At the opening ceremony of the 2024 Two Lakes Dialogue on July 4, 2024, the City of Wuhan was presented with five keywords starting with the letters of its name “WUHAN”, which stand for water, universities, high-tech, arts and network.

W for water. Wuhan is an eco-friendly city flourishing by the water and thriving on the water. With water taking up a quarter of its total area, Wuhan is known as “a city of a hundred lakes”. It’s also the only international wetland city with a population exceeding 10 million.

U for universities. Wuhan is an innovative city with a host of universities and strong vibrancy. It is one of the three national talent pools and home to 92 universities and colleges and 1.3 million-plus college students. Professor Li Deren from Wuhan University won China’s top sci-tech award for the year 2023.

H for high-tech. Wuhan is an industrial city empowered by innovation-driven and green development. The city is an important industrial hub of the country where its Optics Valley, Auto Valley, Internet Valley and Space Valley are located. There are four national clusters of strategic emerging industries1, five industries with strong competitive edge2, and 13 industries of the future3 such as AI and quantum computing. It is building a demo zone of green development in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. On top of this, China Carbon Emissions Registration and Clearing Co., Ltd., the only carbon market registration and settlement institution in China, is based in Wuhan. Up to now, the total carbon trading volume handled by this agency has reached 458 million metric tonnes, higher than any other institutions across the world.

A for arts. Wuhan is a culturally-diverse city with a 3,500-year history. There are 128 museums, over 200 libraries, as well as a reviving tradition of Chinese opera. It pioneers the design of bridge constructions and green and intelligent facilities and joined the UNESCO Creative Cities Network. In 2023, the city’s promotional film Floating Clouds Flowing Water won the Best City Promotion Short Film Award at the Germany-China Film Festival.

N for network. Wuhan is an open city connecting five continents and the entire world. A network for further opening-up has been established, which is centered on the Wuhan Area of (China) Hubei Pilot Free Trade Zone and supported by the three bonded zones4 and the two international industrial parks5. As of now, the China (Wuhan)-Europe Railway Express has connected Wuhan with 116 cities of 40 countries in Asia and Europe. The city will be developed into a dual transportation hub for passenger and freight and an air gateway in China’s inland region thanks to the Ezhou Huahu International Airport and Wuhan Tianhe International Airport, which operates 16 international and regional flight routes.

1The four national clusters of strategic emerging industries are integrated circuit, new display devices, biomedicine, and next-generation information network.

2The five industries with strong competitive edge are optoelectronic information, new energy vehicles and intelligent connected vehicles (NEVs and ICVs), health, equipment manufacturing, and BeiDou Navigation Satellite System.

3The 13 industries of the future are new display technologies, metaverse, bio-manufacturing, electromagnetic energy, new energy storage technologies, Internet of the future, quantum science, artificial general intelligence (AGI), deep-earth, deep-sea, and deep-space exploration, advanced semiconductor, humanoid robots, brain computer interface (BCI), and new materials.

4The three bonded zones are East Lake Comprehensive Bonded Zone, Wuhan New Port and Airport Comprehensive Bonded Zone, and the Comprehensive Bonded Zone of Wuhan Economic & Technological Development Zone.

5The two international industrial parks are Sino-French Wuhan Ecological Demonstration City and Sino-German International Industrial Park.