Wuhan - Hankou

Hubei - Jingzhou - Shiyan - Wuhan - Yichang

The largest of Wuhan's districts, was once more than a minor fishing harbor on the northern banks of the Yangtze River. But deals struck at the end of the second Opium War saw it opened to the world as a treaty port in 1861, and the colonial powers lost no time in building a grandiose concession.

Owing to its exclusive foreign connections, central Hankou was almost leveled during the nationwide 1911 uprisings against the Qing, and later, rail workers leading the Communist-inspired 1923 strike were massacred in Hankou by the Nationalist warlord Wu Peifu. In 1937 the Kuomintang, evicted from Nanjing by the Japanese, briefly established a national government in town before being forced farther west.

Today, Hankou is the city's prosperous business center. The historical buildings in Hankou, all with European architectural styles, including the former consulates of the United States and Germany, and business offices of Citibank and HSBC, are well preserved and sightworthy.