City Asia
Wuhan
Wuhan is a very big city in China. Two rivers meet there, and long bridges cross them.
Wuhan is the capital of Hubei province in central China, where the Han River joins the Yangtze. It was formed in 1950 from three cities: Wuchang, Hankou and Hanyang. The city's statistics office estimated about 13.86 million people living in all of Wuhan at the end of 2025.
Wuhan stands where the Han River meets the Yangtze, about 970 km from the sea; the Oxford World Encyclopedia says ocean-going ships reach its port. Three cities, Hankou, Hanyang and Wuchang, merged to form it in 1950. Wuhan's statistics bureau gives 13,861,900 residents at the end of 2025 (preliminary), 85.22% of them in urban areas.
Photo: 螺钉, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Discover Wuhan
Wuhan is a very big city in China. Two big rivers meet there.
The rivers cut Wuhan into three parts. Bridges join them together.
Wuhan is the capital of Hubei province, in central China. It stands where the Han River flows into the Yangtze. The two rivers divide the city into three parts: Wuchang, Hankou and Hanyang.
Wuhan's statistics office estimated about 13.86 million people living in the whole city area at the end of 2025. About 85 out of every 100 of them lived in urban areas.
The Wuhan Statistics Bureau's bulletin for 2025 (published April 2026; 2025 figures are preliminary) gives 13,861,900 permanent residents at the end of the year, an urbanization rate of 85.22%, and 9,613,400 people with a registered household (hukou) in the city.
UrbanRail.Net describes the city as three parts, Wuchang, Hankou and Hanyang, separated from each other by the Yangtze and the Han rivers; the Oxford World Encyclopedia says Wuhan itself was formed by their merger in 1950.
- Country
- China (capital of Hubei province)
- People in all of Wuhan (end of 2025, preliminary)
- 13,861,900
- Rivers
- where the Han River joins the Yangtze
- Three old cities
- Wuchang, Hankou and Hanyang
A tower on a hill and a bridge across the Yangtze
Wuhan has a tall tower with orange roofs on a hill. It is called the Yellow Crane Tower.
From the top, you can see a long bridge across the river.
The Yellow Crane Tower stands on Snake Hill in Wuchang, close to the Yangtze. Wikidata dates today's tower to 1985. From its top you can look out over the city, as in the photo, toward the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, about 1.5 kilometers to the west-northwest.
The bridge opened on 15 October 1957. Wikidata describes it as a bridge on more than one level that carries both a road and a railway across the Yangtze.
Wikidata gives 1985 as the inception of the present Tower of the Yellow Crane and 15 October 1957 as the opening of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, a multi-level road-rail truss bridge that Commons files as the 'First Wuhan Yangtze Bridge'. The hero photo, filed under 'Views of the Tortoise Hill from the Snake Hill', shows a road and a railway leading to it and the wooded Tortoise Hill on the far bank.
The city's 2025 bulletin lists 72 graded tourist sites, three of them graded AAAAA, and 11 city museums that received 10.42 million visits in the year.
- Yellow Crane Tower (today's building)
- 1985
- Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge
- opened 15 October 1957
- AAAAA-graded scenic sites
- 3 (end of 2025)
Three river towns become one city
Long ago, three towns grew up where the two rivers meet.
Later, the three towns joined together. They became one big city called Wuhan.
For a long time Wuchang, Hankou and Hanyang were separate towns on the banks of the two rivers. In the 1800s the area was opened to foreign trade as a treaty port, and it grew further when the railway arrived and iron and steel works were built in 1891.
In 1950 the three towns were joined to form one city, Wuhan. Its first metro line opened in 2004.
The Oxford World Encyclopedia (updated 2018) says Wuhan developed after being declared a treaty port in the 19th century, and grew further with the arrival of the railway and, in 1891, what it calls China's first modern iron and steel plants. It dates the merger of Hankow (Hankou), Hanyang and Wuchang into Wuhan to 1950.
UrbanRail.Net says that in September 2004 Wuhan became the fifth Chinese city with a metro, after Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Guangzhou; revenue service on Line 1 began on 28 September 2004.
- Iron and steel works
- 1891
- Wuhan formed
- 1950, from Hankou, Hanyang and Wuchang
- First metro line
- 28 September 2004
Metro lines under two rivers
Wuhan has many metro lines. Some trains go under the rivers!
Most people who ride buses and trains in Wuhan ride the trains.
Wuhan's first metro line, Line 1, started carrying passengers in 2004 and runs on a raised track through Hankou. Line 2 goes under the Yangtze from Hankou to Wuchang, and Line 3 under the Han River to Hanyang.
