8th century; his poem made it the most celebrated building in southern China. In spring 877, Wang Xianzhi captured E Prefecture ( 鄂州 , in modern Wuhan). He then returned north, joining forces with Huang again, and they surrounded Song Wei at Song Prefecture ( 宋州 , in modern Shangqiu , Henan ). In winter 877, Huang Chao pillaged Qi and Huang ( 黃州 , in modern Wuhan) Prefectures. Before Kublai Khan arrived in 1259, word reached him that Möngke had died. Kublai decided to keep

440-771: A central event in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms —the Battle of Red Cliffs —took place near the Yangtze River , with the cliffs near Wuhan identified as one of the potential locations. Around that time, walls were built to protect Hanyang (AD 206) and Wuchang (AD 223). The latter event marks the foundation of Wuhan. In AD 223, the Yellow Crane Tower , one of the Four Great Towers of China ,

550-737: A front and a back terrace ( shaitai , 晒台 ). The ground floor were equipped with kitchens ( zaopi jian 灶批间 ). At the back of the house, a "back wing" was added, as well as the tingzi jian ( 亭子间 ) or "pergola room", located above the kitchen and below the terrace. This was typically small, with low ceilings, and faced north, making it the least attractive room in the house. They were usually used for storage, or as living quarters for servants. Numerous new type shikumen have survived. Some well known examples include Jianye Li (now revamped into an upmarket hotel, commercial and residential complex), Siming Cun , and Mingde Li located on Avenue Joffre. In Chinese, shikumen developments are typically named with

660-780: A great many students for study overseas, which well promoted the development of China's modern education. Furthermore, he trained a modern military and organized a modern army including a zhen and a xie (both zhen and xie are military units in the Qing dynasty) in Hubei. Originally known as the Hubei Arsenal, the Hanyang Arsenal was founded in 1891, who diverted funds from the Nanyang Fleet in Guangdong to build

770-522: A large number of residential buildings for the new Chinese residents of the city. At first, these tended to be wooden buildings that were cheap and quick to build. These wooden buildings were built as terraces, and usually name with " Li " ( 里 , Shanghainese : li⁶ ) as suffix. These were the first " lilong " buildings in Shanghai. Within 10 months from 1853, 800 dwellings of this type were built. Because of their flammability, this type of construction

880-441: A late period. The defining characteristic of a shikumen building is the prominent main gate - which also gives rise to the name "shikumen". Typically, this gate is located on the central axis of each dwelling, with twin doors made of heavy wood, painted glossy black. Typical width is around 1.4 metres, with a height of around 2.8 metres. The doors usually possess brass or iron knockers. The original documented name for such buildings

990-510: A middle-class neighbourhood, the area became dense slums due to the influx of refugees in the Second Sino-Japanese War. The entire neighbourhood was razed progressively in 2012–2014. Cité Bourgogne ( Bugao Li ), located on South Shanxi Road, is a typical old type shikumen development despite being built in the 1930s. The neighbourhood includes 87 two-storey brick veneer residences with a red brick exterior. The trunk lane

1100-417: A narrow front yard. The name "stone gate" references these strong gateways. Each residence abuts another and all are arranged in straight side alleys called longtang ( Chinese : 弄堂 ; pinyin : Lòngtáng , Shanghainese : lon⁶ daon⁶ , IPA : [loŋ¹¹ dɑ̃²⁴] , sometimes written as 衖堂 ). The entrance to each alley is usually surmounted by a stylistic stone arch . The shikumen is a cultural blend of

1210-919: A new City of Wuchang, but in October 1946 were separated into the City of Wuchang (including Wuchang only) and the County of Hanyang. Hankou became a centrally controlled municipality in August 1947. Militarily, the Wuhan Forward Headquarters was established in Wuhan, headed by Bai Chongxi . During the later stages of the Chinese Civil War, Bai sought to broker peace, proposing that the Communist Party could rule northern China while

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1320-657: A shikumen residence in Shude Li , and its second conference in another shikumen residence in the French Concession . The Communist Youth League first operated out of a shikumen residence on Avenue Joffre . Shikumen neighbourhoods were also often used for less salubrious trades. The lanes Huile Li and Qunyu Fang , on Foochow Road (now Fuzhou Road), formed the epicentre of Shanghai's red light district before 1949. Gambling and opium dens commonly appeared in shikumen neighbourhoods, along with fortune tellers. By

1430-405: A suffix of Li ( 里 , "neighbourhood"), Fang ( 坊 , "ward"), Long ( 弄 , "lane") or Cun ( 邨 , "village"). The first two are traditional suffixes for names of urban precincts, in common use since at least the Tang dynasty . Where an English name was used, " Terrace " was a common suffix. The first part of the name typically derives from one of three sources. The first kind takes the name of

1540-405: A trunk lane leading off the street, and branch lanes leading off the trunk lane. Cars became more popular, so the trunk lanes were typically designed to accommodate cars. The heyday of the "new type" shikumen was in the 1920s. From the 1930s they were replaced by newer building types, including newer types of lilong residences, as well as larger modern apartment buildings, before the civil war and

1650-657: Is a major transportation hub, with dozens of railways, roads, and expressways passing through the city and connecting to other major cities. Because of its key role in domestic transportation, Wuhan is sometimes referred to as "the Chicago of China" by foreign sources. The "Golden Waterway" of the Yangtze River and the Han River traverse the urban area and divide Wuhan into the three districts of Wuchang , Hankou , and Hanyang . The Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge crosses

