[Traveling Along Yangtze River in Hubei] Wuhan Committed to Building an Ecological Corridor

The aerial view of Wuhan [Photo by Ma Zhangchi]

Wuhan has created many wonderful moments and highlights. Its river beaches are among the most beautiful cultural attractions in Wuhan and together known as the "Golden Bund". Today's river beaches in Wuhan include the river beaches of Hankou, Hanyang, Wuchang and Qingshan, covering a total area of more than two million square meters. These beaches constitute the largest open-air park in the city and receive more than 10 million domestic and foreign tourists annually.

Besides functioning as destinations for leisure and sightseeing, Wuhan's river beaches are also of vital significance in flood control.

Wuhan is located in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The terrain is flat, and the Yangtze and Han Rivers are abundant in water. In the rainy season, floods can easily and frequently occur. In order to overcome the raging flood and ensure the safety of people's lives and property, Wuhan has started the renovation project of its river beaches.

In 2001, the comprehensive renovation project of Hankou River Beach began. The overall blueprint of the first phase of Hankou River Beach includes the establishment of "three areas and three belts". The three areas are the river viewing area, the central square area and the leisure activity area. The three belts are the riverside-themed belt, the recreational tree shade belt, and the embankment sightseeing belt. Nowadays, after completing the project, Hankou River Beach integrates functions like urban flood control, landscape, tourism, leisure, sports and fitness, with the green factor as the keynote, water-based entertainment as the theme, and regional culture as the background, effectively realizing urban flood control, ecological protection, flood fighting and emergency rescue. It also allows visitors to partake in water-based leisure activities. The combination of multiple social, cultural and environmental effects such as leisure, river beach landscape and riverside environment constitutes an ecological corridor with a high degree of harmony between people and nature, characterized by the integration of city and river.