China Guide
The Yangzi basin
Wuchang
Wuchang, on the right bank of the Yangzi, was founded as Sun Quan's walled capital of Wu during the Three Kingdoms period. Tang rulers made the city a major port, which, under the Mongols, became the administrative centre of a vast region covering present-day Hunan, Hubei, Guangdong and Guangxi provinces. Nowadays Wuchang comprises government offices and the huge Wuhan University campus. Highlights include the Taoist Changchun Guan, the Yellow Crane Tower – the greatest of the Yangzi's many riverside pavilions – and the Provincial Museum, close to the lakeside scenery of Dong Hu.
On the far side of the Great Changjiang Bridge, She Shan (Snake Hill) is overlooked by the bright tiles and red wooden columns of the fifty-metre-high Yellow Crane Tower (¥50). It's no less magnificent for being an entirely modern Qing-style reproduction, situated 1km from where the original third-century structure burned down in 1884. Climb the internal staircases to the top floor to see Wuhan and the Yangzi at their best.
On the southern slopes of She Shan, Hong Ge is a handsome colonial-style red-brick mansion which housed the Hubei Military Government during the 1910 uprising. A bronze statue of Sun Yatsen stands in front, though at the time of the uprising he was abroad raising funds. East from here stand the russet walls of Changchun Guan (¥5), a Taoist complex which made its name through the Yuan-dynasty luminary Qiu Chuzi. Only partially open to the public, the halls are simply furnished with statues of the Three Purities, the Jade Emperor and other Taoist deities. A side wing has been co-opted as a pharmacy, where Chinese-speakers can have their vital signs checked by a traditonal doctor. There's also a martial-arts training area, with rusty poleaxes and swords displayed on racks.