104-603: The Yichang–Wanzhou railway , or the Yiwan railway ( simplified Chinese : 宜万铁路 ; traditional Chinese : 宜萬鐵路 ; pinyin : Yíwàn Tiělù ) connects the cities of Yichang ( Hubei Province) and Wanzhou ( Chongqing Municipality) via Lichuan , Hubei. It was completed in 2010 and forms part of the Shanghai–Wuhan–Chengdu passenger railway . Out of the line's total 377 km (234 mi) length, 288 km (179 mi) runs on bridges or in tunnels. According to
208-641: 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
312-525: 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 the confluence of the Yangtze river and its largest tributary, the Han River , and
416-782: 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
520-771: 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 ,
624-434: A conversion table. While exercising such derivation, the following rules should be observed: Sample Derivations : The Series One List of Variant Characters reduces the number of total standard characters. First, amongst each set of variant characters sharing identical pronunciation and meaning, one character (usually the simplest in form) is elevated to the standard character set, and the rest are made obsolete. Then amongst
728-516: A cost of U.S. $ 9.01 million per kilometre, the per-kilometre construction costs were twice as high as those for the Qinghai–Tibet Railway which cost U.S. $ 4.35 million per kilometre. The railway was first proposed by Sun Yat-sen in 1903, but construction was not started until 2003 due to the difficulties of the project. According to the chief engineer, Zhang Mei, the line was the most difficult ever constructed in China. As of mid-2009,
832-780: 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
936-919: 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
1040-610: A newly coined phono-semantic compound : Removing radicals Only retaining single radicals Replacing with ancient forms or variants : Adopting ancient vulgar variants : Readopting abandoned phonetic-loan characters : Copying and modifying another traditional character : Based on 132 characters and 14 components listed in Chart 2 of the Complete List , the 1,753 derived characters found in Chart 3 can be created by systematically simplifying components using Chart 2 as
1144-469: A practice which has always been present as a part of the Chinese writing system. The official name tends to refer to the specific, systematic set published by the Chinese government, which includes not only simplifications of individual characters, but also a substantial reduction in the total number of characters through the merger of formerly distinct forms. According to Chinese palaeographer Qiu Xigui ,
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#17328019930341248-404: A single standardized character, usually the simplest among all variants in form. Finally, many characters were left untouched by simplification and are thus identical between the traditional and simplified Chinese orthographies. The Chinese government has never officially announced the completion of the simplification process after the bulk of characters were introduced by the 1960s. In the wake of
1352-592: A through-passenger service started from Wuhan to Chongqing over the entire Yiwan line. Simplified Chinese characters Simplified Chinese characters are one of two standardized character sets widely used to write the Chinese language , with the other being traditional characters . Their mass standardization during the 20th century was part of an initiative by the People's Republic of China (PRC) to promote literacy, and their use in ordinary circumstances on
1456-440: Is actually more complex than eliminated ones. An example is the character 搾 which is eliminated in favor of the variant form 榨 . The 扌 'HAND' with three strokes on the left of the eliminated 搾 is now seen as more complex, appearing as the ⽊ 'TREE' radical 木 , with four strokes, in the chosen variant 榨 . Not all characters standardised in the simplified set consist of fewer strokes. For instance,
1560-454: Is derived. Merging homophonous characters: Adapting cursive shapes ( 草書楷化 ): Replacing a component with a simple arbitrary symbol (such as 又 and 乂 ): Omitting entire components : Omitting components, then applying further alterations : Structural changes that preserve the basic shape Replacing the phonetic component of phono-semantic compounds : Replacing an uncommon phonetic component : Replacing entirely with
1664-541: 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
1768-533: 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 the Second Sino-Japanese War , the city
1872-813: Is now discouraged. A State Language Commission official cited "oversimplification" as the reason for restoring some characters. The language authority declared an open comment period until 31 August 2009, for feedback from the public. In 2013, the List of Commonly Used Standard Chinese Characters was published as a revision of the 1988 lists; it included a total of 8105 characters. It included 45 newly recognized standard characters that were previously considered variant forms, as well as official approval of 226 characters that had been simplified by analogy and had seen wide use but were not explicitly given in previous lists or documents. Singapore underwent three successive rounds of character simplification , eventually arriving at
1976-547: Is used instead of 叠 in regions using traditional characters. The Chinese government stated that it wished to keep Chinese orthography stable. The Chart of Generally Utilized Characters of Modern Chinese was published in 1988 and included 7000 simplified and unsimplified characters. Of these, half were also included in the revised List of Commonly Used Characters in Modern Chinese , which specified 2500 common characters and 1000 less common characters. In 2009,
