Wuhan

China's central transport hub at the meeting of the Yangtze and Han rivers. Yellow Crane Tower, East Lake, the spicy noodle breakfast (re gan mian), and the country's largest university belt.

Wuhan is three cities — Wuchang south of the Yangtze, Hankou north of the Yangtze, and Hanyang west of the Han River — fused into one in 1949. Together they make the largest city in central China and the rail interchange where the Beijing-Guangzhou and Shanghai-Chengdu high-speed lines cross, making Wuhan the transit hub of the country. The Wuchang Uprising of October 1911 began the revolution that ended the Qing dynasty; the city retains a distinct identity as the birthplace of Republican China.

The Yellow Crane Tower (Huanghelou) in Wuchang, rebuilt most recently in 1985 on its original site, is the city's symbol and one of China's three Great Towers of the South. The Tang poem by Cui Hao that made it famous ('The Yellow Crane is long departed, never to return; only the Yellow Crane Tower remains...') is carved on entrance plaques in several calligraphic versions. East Lake (Donghu), east of Wuchang, is one of the largest urban lakes in China; the lakeside Hubei Provincial Museum holds the Marquis Yi of Zeng bronzeware — a set of 65 cast-bronze bells tuned to a full musical scale, dated to 433 BCE and still playable. The 100 km East Lake Greenway cycling route circumnavigates the lake through parkland.

Wuhan University's hilltop campus, with its mix of 1930s Nationalist-era and forested hillside, is famous for its cherry blossom in mid-March — one of the most-visited blossom destinations in China. Reservations are typically required during the peak bloom period.

Wuhan's summer climate — flat terrain, river humidity, temperatures reliably above 35°C from late June to early September — is one of the most testing in China. March-April and October-November are the comfortable windows.