1760-477: Is a traditional Shanghainese architectural style combining Western and Chinese elements that first appeared in the 1860s. The term 石库门 is derived from the Shanghainese dialect 石箍门, 箍 meaning "to frame or encase." 石箍门 referred to the characteristically "stone-framed door" of the tenement houses. At the height of their popularity, there were 9,000 shikumen-style buildings in Shanghai, comprising 60% of

1870-458: Is about 2.5 wide, and there are numerous branch lanes. The lanes are noted for their main gateways, modeled after traditional Chinese pailou gates. Cité Bourgogne is well preserved in situ as a municipal heritage site, and remains mostly residential. The largest shikumen neighbourhood which survives in a mostly original state is Jianye Li ( 建业里 ), also heritage protected. A new type development located on West Jianguo Road and Yueyang Road,

1980-412: Is also one of the nine national central cities . Wuhan historically served as a busy city port for commerce and trading with some crucial influences on Chinese history . The name "Wuhan" came from the city's historical origin from the conglomeration of Wuchang , Hankou , and Hanyang , which are collectively known as the "Three Towns of Wuhan" ( 武汉三镇 ). Wuhan lies in the eastern Jianghan Plain , at

2090-594: Is considered one of the first lifestyle centers in China. It is also the most expensive place to live in China, with some apartments costing more than Tokyo, Singapore, New York and London. It is generally home to the Chinese elites and top executive expats or immigrants. Xintiandi is the location of the site of the first congress of the Chinese Communist Party , which is now preserved at the Museum of

2200-541: Is headquartered in Wuhan. The city is home to multiple notable institutes of higher education, including Wuhan University and the Huazhong University of Science and Technology . Wuhan is a major city in the world by scientific research outputs and it ranks 9th globally and 5th in the Asia-Pacific & China (after Beijing , Shanghai , Nanjing and Guangzhou ). In 2017, Wuhan was designated as

2310-607: Is that new style buildings are three storeys high. They were built of reinforced concrete , rather than brick veneer. Some were equipped with modern sanitary equipment, and natural lighting became a key concern. Developments are typically laid out with a main, trunk lane, with houses arranged along branch lanes leading from the trunk lane. With the advent of motor cars, the trunk lanes were usually built wide enough to accommodate cars. Instead of one lane with one or two rows of houses, new style shikumen were typically developed in large blocks. Standard triangular gables and party walls replaced

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2420-662: The Beijing–Hankou railway with the Guangdong–Hankou railway into the Beijing–Guangzhou railway , making Wuhan a 'thoroughfare to nine provinces' ( 九省通衢 ) in name and in fact. After Chengdu Conference, Mao went to Chongqing and Wuhan in April to inspect the countryside and factories. In Wuhan, he called all the leaders of provinces and municipalities who had not attended Chengdu Conference to report their work. Tian Jiaying,

2530-573: The Erligang culture ( c.  1510  – c.  1460  BC) (being sparsely populated during the earlier Erlitou period ), is located in modern-day Huangpi District of Wuhan. During the Western Zhou the State of E , which gives its name to the single character abbreviation for Hubei province, controlled the present-day Wuchang area south of the Yangtze River. After the conquest of

2640-553: The Northern and Southern dynasties period, the Wuhan area was part of the successive Southern dynasty states Liu Song (420–479), Southern Qi (479–502), Liang , and Western Liang . In fall 550, Hou Jing sent Ren Yue to attack both Xiao Daxin and Xiao Fan's son Xiao Si ( 蕭嗣 ). Ren killed Xiao Si in battle, and Xiao Daxin, unable to resist, surrendered, allowing Hou to take his domain under control. Meanwhile, Xiao Guan, who had by now settled at Jiangxia ( 江夏 , in modern Wuhan),

2750-503: The Second Sino-Japanese War completely disrupted the property market in Shanghai. It was common for families who could not afford the rent on a whole house to sub-let some of the rooms. They were known as "second landlords" ( 二 房东 , èr fángdōng ) (as opposed to the head-landlord ( 大 房东 , dà fángdōng )). "Second landlords" often lived in the same shikumen residence with their tenants. The phenomenon blossomed after

2860-535: The Second Sino-Japanese War , the city was the site of the Battle of Wuhan . On December 31, 2019, SARS-CoV-2 , a novel coronavirus that later caused the COVID-19 pandemic , was first discovered in Wuhan and the city was the location of the first lockdown of the pandemic in January 2020. Wuhan is considered the political, economic, financial, commercial, cultural, and educational center of Central China. It

2970-538: The Soviet Volunteer Group in both planes and personnel, as U.S. support in war materials waned. As the battle raged on through 1938, Wuhan and the surrounding region had become the site of the Battle of Wuhan . After being taken by the Japanese in late 1938, Wuhan became a major Japanese logistics center for operations in southern China. In early October 1938, Japanese troops moved east and north in

3080-577: The Yangtze River in Wuhan to collect the information needed for opening the trading port in Wuhan. In the spring of 1861, Counselor Harry Smith Parkes and Admiral Herbert were sent to Wuhan to open a trading port. On the basis of the Convention of Peking , Parkes concluded the Hankou Lend-Lease Treaty with Guan Wen, the governor-general of Hunan and Hubei. It brought an area of 30.53 square kilometers (11.79 sq mi) along

