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 to its southwest.
Mountains and forest dominate the landscape to the west of the city, while to the east lies a vast, fertile plain. The construction of the nearby Gezhouba Dam, which started operations in 1981, turned Yichang from a small city into a large one. Thousands of workers from this project and the even bigger Three Gorges Dam have settled in the city and have contributed to its rising prosperity.
With more than 7,000 or 8,000 years of history; called as "the throat of Chuan (namely Sichuan province) and E (namely Hubei province)"; in the Xia and Shang dynasties, used to be the ancient "lands of Jingzhou"; in Spring and Autumn Period, as well as Warring States, cortrolled by the Chu State, being called "the west frontier fortress of Chu" in history; one of the cradles of Chu Culture; called "Xiling" in remote antiquity; also known as "Yiling" for the Yishan Mountain in the northwest, "Xiazhou" for guarding the Three Gorges
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, Chongqing in the west and Wuhan , Shanghai in the east. The express way is from Yichang to Wuhan, Beijing, Xi'an and the railway from Yichang to Zhenzhou, Wuxi, Huaihua, Guangzhou 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 were opened, too.
Area Code: 0717
Zip Code: 443000
Area: The area of Yichang is 21,084 sq km
Geography: Longitude 110'15' E to 112'04' E, Latitude29'56' N to 31'34' Nin the east mouth of the Three Gorges, Yichang is higher in the west and lower in the east. It sits in western Hubei Province at the eastern end of the Xiling Gorge, one of the Three Gorges on the Yangtze River.
Population: 3.92 million, Urban Population: 2.63 million, Han, Hui, Manchu, Miao, Tujia and Mongolian
Administrative Division: Yichang has totally 3 cities 5 districts and 5 counties under its administration.
Climate: Yichang is in subtropical humid monsoonal climate zone, four seasons clearly demarcated; cloudy and sunny not certain in springs; with humid and hot summers; fine autumns; dry cold winters; with frost free period of 220 to 300 days. The average temperature of Yichang is around 16 degree Celsius.