Yichang as the host city

At the west of China’s Hubei province, Yichang is located at the joint of the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River. For a long time, it has been renowned as the “gateway to the Three Gorges”and the “throat between Sichuan and Hubei”. In ancient times Yichang was named as “Yiling”because “water flew gently as it came here and mountains became hills as they extended here”. It was renamed “Yichang”in the Qing dynasty because the name stood for prosperity. Yichang boasts long-standing and extensive history and Bachu culture and is home to Quyuan, the world famous cultural celebrity and Wang Zhaojun, the ancient envoy of national unity. Yichang is where the Three Gorges Project and the Gezhouba Project are located, which makes Yichang a “world hydropower city”. Yichang now has five districts, three county-level cities, five counties and one national-level high-tech zone. It covers an area of 21,000 square kilometers and has a population of 4.1379 million, including the registered population of 3.899 million.

The rivers in Yichang all belong to Yangtze River Basin. With the stem stream of Yangtze River as the main vein, the streamy rivers are featured by large density and abundant water. Yichang has 183 rivers with the valley area of over 30 square kilometers and the whole length of 5,070 kilometers, 128 rivers with the valley area of over 50 square kilometers and the whole length of 4,320 kilometers, 28 rivers with the valley are a of over 200 square kilometers and the whole length of 1,974 kilometers, 6 rivers (Yangtze River, Qiangjiang River, Juzhang River, Xiangxi River, Huangbai River, Yuyang River) with the valley area of over 1,000 square kilometers and the whole length of 939 kilometers and 4 rivers (Yangtze River, Qiangjiang, Juzhang River, Xiangxi River)with the valley area of over 3,000 square kilometers and the whole length of 668 kilometers.