3190-611: The train ferries for crossing the Yangtze River in Wuhan. The project of building the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge , also known as the First Yangtze River Bridge, was regarded as one of the key projects during the first five-year plan. On October 25, 1955, construction began on the bridge proper. The same day in 1957, the whole project was completed and an opening-to-traffic ceremony was held on October 15. The First Yangtze River Bridge united

3300-589: The 11th, the revolutionary army took the whole city of Wuchang, but leaders such as Jiang Yiwu and Sun Wu disappeared. Thus the leaderless revolutionary army recommended Li Yuanhong , the assistant governor of the Qing army, as the commander-in-chief. Li founded the Hubei Military Government, proclaimed the abolition of the Qing rule in Hubei, the founding of the Republic of China and published an open telegram calling for other provinces to join

3410-647: The Communists within the party, which marked the end of the First United Front , and Chiang Kai-shek briefly stepped down as the commander of the National Revolutionary Army. In June 1927, Stalin sent a telegram to the Communists in Wuhan, calling for the mobilization of an army of workers and peasants. This alarmed Wang Jingwei, who decided to break with the Communists and come to terms with Chiang Kai-shek. The Wuhan coup

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3520-535: The E state in 863 BC, the present-day Wuhan area was controlled by the State of Chu for the rest of the Western Zhou and Eastern Zhou periods. After the State of Huang was conquered by State of Chu in the summer of 648 BC, the people of Huang were moved into the area in and around present-day Wuhan. Local geographical terms including the name of Wuhan's Huangpi District were named after the State of Huang. Chu

3630-852: The First National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party . Also nearby are the Shikumen Open House Museum and the site of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea when Korea was a Japanese colony. The area was developed by Shui On Land during the re-development of the surrounding area. Some houses in Xintiandi were then renovated in order to implant an art gallery, cafes, and restaurants. Many tour groups both domestic and from abroad also visit Xintiandi as one of

3740-627: The Jiangnan region. Shikumen residences had a much smaller footprint than traditional courtyard residences, and were accessed by narrow lanes. They were also cheaper to build than Western-style houses. Although more expensive to build than the wooden terraces they replaced, they were sturdier and so attracted higher rents. They were first built in the British concession (later part of the International Settlement; and still later,

3850-571: The KMT gunboat Zhongshan came up against six Japanese aircraft. Though two were eventually shot down, the Zhongshan sank with 25 casualties. Raised from the bottom of the Yangtze River in 1997, and restored at a local shipyard, the Zhongshan has been moved to a purpose-built museum in Wuhan's suburban Jiangxia District , which opened on September 26, 2011. As a key center on the Yangtze, Wuhan

3960-537: The Nationalist government retained southern China. This was rejected, and on May 15, 1949, Bai and the Wuhan garrison retreated from the city. People's Liberation Army troops entered Wuhan on the afternoon of Monday, May 16, 1949. The Communists redeveloped industry in Wuhan, which had damaged by war. During the PRC's first decade, it became an important center of industry again. Hundreds of factories were built in

4070-643: The Northern Expedition was interrupted by the political split in the Kuomintang following the formation of the Nanjing faction in April 1927 against the existing faction in Wuhan. Members of the Chinese Communist Party , who had survived the April 12 massacre, met at Wuhan and reelected Chen Duxiu (Ch'en Tu-hsiu) as the Party's Secretary General. The split was partially motivated by the purge of

4180-491: The Russian concession. Japanese immigrants, mainly traders, also started arriving in 1874. In 1889, Zhang Zhidong was transferred from Viceroy of Liangguang ( Guangdong and Guangxi provinces) to Viceroy of Huguang ( Hunan and Hubei provinces). He governed the province for 18 years, until 1907. During this period, he elucidated the theory of "Chinese learning as the basis, Western learning for application," known as

4290-801: The Wuhan area was controlled for many years by rebel forces and the Yellow Crane Tower, Xingfu Temple , Zhuodaoquan Temple and other buildings were repurposed or damaged. During the Second Opium War (known in the West as the Arrow War, 1856–1860), the government of the Qing dynasty was defeated by the western powers and signed the Treaties of Tianjin and the Convention of Peking , which stipulated eleven cities or regions (including Hankou) as trading ports. In December 1858, James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin , High Commissioner to China, led four warships up

4400-747: The Xinhai year on the Chinese calendar. The city has several museums and memorials to the revolution and the thousands of martyrs who died defending the revolution. With the northern extension of the Northern Expedition , the center of the Great Revolution shifted from the Pearl River basin to the Yangtze River basin. On November 26, the Kuomintang Central Political Committee decided to move

4510-454: The Yangtze River (from latter-day Jianghan Road to Hezuo Road) to become a British Concession and permitted Britain to set up its consulate in the concession. In 1862, Russian tea merchants arrived in the treaty port of Hankou. Russians in Hankou established four factories using assembly lines and machinery to produce brick tea, and became the city's richest industrialists in what would become

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4620-646: The Yangtze River boom town, was "the St. Louis and Chicago of China." On October 10, 1911, Sun Yat-sen 's followers launched the Wuchang Uprising , which led to the collapse of the Qing state and 2,000 years of dynastic rule, as well as the establishment of the Republic of China . The Wuchang Uprising of October 1911, which overthrew the Qing dynasty, originated in Wuhan. Before the uprising, anti-Qing secret societies were active in Wuhan. In September 1911,