2080-473: The ⼓ ' WRAP ' radical used in the traditional character 沒 is simplified to ⼏ ' TABLE ' to form the simplified character 没 . By systematically simplifying radicals, large swaths of the character set are altered. Some simplifications were based on popular cursive forms that embody graphic or phonetic simplifications of the traditional forms. In addition, variant characters with identical pronunciation and meaning were reduced to
2184-662: 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,
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#17328019930342288-499: The Cultural Revolution , a second round of simplified characters was promulgated in 1977—largely composed of entirely new variants intended to artificially lower the stroke count, in contrast to the first round—but was massively unpopular and never saw consistent use. The second round of simplifications was ultimately retracted officially in 1986, well after they had largely ceased to be used due to their unpopularity and
2392-636: 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
2496-553: 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),
2600-554: The Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) the character meaning 'bright' was written as either 明 or 朙 —with either 日 'Sun' or 囧 'window' on the left, with the 月 'Moon' component on the right. Li Si ( d. 208 BC ), the Chancellor of Qin, attempted to universalize the Qin small seal script across China following the wars that had politically unified the country for
2704-538: 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
2808-626: The Xiangyang–Chongqing railway and west toward Chengdu on the Dazhou–Chengdu Railway . The 377 km (234 mi) long railway crosses the remarkably difficult terrain of southwestern Hubei ( Yichang City and Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture ) and the eastern part of the Chongqing Municipality ( Wanzhou District ). The region has numerous mountains and is sometimes referred to as "the eastern edge" of
2912-577: 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
3016-636: The Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau . Until recently, the region had no railways, and hardly any paved roads (beyond China National Highway 318 , which the new railway more or less parallels). The new ( G42 Hurong Expressway ) was built along the same corridor as well (see Si Du River Bridge for an example of engineering that was required). Out of the entire length of the rail line, 324 km (201 mi) are in Hubei and 53 km (33 mi) in Chongqing Municipality. Owing to
3120-531: The states of ancient China , with his chief chronicler having "[written] fifteen chapters describing" what is referred to as the " big seal script ". The traditional narrative, as also attested in the Shuowen Jiezi dictionary ( c. 100 AD ), is that the Qin small seal script that would later be imposed across China was originally derived from the Zhou big seal script with few modifications. However,
3224-611: 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
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3328-402: The "Dot" stroke : The traditional components ⺥ and 爫 become ⺈ : The traditional component 奐 becomes 奂 : 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 is also one of the nine national central cities . Wuhan historically served as
3432-589: 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
3536-469: The 1919 May Fourth Movement —many anti-imperialist intellectuals throughout China began to see the country's writing system as a serious impediment to its modernization. In 1916, a multi-part English-language article entitled "The Problem of the Chinese Language" co-authored by the Chinese linguist Yuen Ren Chao (1892–1982) and poet Hu Shih (1891–1962) has been identified as a turning point in
3640-482: The 1986 General List of Simplified Chinese Characters , hereafter the General List . All characters simplified this way are enumerated in Chart 1 and Chart 2 in the 1986 Complete List . Characters in both charts are structurally simplified based on similar set of principles. They are separated into two charts to clearly mark those in Chart 2 as 'usable as simplified character components', based on which Chart 3
3744-520: The 1986 mainland China revisions. Unlike in mainland China, Singapore parents have the option of registering their children's names in traditional characters. Malaysia also promulgated a set of simplified characters in 1981, though completely identical to the mainland Chinese set. They are used in Chinese-language schools. All characters simplified this way are enumerated in Charts 1 and 2 of
3848-470: The Chinese government published a major revision to the list which included a total of 8300 characters. No new simplifications were introduced. In addition, slight modifications to the orthography of 44 characters to fit traditional calligraphic rules were initially proposed, but were not implemented due to negative public response. Also, the practice of unrestricted simplification of rare and archaic characters by analogy using simplified radicals or components
3952-647: 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
4056-535: 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
4160-571: 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
4264-537: 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
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4368-718: 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
4472-496: The People's Republic, the idea of a mass simplification of character forms first gained traction in China during the early 20th century. In 1909, the educator and linguist Lufei Kui formally proposed the use of simplified characters in education for the first time. Over the following years—marked by the 1911 Xinhai Revolution that toppled the Qing dynasty , followed by growing social and political discontent that further erupted into
4576-491: 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
4680-801: 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
4784-747: 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
4888-454: 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
4992-478: 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,
