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WHAT TO SEE IN WUHAN
.HANKOU
Hankou is the main commercial area
of Wuhan. Between its long main shopping street,
Zhongshan Dadao, and the high embankment along
the river are numerous street markets. The old
foreign concessions line the embankment for
three kilometres(two miles) and this area is
still very much intact. The vicinity of Hankou
Railway Station is always busy and interesting
to walk around. The old Customs House on the
waterfront is a distinctive landmark. Jiefang
Park and Zhongshan Park, across the railway
line, are the sites of the former racecourses.
.HANYANG
LUTE PLATFORM (GUQIN TAI)
Opposite Turtle Hill (Gui
Shan),which overlooks the Han River, is the
Hanyang Workers 
Cultural
Palace Gardens, encompassing the charming Lute
Platform, a smalI complex of courtyards, pavilions
and gardens enclosed by a tiled wall. It was
built in commemoration of two musicians,Yu Baiya
and Zhong Ziqi, who lived 2,000 years ago. While
visiting Hanyang, Yu played his lute but only
Zhong understood and appreciated his performance.
They became fast friends and arranged to meet
again at the same time the following year. Yu
returned only to find that his friend had died.
At Zhong's grave, Yu played a farewell song
and, vowing never again to use the instrument,
broke its strings.
The Lute Platform is now a
haven for Chinese opera lovers (mostly men)
who gather on Sunday mornings to sip tea and
Iisten to the performers. In the gardens,wushu
and taijiquan (martial arts and exercise) classes
are held. Paintings by locaI artists are on
exhibition and for sale in the main hall. Nearby
is a Qing memorial stone dedicated to the lute
player.
TEMPLE OF TRANQUILLITY (GUIYUAN
SI
)
This fine Zen Buddhist
temple on Cuiwei Lu, where monks from the surrounding
provinces gathered to study the scriptures,
is 300 years old. The striking architecturaI
complex includes Drum and BelI Towers, temple
halls, the Luohan Hall and the Lotus Pond. The
Luohan Hall contains 500 gold-painted wooden
statues of Buddhist monk-saints, no two are
the same. lt is said the two sculptors employed
on this task took nine years to complete it.
The main hall has a statue of Sakyamuni Buddha
which was carved from a single block of jade--a
gift from Burma in 1935. The scripture collection
includes the rare 7000--volume Long can Sutra.
The temple runs a vegetarian restaurant, the
Yunjizhai, for visitors.
QING CHUAN PAVILION (QING
CHUAN TING)
The original pavilion was a 16th-century
Ming-dynasty structure. The current pavilions
a 1983 reconstruction. The top floor of the
pavilion offers a fine view of the YangtzeRiver
and the Yellow Crane Tower, situated on the
opposite bank.
. WUCHANG
YELLOW
CRANE TOWER (HUANG HE LOU)
On Snake Hill (She Shan) is
the site of the ancient Yellow Crane Tower (Hung
HeLou), widely celebrated by Chinese poets throughout
the ages. Cranes are one of the traditional
Chinese symbols of long life. The legend concerns
a Daoist (Taoist) sage who flew away on a yellow
crane to become an Immortal. The tower has been
rebuilt many times. The tower has five levels
covered with yellow tiles and supported by redco1umns.
Being over 50 metres high, the top level offers
a wonderful view of the entire Wuhan area. Beside
the new Yellow Crane Tower (completed in l986)
is a white sputa that dates from the Yuan dynasty
(1279--1368).
PROVINCIAL MUSEUM (HUBEI BOWUGUAN)
Off Donghu Lu, near East Lake,
this small provincial museum has a rich collection
of artifacts excavated in the province. Of special
interest is a display of finds from the tomb
of Marquis Yi of Zeng from the Warring States
period (480--22l BC).Among them is a set of
64 bronze chime bells. Replicas of these have
been made and concerts of ancient music are
given by a special chime--be1ls orchestra under
the auspices of the Hubei Provincial Museum
and Art institute of Wuhan. The second floor
of the museum is devoted to the province's revolutionary
history.
HEADQUARTERS OF THE 191 REVOLUTION
(HONG GE)
Known as the Red House, this
building on Shouyi Lu was the headquarters of
thel9l l Revolution against the Manchu Qing
dynasty, led by Dr Sun Yatsen. Today, the building,
in front of which stands a statue of Sun, is
a museum to that revolution. lt is locatcd at
the foot of She Shan on Wuluo Lu.
PEASANT MOVEMENT INSTITUTE MUSFUM
Mao Zedong directed this institute
between 1926 and 1927. Its object was to trainmen
to organize the peasants into associations to
carry out underground activities.
EAST LAKE (DONG HU)
A large scenic area, in the
eastern suburbs of Wuchang, is centered on East
Lake. Established in 1949, this enormous park
covers 73 square kilometres of lake shore.The
lake itself is six time the size of West Lake
(Xi Hu) in HangZhou. The park is full of natural
beauty, containing over 372 plant varieties
as well as more than 80 species of birds and
fish. Around its shores are numerous pavilions,
museums and halls, including a memorial to Qu
Yuan, the third-century BC poet , and a monument
(Jiu Nudun) to nine heroines who died fighting
the Manchu troops during the Taping Rebellion
in the l9th century. A low causeway1eads to
Moshan Hill and its botanical gardens with views
across the city and the beautiful countryside.
DONGPO RED CLlFF
On the north bank of the Yangtze,
just west of Huangzhou city, is the Red Cliff
of SuDongpo. On its summit are pavilions and
halls dedicated to one of China's great poets,
Su DongPo (1037--1101). Having passed tile imperial
examinations at the young age of 20, he held
various important scholarly posts in the Northern
Song capital of Kaifeng but fell from grace
when he criticized new law reforms. After arrest
and imprisonment, he was demoted to the status
of assistant commissioner to the Huangzhou militia.
He lived in considerable hardship with his household
of 20 members, tilling a few acres of land himself.
The Red Cliff became one of his favourite haunts,
and he and his guests, boating beneath the cliff,
would compose poetry, drink wine, admire the
moon and carouse all night long. In the Qing
dynasty (1644-1911) this cliff was named Dongpo
Red Cliff to distinguish it from the other Red
Cliff that was the scene of a batt1le in the
Three Kingdoms period . The Qing-dynasty halls
contain examples of Su Dongpo's beautiful calligraphy,
poems, essays and paintings carved on both stone
and wooden tablets.
BAOTONG SI
A Buddhist temple located
on the slopes of Hong Shan. It features a Grand
Hall,Meditation Hall and Abbots Hall. There
are two gargantuan iron bells here, almost 900
years old, dating hack to the Southern Song
Dynasty. It is located inside Hongshan Park.
CHANG CHUN TAOIST TEMPLE (CHANG
CHUN GUAN)
The largest and best-preserved
Taoist temple in Wuhan. The temple consists
of numerous corridors and stone staircases with
grand eaves and arches. Decorating theha1ls
are life--sized carvings and niches. Most of
the religious relics were destroyed during the
Cultural Revolution. Since restoration, the
temple now displays a wide range of Taoist cultural
relics. It is located in the Dadongmen area,
near the intersection of Zhongshan Lu and Wuluo
Lu.
WUHAN UNIVERSITY (WUHAN DAXUE)
Founded in 1913, it is still
considered one of the best universities in the
country. Its campus displays many examples of
pre- l949 Chinese architecture. It is located
at the foot of Luo Jia Shan near Dong Hu.
• Wuhan and Its History
• What to See in Wuhan
• The Hankou Tea Race
• A Hankou Flood
• Old Man River: Chairman Mao and The
Yangtze