4730-496: The Yangtze River. In 1926, the Northern Expedition reached the Wuhan area and it was decided to merge Hankou, Wuchang and Hanyang into one city in order to make a new capital for Nationalist China. On January 1, 1927, the resulting city was proclaimed as ' 武漢 ' (the traditional Chinese characters for 'Wuhan'), which was later simplified as ' 武汉 ' (also 'Wuhan'). The Wuhan area has been settled for 3,500 years. Panlongcheng , an archaeological site primarily associated with

4840-801: The Yangtze in the city. The Three Gorges Dam , the world's largest power station in terms of installed capacity , is located nearby. Historically, Wuhan has suffered risks of flooding, prompting the government to alleviate the situation by introducing ecologically friendly absorption mechanisms. While Wuhan has been a traditional manufacturing hub for decades, it is also one of the areas promoting modern industrial changes in China. Wuhan has three national development zones, four scientific and technological development parks, over 350 research institutes, 1,656 high tech enterprises, numerous enterprise incubators and investments from 230 Fortune Global 500 firms. It produced GDP (nominal) of US$ 274 billion in 2021. The Dongfeng Motor Corporation , an automobile manufacturer,

4950-491: The arsenal. It cost about 250,000 pounds sterling and was built in 4 years. On April 23, 1894, construction was completed and the arsenal, occupying some 40 acres (160,000 m ), could start production of small-caliber cannons. It built magazine-fed rifles, Gruson quick fire guns, and cartridges. In 1896, the Russian Empire also acquired a concession in Hankou. By 1900, according to Collier's magazine, Hankou,

5060-430: The capital from Guangzhou to Wuhan. In mid-December, most of the KMT central executive commissioners and national government commissioners arrived in Wuhan, set up the temporary joint conference of central executive commissioners and National Government commissioners, performed the top functions of central party headquarters and National Government, declared they would work in Wuhan on January 1, 1927, and decided to combine

5170-624: The city, including most prominently Wuhan Iron and Steel , which opened in 1958. The Changjiang Water Resources Commission was reestablished in February 1950 with its headquarters in Wuhan. From June to September 1954, the Yangtze River Floods were a series of catastrophic floodings that occurred mostly in Hubei Province. Due to an unusually high volume of precipitation as well as an extraordinarily long rainy season in

5280-494: The city, making Wuhan an important transshipment point between rail and river traffic. Also during this period foreign powers extracted mercantile concessions, with the riverfront of Hankou being divided up into foreign-controlled merchant districts. These districts contained trading firm offices, warehouses, and docking facilities. The French had a concession in Hankou. During the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom ,

5390-558: The city, with 30,000 sheltering on a railway embankment in central Hankou. With little food and a complete breakdown in sanitation, thousands soon began to succumb to diseases. Jin Shilong, Senior Engineer at the Hubei Flood Prevention Agency, described the flooding: There was no warning, only a sudden great wall of water. Most of Wuhan's buildings in those days were only one story high, and for many people there

5500-452: The confluence of the Yangtze river and its largest tributary, the Han River , and is known as "Nine Provinces' Thoroughfare" ( 九省通衢 ). Wuhan was the site of the 1911 Wuchang Uprising against the Qing dynasty which ended 2,000 years of dynastic rule . Wuhan was briefly a capital of China twice, in 1927 under a left wing Kuomintang (KMT) government , and in 1937 as a provisional wartime capital during World War II . In 1938, during

5610-407: The death of his brother secret and continued the attack on the Wuhan area, near the Yangtze . The present-day Wuying Pagoda was constructed at the end of the Song dynasty between attacks by the Mongolian forces. Under the Mongol rulers ( Yuan dynasty ) (after 1301), the Wuchang prefecture , headquartered in the town, became the capital of Hubei province. Hankou, from the Ming to late Qing ,

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5720-400: The death of two elderly residents. Architectural historians classify shikumen into two types, the "old type" and the "new type". The old type was predominantly built from the 1860s until the end of the First World War , while the new type prevailed from after the First World War until the development of shikumen ceased after 1949. Old type shikumen is further divided into an early period and

5830-425: The development is composed of 260 residences, all of which are two storey red brick buildings. This development is noted for its use of traditionally Chinese matou gables, and arched doorways. In 2003, the original residents were relocated, and the buildings were somewhat controversially renovated to become serviced apartments and to house restaurants and other commercial uses. Shangxian Fang ( 尚贤坊 ), located on

5940-399: The development of smaller, but better equipped, "new type" shikumen. "New type" shikumen were three storeys tall instead of two, and were equipped with modern sanitary equipment. Great emphasis was placed on natural lighting, with most shikumen orientated towards the south, and an internal staircase skylight or atrium to supplement the front and back courtyards. Developments became larger, with

6050-410: The early 1950s, it was calculated that there were more than 9000 shikumen buildings, comprising 65% of residential housing stock by area in Shanghai. While constructions of new residential buildings decreased this percentage over time, most shikumen neighbourhoods remained unchanged in their crowded state until economic reforms in the 1980s and 90s began the wave of demolition and reconstruction which, by

6160-451: The early 21st century, has left only a few shikumen developments intact. In Xuhui District alone, it has been calculated that shikumen residences had decreased from 2.68 million square metres in 1949, to 0.25 million square metres by the late 1990s. The forced demolition of crowded and stable shikumen communities gave rise to controversies, such as a 2005 incident where a developer resorted to arson to persuade residents to leave, resulting in