By the end of 2025 the city's rail lines added up to 578 kilometers. That year they carried 1.443 billion trips, more than 7 of every 10 trips on public transport.
UrbanRail.Net describes Line 1 as an elevated line in Hankou, the first in China to use communication-based train control; Line 2 (from 28 December 2012) passes beneath the Yangtze and reached Tianhe International Airport on 28 December 2016, and Line 3 (28 December 2015) runs underground beneath the Han River.
The Wuhan Statistics Bureau gives 578 km of rail transit lines at the end of 2025 and 1.443 billion rail trips in the year, 72.1% of all public transport trips. Wikidata dates the airport, about 26 km north-northwest of the Yellow Crane Tower, to 1995.
- Rail transit lines (end of 2025)
- 578 km
- Rail transit trips in 2025
- 1.443 billion (72.1% of public transport trips)
- Wuhan Tianhe International Airport
- opened 1995
Hot, wet summers and chilly winters
Summers in Wuhan are hot and wet. Winters are chilly.
June is the wettest month of the year.
The World Meteorological Organization's averages for Wuhan (1961–1990) show daytime highs of about 33 °C in July and August, with warm nights of about 25 °C. In January, days reach about 8 °C and nights drop to just below freezing.
About 1,222 millimeters of precipitation fall in an average year, most from April to August. June is the wettest month, and December the driest.
The WMO table for Wuhan, 1961–1990, gives average highs from 8.1 °C in January to 32.9 °C in July (32.7 °C in August) and average lows from −0.5 °C in January to 25.2 °C in July.
The monthly averages add up to about 1,222 mm on about 125 days. June is the wettest month (212 mm), followed by May and July (151 mm each); December is the driest (28 mm), then January (34 mm).
- July, average high (WMO, 1961–1990)
- 32.9 °C
- January, average low (same period)
- −0.5 °C
- Precipitation in a year (sum of the monthly averages)
- about 1,222 mm
Factories, students and parks
Wuhan has lots of universities. More than a million students study there.
The city also has 190 parks to play and walk in.
The Oxford World Encyclopedia calls Wuhan the hub of industry and trade in central China, and says ships from the ocean reach its port even though it is about 970 kilometers from the sea. Today most of its work is in services: in 2025 they made up 68.1% of the city's economy, and industry and building 29.7%.
Wuhan is also a city of students. In 2025 its universities and colleges had about 1.22 million students, plus about 225,000 postgraduates. The city has 190 parks, which had 108 million visits that year.
The Oxford World Encyclopedia (updated 2018) calls Wuhan the industrial and commercial hub of central China and lists cotton and textiles, iron, steel, heavy machinery and cement among its industries; it says the port handles many ocean-going vessels despite lying 970 km from the sea.
The 2025 bulletin gives the economy's structure as 2.2% farming, 29.7% industry and construction and 68.1% services, with 1,218,700 undergraduate and college students, 225,300 postgraduates, 190 parks with 108 million visits, and two city libraries holding 5.35 million books.
- University and college students (2025)
- 1,218,700, plus 225,300 postgraduates
- Parks (end of 2025)
- 190
- Share of the economy in services (2025)
- 68.1%
Wuhan on the map
Find China on the globe. Look at the middle of the country, along the long Yangtze River. That is where Wuhan is!
Wuhan lies at about 30.6° north and 114.3° east, in central China, on the Yangtze River where the Han River joins it.
Measured from the Yellow Crane Tower in Wuchang, the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge is about 1.5 kilometers to the west-northwest, Wikidata's point for Wuhan, in Hankou across the river, about 5 kilometers to the north, and Tianhe International Airport about 26 kilometers to the north-northwest.
Wuhan lies at about 30.6° N and 114.3° E. Measured from the Tower of the Yellow Crane (Wikidata points): the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge 1.48 km west-northwest, Wikidata's point for the city (in Hankou) 5.34 km north, and Wuhan Tianhe International Airport 26.46 km north-northwest.
The hero photo was taken on 18 August 2017 looking down from the Yellow Crane Tower (Commons file description); Commons records no camera position, but the bridge in the photo lies west-northwest of the tower.
- Latitude
- about 30.6° north
- Longitude
- about 114.3° east
- Yellow Crane Tower to the Yangtze bridge
- about 1.5 km west-northwest
Amazing facts
-
Ships from the ocean can sail all the way to Wuhan!
Wuhan is about 970 kilometers from the sea, yet the Oxford World Encyclopedia says ocean-going ships reach its port.
The Oxford World Encyclopedia notes that despite lying 970 km (600 miles) from the sea, Wuhan's port handles many ocean-going vessels.
