Hubei is, in many ways, China's heartland. Not only is it located in the geographical center of the Han Chinese world, but "the Gateway to the Nine Provinces" looms large in history and legend as well as China's present.
A fertile land bisected by the mighty Yangzi (Yangtze) River, with lake-studded plains in the east and rugged mountains rising in the west, Hubei has played a key role in the history of a nation that for millennia was founded on agriculture and trade.
The region's strategic importance figures into the 14th-century Romance of the Three Kingdoms, considered to be one of China's four greatest classical novels and largely set in Hubei—and it's still easy to imagine epic battles playing out within view of dramatic vistas of Yangzi cliffs and gorges.
Of course, any mention of Yangzi "gorges" and you're instantly ushered from a misty past of sages, soldiers, poets and peasants into China's head-over-heels rush into mass-scale industrialization and modernity. The Three Gorges Dam is not only the largest dam in the world, but a powerful symbol of China's transformation into an economic powerhouse—and the difficulties and challenges that come with it.
As the rising river drowns the last abandoned towns and creeps up the faces of the gorges to meet its high-water mark, its story remains unfinished. Will it succeed as hoped, helping drive China into an era of sustained development fueled by cheaper, cleaner power? Or will the worst fears of environmentalists come to pass as the reservoir silts up, pollution increases and unanticipated costs render the dam a gigantic white elephant?
Regardless, the Yangzi, the Three Gorges and the dam itself remain astonishing sights, and Yangzi cruises are a must, whether viewing the dam upstream from Yichang or entering Hubei from Chongqing via the Three Gorges and their dramatic mountain slopes, cliff-side waterfalls and limestone caves.
The sprawling metropolis of Wuhan is where you'll find Hubei's best food and shopping. The Hankou district is best for shopping, while great food—much of it spicy Sichuanese fare—can be found almost everywhere. Lotus root is popular, and appears in everything from soups to fried dishes, and the ubiquitous reganmian (hot and dry noodles) can be found on virtually every corner. Food aside, notable Wuhan attractions; include East Lake and Yellow Crane Tower.
Moving west from the lakes and plains of eastern Hubei, the terrain grows increasingly rugged as fields give way to mountains and forests. Fans of gongfu (kung fu) shouldn't miss the holy, Taoist temple-crowded peaks of Wudang Shan. Steeped in martial arts lore, the region is the home of wushu as well as spectacular scenery.
And if Wudang Shan isn't rugged enough, try the remote Shennongjia Forest Reserve, reputed stomping grounds of the Yeren, China's own Yeti. And for outdoor adventures even further afield, try southwestern Hubei's Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture. As a Tang Dynasty verse has, it, Enshi is the land of "endless green mountains to wander, endless clear flowing water" and the Miao and Tujia cultures make for a fascinating change of pace from the rest of largely Han Hubei
The Hubei region enters the historical record as the powerful state of Chu (1030 -223 BC), which, during the Warring States Period (475-221 BC) warred with the rival state of Qin for domination of central China. From its capital, located near the site of today's Jingzhou, at the apex of its power, Chu dominated a vast region stretching to modern Jiangsu in the east, west to Chongqing, south into Hunan and north to Henan and its borderlands with Qin.
The state of Chu was eventually subdued by Qin under Qin Shi Huangdi, the first emperor to unify greater China. A strategic prize thanks to its fertile eastern plains, Hubei would change hands frequently over the ages.
When the Han Dynasty, which followed Qin, began its decline, Hubei became a battleground. The legendary Battle of Red Cliffs (208-209 AD), the story of which is related in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, raged between warlords vying for control of the region, and figures prominently in the early history of China. It was there on the banks of Yangzi that the historical division between northern and southern China, with the river forming the border.
The north-south division endures to this day, with cuisine and diet, cultural traits and dialects shifting perceptibly above and below the Yangzi. After Red Cliffs, Hubei was to be ruled under a succession of southern kingdoms and dynasties until the Mongols from the north swept all before them, conquering much of Asia before founding the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368 AD). The next dynasty founded by northern invaders, the Manchu Qing (1644-1911), set the modern boundaries of Hubei.
The Qing, under pressure externally from Western colonial powers and crumbling from within, were finally brought down by rebellion that began in Hubei. The 1911 Wuchang Uprising quickly spread to other provinces, ushering in the troubled Kuomintang-ruled Republic of China.
Taking advantage of a weakened China, the Japanese pressed inland during the Second Sino-Japanese War (which became a theater of World War II in 1941), taking low-lying eastern Hubei but unable to dislodge Chinese forces from the rugged west. The communists pushed out the Nationalists (Kuomintang) following World War II, and in the 1950s the region was of major economic importance as both breadbasket and industrial base, with Wuhan becoming a major manufacturing center.
The 1960's would bring considerable tumult to the province as fighting broke out between rival Red Guard factions. Meanwhile, fears of a nuclear exchange over Sino-Soviet border conflicts led to the construction of Project 131, an underground military command bunker near Wuhan.
After devastating Yangzi River floods in 1954, the construction of several large-scale dam projects began, leading up to the colossal Three Gorges Dam, the construction of which has been a decades-long drama pitting development-first engineers and government officials against environmentalists, archaeologists and even local residents who have been relocated by the millions to new cities from below-the-waterline homes.
Today, Hubei is still a key economic center and, despite the dam, home to some of the country's most stunning landscapes, with a quickly developing infrastructure supporting tourists of all varieties.