6270-468: The elements found in Western architecture with traditional Lower Yangtze architecture and social behavior. Traditional Chinese dwellings had a courtyard, and the Shikumen was no exception. Yet, to compromise with its urban nature, it was much smaller and provided an interior haven to the commotions in the streets, allowing for raindrops to fall and vegetation to grow freely within a residence. The courtyard also allowed sunlight and improved ventilation into

6380-445: The fabric of the buildings. All of these redevelopment projects have been controversial. Other than Cité Bourgogne , Shangxian Fang and Jianye Li , other heritage protected shikumen precincts are Siming Cun , Meilan Fang and Rongkang Li . Wuhan Wuhan is the capital of Hubei , China. With a population of over eleven million, it is the most populous city in Hubei and the seventh-most-populous city in China. It

6490-415: The first floor are located behind the cijian . Behind the hall and the cijian is the back courtyard ( houtianjing 后天井 ), which is about half the size of the front courtyard. The well, which provided water for the house, was located here (though later houses were connected to tap water instead). At the back of the back courtyard are back buildings, usually used as the kitchen, toilet and storage room. On

6600-409: The foreign concessions of Hankou (now part of Wuhan ), and some can still be seen there today. Shikumen terraces can even be found as far afield as Beijing, where the two shikumen lanes Huakang Li and Tai’an Li, dating from the 1920s, are undergoing restoration. Shikumens are two or three-story structures resembling Western terrace houses or townhouses , distinguished by high brick walls enclosing

6710-399: The freeholder or related party: for example Siming Cun is named after the Chinese name ("Siming Bank") of the project's main sponsor, the Ningpo Commercial & Savings Bank ; similarly, Meilan Fang takes one syllable from each of the two owners' names - brothers Wu Mei xi and Wu Si lan . The second kind takes the name of a nearby road or landmark, for example Bao'an Fang is named after

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6820-485: The ground floor rooms for storage, and live in the upper floors. Chemical and dye dealers were common. Even light industry was found within shikumen communities, such as sock factories and cosmetics factories. Even more common (and common even today in surviving and renovated shikumen lanes) are grocers, restaurants, inns and bath houses. Densely populated shikumen neighbourhoods provided camouflage for revolutionaries. The Chinese Communist Party held its first conference in

6930-406: The height of the Cultural Revolution . Economic development was further disrupted by the Cultural Revolution. In 1981, the Wuhan City Government commenced reconstruction of the Yellow Crane Tower at a new location, about 1 km (0.62 mi) from the original site, and it was completed in 1985. In 1957, the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge was built with one trestle of the bridge on the site of

7040-404: The lane entrance. Few old type shikumen neighbourhoods survive. Xingren Li , built in 1872, was regarded as a characteristic old type shikumen development. It was located on East Beijing Road, and composed of 24 two-storey residences, which varied in size between three-bay wide and five-bay wide styles. The main lane was 107.5 metres long, and the end walls featured Guanyin dou -style gables. It

7150-447: The late 1930s, shikumen buildings were already on their way out, overtaken by newer styles of lilong residences, and large apartment buildings. Commercial property development in Shanghai virtually ceased during the Second World War and the Chinese Civil War that followed it. After the end of the war 1949, shikumen construction ceased completely, replaced with planned construction of residential buildings on collectivist principles. In

7260-419: The main attractions in Shanghai. The Xintiandi redevelopment was also collaborated with global architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill , including with Benjamin T. Wood and Nikken Sekkei International. The urban renewal is considered one of the first examples of the placemaking approach in China.) This construction displaced 3,500 Shanghainese families. The closest Shanghai Metro stations in

7370-415: The main gate is the front courtyard ( tianjing 天井 ), flanked by wings ( xiangfang 厢房 ) of the house on the left and right. At the centre, facing the courtyard is the hall, or ketang jian ( 客堂间 ). This large room typically has an area of about 12 square metres, and is used like a modern sitting room or living room. On either side of the hall are the cijian ( 次间 ) or "secondary rooms". Stairs to reach

7480-419: The middle stretch of the Yangtze River late in the spring of 1954, the river started to rise above its usual level in around late June. In 1969, a large stone monument was erected in the riverside park in Hankou honoring the heroic deeds in fighting the 1954 Yangtze River floods. Before construction of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge , Hunslet Engine Company built two extra heavy 0-8-0 locomotives for loading

7590-494: The more elaborate matou or Guanyin dou styles, with concrete tops. Exposed brick was used for external walls. The main gate frame also switched from stone to brick and painted stone cladding. The architectural style became far more Westernised overall. Each dwelling was one to two bays wide. Two-bay wide houses "inherited" only one side wing, while one-bay wide houses discarded wings completely. Stairs became less steep. The new second floor typically contained bedrooms, along with

7700-413: The nearby Temple to the Bao'an Situ. The third type uses an auspicious words: such as Jixiang Li ("auspicious"), Ruyi Li ("happiness") and Ping'an Li ("safety"). The Chinese name for Cité Bourgogne , Bugao Li , is both phonetically similar to the French name and has an auspicious meaning of "stepping upwards". The names are typically inscribed, along with the year of construction, on the arch above

