Yichang City Guide
In ancient times Yichang was known as Yiling. There are historical records telling that in the year 278 BC during the Warring States period, the Qin general Bai Qi set fire to Yiling. In 222 AD Yichang was also the site of the Battle of Yiling during the Three Kingdoms Period.In 1876, under the Qing Guangxu Emperor, Yichang was opened to foreign trade as a trading port after the Second Opium War with Britain. The imperial government set up a navigation company there and built wharfs less than half a kilometer in length. Since 1949, more than 50 wharves have been constructed at the port so that its wharf area is now over 15 km long.In 1940, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Battle of Zaoyang-Yichang took place in the area.
Like most prefecture-level cities, Yichang includes both an urban area (what's labeled on less detailed maps as "Yichang") and the surrounding country area. It covers 21,084 km2 in Western Hubei Province, on both sides of the Chang Jiang (Yangtze) River. The Xiling Gorge (西陵峡), the easternmost of the Three Gorges on the Yangtze River, is located within the prefecture-level city.Within the prefecture-level city of Yichang, Chang Jiang's is joined by a number of tributaries, including the Qingjiang River (right), Xiang Xi and Huangbo Rivers (leftt).
The central urban area of Yichang is split between several districts. On the right (northeastern) bank of the Chang Jiang are located Xiling District (where the city center is located), Yiling District (neighborhoods north of the center) and Wujiagang District (southern area). The city area on the opposite (southeastern) bank of the river is included into Dianjun District.
All these districts, with the exception of the central Xiling, also include a fair amount of suburban/rural area outside of the city urban core.Yichang has a four-season, monsoon-influenced, humid subtropical climate (Koppen Cwa), with cool, damp and generally overcast winters, and hot, humid summers. Monthly mean temperatures range from 4.9 °C (40.8 °F) in January to 27.7 °C (81.9 °F) in July, with an annual mean of 16.9 °C (62.4 °F). Sunshine is a bit on the low end, with winter being the cloudiest season, yet rainfall is concentrated from May to September.