5096-496: 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
5200-465: The Yiwan Line. However, the opening of high-speed service (as opposed to "regular" trains) on the Yichang–Wanzhou railway was delayed until July 1, 2014. Until the Yuli line was completed at the end of 2013, all through traffic on the Yiwan Railway had to go along its entire length, to the line's western terminus at Wanzhou, and then over an existing railway branch to Dazhou , Sichuan . From Dazhou, trains could continue both southwest toward Chongqing on
5304-428: 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,
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#17328019930345408-444: The body of epigraphic evidence comparing the character forms used by scribes gives no indication of any real consolidation in character forms prior to the founding of the Qin. The Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) that inherited the Qin administration coincided with the perfection of clerical script through the process of libian . Eastward spread of Western learning Though most closely associated with
5512-447: The broadest trend in the evolution of Chinese characters over their history has been simplification, both in graphical shape ( 字形 ; zìxíng ), the "external appearances of individual graphs", and in graphical form ( 字体 ; 字體 ; zìtǐ ), "overall changes in the distinguishing features of graphic[al] shape and calligraphic style, [...] in most cases refer[ring] to rather obvious and rather substantial changes". The initiatives following
5616-430: 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
5720-407: The chief engineer, Zhang Mei, the line was the most difficult ever constructed in China. Operation started on 22 December 2010. At its eastern end, the Yichang East railway station , the Yiwan Railway connects with the high-speed Wuhan–Yichang railway to Hankou ( Wuhan ). At Liangwu railway station , the Yichang–Wanzhou railway connects with the high-speed Chongqing–Lichuan railway (Yuli),
5824-407: The chosen variants, those that appear in the "Complete List of Simplified Characters" are also simplified in character structure accordingly. Some examples follow: Sample reduction of equivalent variants : Ancient variants with simple structure are preferred : Simpler vulgar forms are also chosen : The chosen variant was already simplified in Chart 1 : In some instances, the chosen variant
5928-403: 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 the Yangtze in
6032-433: 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
6136-418: 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 ,
6240-419: 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
6344-786: 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,
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#17328019930346448-595: The confusion they caused. In August 2009, China began collecting public comments for a revised list of simplified characters; the resulting List of Commonly Used Standard Chinese Characters lists 8,105 characters, including a few revised forms, and was implemented for official use by China's State Council on 5 June 2013. In Chinese, simplified characters are referred to by their official name 简化字 ; jiǎnhuàzì , or colloquially as 简体字 ; jiǎntǐzì . The latter term refers broadly to all character variants featuring simplifications of character form or structure,
6552-512: The country. In 1935, the first official list of simplified forms was published, consisting of 324 characters collated by Peking University professor Qian Xuantong . However, fierce opposition within the KMT resulted in the list being rescinded in 1936. Work throughout the 1950s resulted in the 1956 promulgation of the Chinese Character Simplification Scheme , a draft of 515 simplified characters and 54 simplified components, whose simplifications would be present in most compound characters. Over
6656-407: 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 ,
6760-422: The difficult terrain, the project involved a large number of bridges (including two over the Yangtze River : the Wanzhou Railway Bridge and the Yichang Railway Bridge ) and tunnels. Out of the line's total 377 km (234 mi) length, 288 km (179 mi) runs on bridges or in tunnels. This made the line the most difficult and the most expensive (per kilometre) of all China's railways up to that time. At
6864-447: The economic problems in China during that time. Lu Xun , one of the most prominent Chinese authors of the 20th century, stated that "if Chinese characters are not destroyed, then China will die" ( 漢字不滅，中國必亡 ). During the 1930s and 1940s, discussions regarding simplification took place within the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) party. Many members of the Chinese intelligentsia maintained that simplification would increase literacy rates throughout
6968-442: The embankments, bridges, and tunnels along the Yiwan Railway had been mostly completed, and about half the rails had been laid. On 18 August 2010, the line's construction was completed. Local media reported that the line would become operational in November 2010 . Trial operations started on 19 November, and regular operation started on 22 December 2010, with passenger trains from Wuhan running to Lichuan ; on 10 January 2011
7072-512: The first time. Li prescribed the 朙 form of the word for 'bright', but some scribes ignored this and continued to write the character as 明 . However, the increased usage of 朙 was followed by proliferation of a third variant: 眀 , with 目 'eye' on the left—likely derived as a contraction of 朙 . Ultimately, 明 became the character's standard form. The Book of Han (111 AD) describes an earlier attempt made by King Xuan of Zhou ( d. 782 BC ) to unify character forms across
7176-399: The following decade, the Script Reform Committee deliberated on characters in the 1956 scheme, collecting public input regarding the recognizability of variants, and often approving forms in small batches. Parallel to simplification, there were also initiatives aimed at eliminating the use of characters entirely and replacing them with pinyin as an official Chinese alphabet, but this possibility