7810-498: The outbreak of the protests in Sichuan forced the Qing authorities to send part of the New Army garrisoned in Wuhan to suppress the rebellion. On September 14 the Literary Society ( 文學社 ) and the Progressive Association ( 共進會 ), two local revolutionary organizations in Hubei, set up joint headquarters in Wuchang and planned for an uprising. On the morning of October 9, a bomb at the office of the political arrangement exploded prematurely and alerted local authorities. The proclamation for

7920-439: The outside world. This made them popular with the upper end of the residential property market. The early period shikumen also possessed more features of traditional Chinese architecture: on the external façade of the terrace there are often typically Chinese matou ("horse head") style or Guanyin dou (" Guanyin hood") style gables ; the main hall uses floor-to-ceiling windows; decorative boards below eaves; and grid windows on

8030-508: The outskirts of Wuhan. As a result, numerous companies and enterprises and large numbers of people had to withdraw from Wuhan to the west of Hubei and Sichuan. The KMT navy undertook the responsibility of defending the Yangtze River on patrol and covering the withdrawal. On October 24, while overseeing the waters of the Yangtze River near the town of Jinkou (Jiangxia District in Wuhan) in Wuchang,

8140-485: The pre-merger Huangpu District ), but quickly became popular throughout the Old City and Chinese zones, and came to become the predominant form of residential construction in Shanghai. The high profit attracted a whole swathe of property companies to enter the shikumen market. From the 1910s, various innovations were made to the shikumen in response to social change. With a burgeoning middle class , designers increased

8250-439: The revolution. As the revolution spread to other parts of the country, the Qing government concentrated loyalist military forces to suppress the uprising in Wuhan. From October 17 to December 1, the revolutionary army and local volunteers defended the city in the Battle of Yangxia against better armed and more numerous Qing forces commanded by Yuan Shikai . Huang Xing would arrive in Wuhan in early November to take command of

8360-550: The revolutionary army. After fierce fighting and heavy casualties, Qing forces seized Hankou and Hanyang. But Yuan agreed to halt the advance on Wuchang and participated in peace talks , which would eventually lead to the return of Sun Yat-sen from exile, founding of the Republic of China on January 1, 1912. Through the Wuchang Uprising, Wuhan is known as the birthplace of the Xinhai Revolution, named after

8470-522: The rooms. This style of housing originally developed when local developers adapted Western-style terrace houses to Chinese conditions. Migrant labourers from surrounding provinces entered Shanghai in large numbers with the establishment of Shanghai as a treaty port in 1843. The 1853 Small Swords Rebellion and the Taiping Revolution drove more migrants and refugees into Shanghai. With the upsurge in demand, property developers began to build

8580-526: The secretary of Mao, said that Wuhan Conference was a supplement to Chengdu Conference. As the Third Front campaign shifted the focus of industrial development to China's hinterlands, Wuhan's development slowed. In July 1967, civil strife struck the city in the Wuhan Incident ("July 20th Incident"), an armed conflict between two hostile groups who were fighting for control over the city at

8690-480: The side wings. However, in contrast to later shikumen buildings, the gates of early period shikumen were not elaborately decorated, and were simply framed in stone. In terms of layout, the shikumen of this period were arranged in lanes of about 3 metres wide - narrower than later buildings - and the attention to orientation, and organization of trunk lanes and branch lanes, both features of later shikumen, were also absent. In terms of internal lay-out, immediately within

8800-494: The site of the main hall of the International Institute of China of Gilbert Reid , is another heritage protected shikumen precinct, which is now being renovated to become "shikumen hotels". Other re-developed shikumen precincts include Xintiandi , where the buildings were extensively reconstructed, and Tianzi Fang , which has been redeveloped for small businesses with an artistic bent, while largely preserving

8910-580: The start of the Second Sino-Japanese War: with refugees rushing into the unoccupied concessions from the Chinese zones in Hongkou and Zhabei , and further afield, there was dramatically increased demand for housing in the concessions. "Second landlords" used increasingly creative ways to sub-divide rooms and build add-ons and lean-tos in the courtyards and on the terraces. Shikumen residences became known for being crowded and disorderly. It

9020-415: The style of traditional Chinese houses, but with a much condensed footprint. There are typically 3 to 5 bays to each dwelling, and two storeys. They used the traditional litie ( 立帖 ) (or "brick nogging") style of brick veneer for load-bearing walls. The houses possessed walls of equal height at the front and back, so that each dwelling (despite being part of a terrace) was an enclosed whole, separated from

9130-542: The ti-yong ideal. He set up many heavy industries, founded Hanyang Steel Plant, Daye Iron Mine, Pingxiang Coal Mine and Hubei Arsenal and set up local textile industries, boosting the flourishing modern industry in Wuhan. Meanwhile, he initiated education reform, opened dozens of modern educational organizations successively, such as Lianghu (Hunan and Hubei) Academy of Classical Learning, Civil General Institute, Military General Institute, Foreign Languages Institute and Lianghu (Hunan and Hubei) General Normal School, and selected

9240-598: The total housing stock of the city; however, the proportion is currently much lower, as most Shanghainese live in large apartment buildings. Shikumen is classified as one type of lilong residences, sometimes translated as " lane houses " in English. In 2010, "construction techniques of shikumen lilong architecture" was recognised by the Chinese government on the national non-physical cultural heritage register (no. VIII-210). Shikumen houses were also introduced to other port cities in China. For example, many were built in

