Yellow Crane Tower (Tang Dynasty Poem "Exhausting All Words"), Hubei Museum 2,400-Year Bianzhong Bronze Bells (Two Tones Per Bell), First Yangtze Bridge (1957), Reganmian Hot Dry Noodles & Wuchang Uprising (October 10, 1911)
📍 Wuhan, China📅 3-day itinerary
Three cities merged into one (Wuchang — the Yangtze south bank where the October 10, 1911 Wuchang Uprising ended 2,000 years of Chinese imperial rule; Hankou — the colonial treaty port with British, French, German, Russian and Japanese concession architecture; Hanyang — China's first modern steelworks, 1890) where the daily ritual of reganmian (hot dry noodles with sesame paste, five cents, five minutes, standing up) has been performed by millions of Wuhan residents since the 19th century, and where the Hubei Provincial Museum holds the 65-bell bianzhong bronze chime set from 433 BCE whose two tones per bell cover all 12 chromatic semitones — 2,000 years before Western equal temperament.
The Yellow Crane Tower Where Cui Hao's Tang Dynasty Poem (704-754 CE) Was So Perfect That Li Bai (the Greatest Chinese Poet) Reportedly Refused to Write About the Building, Saying "The Cui Hao Poem Has Already Exhausted All the Words" — the Most Poetry-Celebrated Single Building in China's Literary History
The Hubei Provincial Museum's 65 Bianzhong Bronze Bells from the Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng (433 BCE) Whose Two Tones Per Bell (Struck at Centre vs. Edge) Cover All 12 Chromatic Semitones Across 5 Octaves — a Musical System Theoretically Equivalent to Western Equal Temperament, 2,000 Years Earlier, Played Live at 10:30 AM Daily
The Hankou Former Treaty Port Concession District Where British, French, German, Russian and Japanese Neoclassical Buildings (1858-1943) Line the Yangtze Riverfront — the Most Varied Collection of European Colonial Architecture in Inland China, 950 km from the Sea