-
In Wuhan, metro trains go under a giant river.
Wuhan's Line 2 runs under the Yangtze River, from Hankou to Wuchang.
UrbanRail.Net says Line 2, opened on 28 December 2012, passes beneath the Yangtze between Hankou and Wuchang, and Line 3 beneath the Han River.
-
More than a million students go to college in Wuhan!
In 2025 Wuhan's universities and colleges had about 1.22 million students, plus about 225,000 studying for higher degrees.
The 2025 bulletin counts 1,218,700 undergraduate and college students and 225,300 postgraduates in Wuhan, up 2.1% and 3.6% on the year before.
-
Wuhan has 190 parks!
At the end of 2025 Wuhan had 190 parks, which had 108 million visits during the year.
The bulletin gives 190 parks with 108 million visits in 2025, and 15.06 square meters of park green space per person.
Words to know
- province
- a large area of a country with its own local government
- confluence
- the place where two rivers meet
- merger
- when two or more things, such as towns, join to become one
- port
- a place where ships load and unload goods and people
- urban
- in a town or city, not in the countryside
- postgraduate
- a student who has finished a first university degree and is studying for a higher one
Discovery challenge
-
Wuhan is in which country?
Wuhan is the capital of Hubei province in which country?
Wuhan is the capital of Hubei, a province in the center of which country?
- Japan
- China
- India
Show the answer
China
China!
China; Wuhan is in the center of the country.
China; Hubei is a province of central China.
-
How many towns joined to make Wuhan?
How many towns joined together in 1950 to form Wuhan?
Hankou, Hanyang and how many other towns merged to form Wuhan in 1950?
- Two
- Three
- Five
Show the answer
Three
Three!
Three: Wuchang, Hankou and Hanyang.
Three in all: Hankou, Hanyang and Wuchang.
-
Which big river flows through Wuhan?
The Han River joins which great river at Wuhan?
Wuhan's Yangtze River Bridge of 1957 crosses which river?
- The Yangtze
- The Nile
- The Amazon
Show the answer
The Yangtze
The Yangtze!
The Yangtze, which flows across China to the sea.
The Yangtze; the bridge opened on 15 October 1957.
-
What is the Yellow Crane Tower?
What is the Yellow Crane Tower in Wuhan?
The Yellow Crane Tower on Snake Hill, whose present building dates from 1985, is what kind of place?
- A tall building with views
- A bridge
- A train station
Show the answer
A tall building with views
A tall building where you can see far!
A tall building with orange roofs and views over the city and river.
A tower building on a hill, from which the hero photo looks over the Yangtze.
-
Which month is the wettest in Wuhan?
Which month has the most precipitation in Wuhan?
In the WMO's 1961–1990 averages, which month is Wuhan's wettest (212 mm)?
- December
- June
- October
Show the answer
June
June!
June, with about 212 millimeters.
June (212 mm), ahead of May and July (151 mm each); December is the driest (28 mm).
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For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Locate Wuhan in central China where the Han River joins the Yangtze.
- Describe how three towns separated by rivers became one city linked by bridges and tunnels.
- Read official statistics about a city's people, transport and schools.
- Read monthly temperature and precipitation averages for a city with hot, wet summers.
Recommended ages: 3 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- Rivers split Wuhan into three parts. What problems might that cause, and how do bridges and metro tunnels help?
- Ocean ships reach Wuhan even though it is about 970 km from the sea. Why might a river port so far inland be useful?
- Wuhan has more than a million college students. How might so many students change a city?
Try at home or in class
- River map: draw two rivers meeting in a Y shape and label the three parts of Wuhan in the right places.
- Climate chart: plot Wuhan's monthly highs and precipitation and find the hottest and wettest months.
- Big numbers: write 13,861,900 in words, then round it to the nearest million and the nearest hundred thousand.
Key vocabulary: province, confluence, merger, port, urban, postgraduate
Where these facts come from
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- Natural Earth vector data , Natural Earth (NACIS) (Public domain)
- 2025年武汉市国民经济和社会发展统计公报 (Statistical Bulletin of Wuhan's National Economic and Social Development, 2025) , Wuhan Statistics Bureau
- Wuhan (World Encyclopedia) , Oxford University Press, via Encyclopedia.com
- Wuhan Metro , UrbanRail.Net (Robert Schwandl)
- World Weather Information Service: Wuhan climatological information , World Meteorological Organization
- File:武汉黄鹤楼俯瞰.jpg (螺钉, 18 August 2017) , Wikimedia Commons
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file (public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA); see each media record)
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated November 1, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.