9350-585: The tower, which had been last destroyed in 1884. During the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests , students in Wuhan blocked the Yangtze River Railway bridge and another 4,000 gathered at the railway station. About one thousand students staged a railroad 'sit-in'. Rail traffic on the Beijing-Guangzhou and Wuhan-Dalian lines was interrupted. The students also urged employees of major state-owned enterprises to go on strike. The situation

9460-745: The towns of Wuchang, Hankou , and Hanyang into Wuhan City, called "Capital District". The new national government, later known as " Wuhan nationalist government ", was based in the Nanyang Building in Hankou, while the central party headquarters and other organizations chose their locations in Hankou or Wuchang. In March 1927, Mao Zedong appeared at the Third Plenum of the KMT Central Executive Committee in Wuhan, which sought to strip General Chiang of his power by appointing Wang Jingwei leader. The first phase of

9570-449: The two major cities on the banks of the Yangtze River that make up the Wuhan metropolis: "Wu" refers to the city of Wuchang ( Chinese : 武昌 ), which lies on the southern bank of the Yangtze, while "Han" refers to the city of Hankou ( Chinese : 汉口 ), which lies on the northern bank of the Yangtze. "Hankou" means "Mouth of the Han", from its position at the confluence of the Han with

9680-516: The uprising at the engineering barracks of Hubei New Army . They then led the New Army of all barracks to join the revolution. Under the guidance of Wu Zhaolin, Cai Jimin and others, this revolutionary army seized the official residence of the governor and government offices. Rui Cheng fled in panic into the Chuyu ship. Zhang Biao, the commander of the Qing army, also fled the city. On the morning of

9790-407: The uprising, beadroll and the revolutionaries’ official seal fell into the hands of Rui Cheng, the governor-general of Hunan and Hubei, who demolished the uprising headquarters the same day and set out to arrest the revolutionaries listed in the beadroll. This forced the revolutionaries to launch the uprising earlier than planned. On the night of October 10, the revolutionaries fired shots to signal

9900-514: The vicinity are South Huangpi Road Station (on Line 1 ), Xintiandi Station (on Line 10 and Line 13 ) and Madang Road Station (on Line 9 and Line 13). 31°13′21″N 121°28′12″E  /  31.22260°N 121.47010°E  / 31.22260; 121.47010 Shikumen Shikumen ( simplified Chinese : 石库门 ; traditional Chinese : 石庫門 ; pinyin : Shíkùmén ; lit. 'Stone Warehouse Gate', Shanghainese : zaq⁸ khu¹ men⁶, IPA : [zᴀʔ¹¹ kʰu¹¹ mən²⁴] )

10010-598: The victims. During the Second Sino-Japanese War and following the fall of Nanking in December 1937, Wuhan had become the provisional capital of China's Kuomintang government, and became another focal point of pitched air battles beginning in early 1938 between modern monoplane bomber and fighter aircraft of the Imperial Japanese forces and the Chinese Air Force , which included support from

10120-480: The west and east Siwen Li (in the process of being demolished), north Shude Li , and Daqing Li , built in 1915. One of the few old type shikumen developments to be preserved largely intact is Bugao Li , or Cité Bourgogne (built in the 1930s), in the former French Concession. New type shikumen were typically built from 1919 to the 1930s. They were also called "reformed style" shikumen residences. The main structural difference between new type and old type shikumen

10230-598: The whole, each dwelling preserved the main features required for traditional Chinese day-to-day living, while saving the land required. Most early period old style shikumen have been demolished or rebuilt. Representative examples include the Xingren Li , built in 1872 (demolished 1980), and Mianyang Li and Jixiang Li , both located near the Shiliupu dock area. Late period shikumen were mostly built between 1910 and 1919. The three-bay wide frontage with two side wings

10340-464: The width of lanes between terraces, but the width of each dwelling decreased - from a three-bay hall and two side wings (as was standard in the 19th century) to a two-bay or one-bay hall, and one side wing. Decorations became more elaborate: the main doors of the houses acquired the characteristic elaborate lintels, featuring architraves , archivolts and pediments . By around 1919, increasing population pressures and an increasing wealth gap encouraged

10450-521: Was " shigumen " ( 石箍門 , Shanghainese : zaq⁸ ku¹ men⁶ ), which in Shanghainese Wu meant "gate framed with stone", but over time corrupted into the similar-sounding " shikumen ". Each individual dwelling displays typical characteristics of traditional Jiangnan architecture, while the layout of the development as a whole is adopted from Western terrace houses . Early period old type shikumen were built between 1869 and 1910. They retained more of

10560-440: Was a political shift made on July 15, 1927, by Wang Jingwei towards Chiang Kai-shek, and his Shanghai -based rival in the Kuomintang. The Wuhan Nationalist Government was established in Wuhan on February 21, 1927, and ended by August 19, 1927. After the end of the Northern Expedition, Hankou was elevated to a centrally-controlled municipality. In the 1931 China floods , one of the deadliest flood disasters in world history, Wuhan

10670-478: Was a refuge for flood victims from outlying areas, who had been arriving since the late spring. But when the city itself was inundated in the early summer, and after a catastrophic dike failure just before 6:00 AM on July 27, an estimated 782,189 urban citizens and rural refugees were left homeless. The flood covered an area of 32 square miles and the city was flooded under many feet of water for close to three months. Large numbers gathered on flood islands throughout

