Home >> China Guide >> Hubei >> Yichang Travel Guide

Yichang in Brief

Yichang City is located at Longitude 110°15' E to 112°04' E, Latitude 29°56' N to 31°34' N . At the west of China's Hubei Province,Yichang is where the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River are divided. Thanks to its advantageous geographic location, Yichang has been defined as a distributing center, an important trading port and a transportation hub along the Yangtze river linking west Hubei and east Sichuan since ancient times. For a very long time, it has been renown as "Gateway to the Three Gorges", and "Throat between Sichuan and Hubei". Today,Yichang remains a brisk river port of China, controlling the access to Chongqing City to its southwest.

The geographic features of Yichang are quite different .There are mountains and forest in the west ,the scene is magnificent and wonderful; but there is a vast stretch of flat fertile land in the east,and natural resources are rich there.In the whole area in the land of the city, the mountain area amount for 69%, hills amount for 21%, plains amount for 10%, which form the characteristic of ground form of "seven mountains, two mounds and one plain".

Yichang lies between the middle subtropical zone and northern subtropical zone. The climatic feature of this region is that the four seasons are clearly demarcated. Spring and autumn are longer than summer and winter.It's hot in summer and there's much rain,while it's cold in winter and there's little rain.The average temperature in autumn is higher than that in spring. In summer there are rich storms.The rainy season is June and July,which is also the hottest period.

Yichang's annual average temperature is high, up to 13.1℃ to 18℃ and its frost-free period is long.The annual precipitation is 1213.6 mm,but is reduced with the rising of the height of elevation.The average temperature in July is 24.1℃ to 28.8℃, in January 1.7℃ to 6.5℃. The extreme highest temperature on the record is 41.4℃,and the lowest is -15.6℃. The annual sunshine time is between 1542 hours and 1904 hours ,while the shortest is 1289 hours.Because there are high mountains on both sides of the river and much water at the feet of the mountains, winter is warm in the river valley area of the Xiling Gorge and the Qingjiang River.So Yichang is famous for its mild winter.

Yichang Municipality governs five counties, three county-level cities and five city districts.They are: Wufeng Tujia Minority Autonomous County, Changyang Tujia Minority Autonomous County,Yuan'an County, Xingshan County,Zigui County, Dangyang City, Zhijiang City,Yidu City,Xiling District, Wujiagang District,Dianjun District, Xiaoting District, Yiling District and Caobuhu Administrative District. It covers a total area of 21,084 square kilometers,470 square kilometers of which are urban areas.Altogether, there are 55 townships ,65 towns, 21 administrative agencies, 3,191 villages, 22,890 villagers' groups. Yichang has a population of 4.136 million, 1,047 thousand of which are inhabitants of cities and towns. Most of the people belong to the Han nationality, while 9.5% belong to Tujia minority, and 0.13% belong to other minority nationalities.Altogether, there are 31 ethnic groups in Yichang.

Transportation and communication in Yichang are developing rapidly. Yichang arterial highways extend to every corner, No.318 National Highway crosses the whole Yichang City,through which you may reach Shanghai in the east and Tibet in the west."The Golden Water Route" of the Yangtze runs through Yichang and it reaches Wanzhou City,Chongqing City in the west and Wuhan City, Shanghai City in the east. The express from Yichang to Wuhan, Beijing,Xi'an and the railway from Yichang to Zhenzhou City,Wuxi City,Huaihua City,Guangzhou City were put into use long ago and an international railway container transport network was also established. Air transport conditions are advantageous.Yichang civil airliners can fly to China's 23 large and middle cities ,such as Beijing ,Shanghai, Guangzhou,Shenzhen.The international temporary air-liners was opened,too.

Yichang's post and telecommunications has currently formed a multidimensional communication network with the involvement of various means like satellite, light diaphragm convey, numeral microwave, mobile phone, wireless notification and so on.The international multimedia information network "The Three Gorges Hot Line" has also been opened to use.