Yichang Hotels

Yichang is a city in Hubei Province. The population of Yichang is around 4 million. The city is located just below the Three Gorges around 30 km downstream of the dam. It used to be the gateway to the upper Yangze and an important post in the Sino-Japanese war, though not much of those times is visible anymore. Nowadays the city is known as the ending point of the Three Gorges river cruising trip and is less often used for a trip upstream. Yichang ("Should Flourish"), in Hubei Province, is a port on the Yangtze River. The Yangtze Gorges, upstream to the east and navigable only by small vessels, make Yichang the head of navigation on the middle Yangtze River and an important point for traffic to and from adjacent Sichuan Province. Due to its strategic location on the main route to Sichuan Province from eastern China, Yichang was often disputed by warring factions during the times when China was politically divided. It took the name Yichang under the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), having been previously known as Yilingchun (I-ling Ch¨¹n) or Shanzhou (Shan Chou). Being made a treaty port in 1877 brought considerable foreign trade to Yichang. A railroad from Hankou to Chongqing via Yichang was begun in 1914, but was only partially completed before being abandoned in the political chaos of 1915. To this day, Yichang is only on a spur line of the railroad that runs from Xiangfan south to Hunan Province. In 1940 Yichang was captured by the Japanese, which marked the furthest penetration of the invaders during the Sino-Japanese War. By the end of the Japanese occupation in 1945, Yichang's commerce was ruined, but shipping began to recover in the 1950s, and extensive industrialization has since taken place, with important food-processing and chemical industries now present. A huge boom is now taking place with the construction of the Three Gorges Dam only 40 km (25 miles) upstream at Sandouping.