History Wuchang District

a french map of wuchang of 18th century


the old wuchang county

in 221, warlord sun quan moved capital of eastern wu gong county, jingzhou (northwest of present-day gong county, hubei) È county (in present-day ezhou city), , renamed È wuchang (literally prospering military, regarding logistics role of military bases established before battle of red cliffs). later in year cao pi proclaimed himself emperor of cao wei. sun quan declared independence in following year, , started build forts , palaces in wuchang. sun quan proclaimed himself emperor of eastern wu in 229, , moved capital jianye. sun hao, emperor of eastern wu between 264 , 280, moved capital wuchang in 265. in 589, wuchang commandery abolished , wuchang county transferred new commandery named ezhou (headquartered in present-day wuchang district), , remained in administration since then.

the present day wuchang town

taoist temple changchun in wuchang

the wuchang commandery set when È renamed wuchang, , included 6 counties. in 223 commandery renamed jiangxia, , capital of commandery moved xiakou (in present-day wuchang town). name of town switched , forth between wuchang , jiangxia several times in following centuries. after 1301, wuchang prefecture, headquartered in town, became capital of hubei province. present-day version of wuying pagoda, oldest standing architecture in hubei province, built around time.

at end of qing empire, wuchang prefecture capital of combined provinces of hubei , hunan, called 2 hu or huguang viceroyalty. seat of provincial government of huguang, @ head of viceroy of huguang. next nanjing , guangzhou, 1 of important vice-royalties in empire.

it possessed arsenal , mint. provincial government established ironworks manufacture of rails , other railway material. works did not pay under official management, transferred director-general of railways. wuchang not open foreign trade , residence, considerable number of missionaries, both roman catholic , protestant, lived within walls. native population estimated @ 800,000 around 1911, including cities on both banks. @ time, wuchang important junction on trunk railway beijing guangzhou; , on route of sichuan railway.

in wuchang on october 10, 1911, revolt broke out against qing dynasty. event, called wuchang uprising , celebrated double ten day, catalyst started xinhai revolution, led development of republic of china.

in 1912, wuchang prefecture abolished , new wuchang county (just next wuchang county in ezhou city) created. in 1926 wuchang town promoted city, , merged hankou , hanyang form new city named wuhan.

after 1949, more urban part of wuchang county absorbed new wuhan city , administratively partitioned wuchang, qingshan , hongshan districts, while remaining, rural, southern part retained name of wuchang county. in 1995, wuchang county became jiangxia district of wuhan.