10780-414: Was an important base for Japanese operations in China. On December 18, 1944, in a planned strategic move, and as revenge for the torture and execution of three captured American pilots by Japanese soldiers in the city, Wuhan was bombed by 77 American bombers with the approval of Chiang Kai-Shek. This set off a firestorm that destroyed much of the military resources of the city. For the next three days, Wuhan

10890-468: Was banned by concession authorities in Shanghai. However, with a burgeoning property development market in Shanghai, developers adapted these wooden terraces into the Shikumen. They used the traditional Chinese " litie " technique of wooden frame and load-bearing brick veneer construction, and for each residence used the traditional three-sided courtyard or four-sided courtyard layouts commonly found in

11000-566: Was bombed by the Americans, destroying all of the docks and warehouses of Wuhan, as well as the Japanese air bases in the city. The air raids also killed thousands of Chinese civilians. "According to casualty statistics compiled by Hankou city in 1946, more than 20,000 were killed or injured in the December bombings of 1944." Wuhan returned to Chinese control in September 1945. Administratively, Wuchang and Hanyang were initially combined into

11110-745: Was constructed on the Wuchang side of the Yangtze River by order of Sun Quan , leader of the Eastern Wu . The tower became a sacred site of Taoism . Due to tensions between the Eastern Wu and Cao Wei kingdoms, in the autumn of 228, Cao Rui , grandson of Cao Cao and the second emperor of the state of Cao Wei , ordered the general Man Chong to lead troops to Xiakou ( 夏口 ; in present-day Wuhan). In 279, Wang Jun and his army conquered strategic locations in Wu territory such as Xiling (in present-day Yichang , Hubei), Xiakou ( 夏口 ; present-day Hankou) and Wuchang ( 武昌 ; present-day Ezhou , Hubei). During

11220-440: Was demolished in 1980. Another notable now-demolished development was Siwen Li , located on Xinzha Road. This late period old type shikumen development occupied 4.66 hectares, with 48,000 square metres of floor space. There were a total of 706 residences of two or three storeys. Most of these buildings were one-bay wide, without modern sanitary equipment. The house gates were noted for intricate baroque style lintels. Originally

11330-556: Was in turn conquered by Qin in 223 BC. During the Han dynasty , Hanyang became a fairly busy port. The Battle of Xiakou in AD ;203 and Battle of Jiangxia five years later were fought in the region over control of Jiangxia Commandery , territories of which included much of present-day eastern Hubei. In the winter of 208/9, one of the most famous battles in Chinese history and

11440-454: Was no escape – they died by the tens of thousands. ... I was just coming off duty at the company's main office, a fairly new three-story building near the center of town ... When I heard the terrible noise and saw the wall of water coming, I raced to the top story of the building. ... I was in one of the tallest and strongest buildings left standing. At that time no one knew whether the water would subside or rise even higher. The high-water mark

11550-583: Was not uncommon for a single shikumen residence to be inhabited by dozens of families. A famous satirical comedy of the time, set in one of these houses, was called " The 72 Tenant Families " ( 《七十二家房客》 ). Although designed to be residential, other types of enterprises often operated from shikumen buildings as well, hidden within longtang developments. These include money lenders, traders, scribes, factories, entertainment venues and even schools. For example, one larger shikumen development, Xingren Li , featured more than 20 money lenders. Often, traders would use

11660-433: Was planning to attack Hou, but this drew Xiao Yi's ire—believing that Xiao Guan was intending to contend for the throne—and he sent Wang to attack Xiao Guan. In summer 567, Chen Xu commissioned Wu Mingche as the governor of Xiang Province and had him command a major part of the troops against Hua, along with Chunyu Liang ( 淳于量 ). The opposing sides met at Zhuankou ( 沌口 , in modern Wuhan). The city has long been renowned as

11770-563: Was reached on August 19 at Hankou, with the water level exceeding 16 m (53 ft) above normal. In 1936, when natural disaster struck Central China with widespread flooding affecting Hebei , Hunan , Jiangxi , Wuhan and Chongqing caused by the Yangtze and Huai Rivers bursting their banks, Ong Seok Kim , as Chairman of the Sitiawan Fundraising and Disaster Relief Committee, raised money and materials in support of

11880-604: Was reduced to one- or two-bay wide, with one side wing. The back courtyard was reduced, but more attention was paid to natural lighting, and the laneways were widened. More Western architectural details found favour: bannisters, doors and windows, staircase, pillar capitals and arch buttresses all used Western decorative styles. The lintel of the main gate also became increasingly elaborate, decorated with semicircular archivolts, triangular pediments or rectangular architraves. Late period old type shikumen are far better preserved than early period examples. Representative examples include

11990-594: Was so tense that residents reportedly began a bank run and resorted to panic-buying. Wuhan was the first stop on Deng Xiaoping 's 1992 southern tour . In the wake of the United States bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade on May 7, 1999, protests broke out throughout China, including in Wuhan. On June 22, 2000, a Wuhan Airlines flight from Enshi to Wuhan was forced to circle for 30 minutes due to thunderstorms. The aircraft eventually crashed on

12100-527: Was under the administration of the local government in Hanyang , although it was already one of the four major national markets ( zh:四大名镇 ) of the Ming dynasty. Hanyang's Guiyuan Temple was completed in the 15th year of Shunzhi (1658). By the dawn of the 18th century, Hankou had become one of China's top four trading centers. In the late 19th century, railroads were extended on a north–south axis through

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