7280-430: The founding of the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) to universalize the use of their small seal script across the recently conquered parts of the empire is generally seen as being the first real attempt at script reform in Chinese history. Before the 20th century, variation in character shape on the part of scribes, which would continue with the later invention of woodblock printing , was ubiquitous. For example, prior to
7384-406: 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
7488-556: The history of the Chinese script—as it was one of the first clear calls for China to move away from the use of characters entirely. Instead, Chao proposed that the language be written with an alphabet, which he saw as more logical and efficient. The alphabetization and simplification campaigns would exist alongside one another among the Republican intelligentsia for the next several decades. Recent commentators have echoed some contemporary claims that Chinese characters were blamed for
7592-567: The main route of the Huhanrong corridor, which provides the most direct connection to Chongqing and on to Chengdu . From Liangwu, the Yichang–Wanzhou railway heads north to reach Wanzhou. With the Yuli and Hanyi lines both in operation and in use by high-speed, it will become possible to travel by train between Wuhan and Chongqing in around 5 hours, compared to the 22 hours before the opening of
7696-533: The mainland has been encouraged by the Chinese government since the 1950s. They are the official forms used in mainland China and Singapore , while traditional characters are officially used in Hong Kong , Macau , and Taiwan . Simplification of a component—either a character or a sub-component called a radical —usually involves either a reduction in its total number of strokes , or an apparent streamlining of which strokes are chosen in what places—for example,
7800-419: 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
7904-807: 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
8008-453: 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,
8112-430: The public and quickly fell out of official use. It was ultimately formally rescinded in 1986. The second-round simplifications were unpopular in large part because most of the forms were completely new, in contrast to the familiar variants comprising the majority of the first round. With the rescission of the second round, work toward further character simplification largely came to an end. In 1986, authorities retracted
8216-439: 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
8320-550: 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
8424-481: The same set of simplified characters as mainland China. The first round was promulgated by the Ministry of Education in 1969, consisting of 498 simplified characters derived from 502 traditional characters. A second round of 2287 simplified characters was promulgated in 1974. The second set contained 49 differences from the mainland China system; these were removed in the final round in 1976. In 1993, Singapore adopted
8528-467: The second round completely, though they had been largely fallen out of use within a year of their initial introduction. That year, the authorities also promulgated a final version of the General List of Simplified Chinese Characters . It was identical to the 1964 list save for 6 changes—including the restoration of 3 characters that had been simplified in the first round: 叠 , 覆 , 像 ; the form 疊
8632-526: 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
8736-542: 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
8840-585: 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
8944-745: 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
9048-833: The traditional character 強 , with 11 strokes is standardised as 强 , with 12 strokes, which is a variant character. Such characters do not constitute simplified characters. The new standardized character forms shown in the Characters for Publishing and revised through the Common Modern Characters list tend to adopt vulgar variant character forms. Since the new forms take vulgar variants, many characters now appear slightly simpler compared to old forms, and as such are often mistaken as structurally simplified characters. Some examples follow: The traditional component 釆 becomes 米 : The traditional component 囚 becomes 日 : The traditional "Break" stroke becomes
9152-449: 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
9256-460: 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
9360-407: 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
9464-598: 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
9568-440: 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
9672-478: 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
9776-415: Was abandoned, confirmed by a speech given by Zhou Enlai in 1958. In 1965, the PRC published the List of Commonly Used Characters for Printing [ zh ] (hereafter Characters for Printing ), which included standard printed forms for 6196 characters, including all of the forms from the 1956 scheme. A second round of simplified characters was promulgated in 1977, but was poorly received by
9880-414: 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
9984-566: 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
10088-745: 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
10192-502: 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
10296-454: 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
10400-433: 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
10504-509: 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
10608-594: 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
10712-589: 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 is a major transportation hub, with dozens of railways, roads, and expressways passing through
10816-527: 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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