yichang

location: located in the east mouth of the three gorges

neighboring areas: anhui, jiangxi, hunan, sichuan, shaanxi, and henan provinces

physical features: higher in the west and lower in the east

population: 3.92 million

urban population: 2.63 million

area: 21,084 sq km

nationalities: han, hui, manchu, miao, tujia and mongolian

history: 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, controlled 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.

climatic features: 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- 300 days.

average temperature: annual average temperature of 16oc.

rainfall: annual even precipitation 1,100 mm; concentrated on june, july and august, as well as in spring

mountains: mt. dashengnongjia (with the highest peak of 3053 m), mt. wushan (with average height of 700-800m), mt. mingfeng, mt. guanmiao, mt. qingshan, mt. xiling

rivers: huangbaiheriver, qingjiangriver, juzhangheriver, yuyangheriver, jingjiangriver and xiangxiriver

local highlights: red tea