Why is China's Wuhan important for India?

PM Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping are currently in the middle of their two-day historic summit in Wuhan. With the help of this summit, the two countries aim to solve the differences that they face from time to time.

But, why Wuhan?

Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei province, is situated near Yangtze River and is the largest city in the central part of China. The cities of Hanyang, Hankou, and Wuchang merged to form Wuhan back in 1926. Wuhan is also known as 'Chicago of China' because of its role in transportation.

Wuhan has been important to China since the beginning. In 1938, the Japanese army captured the city and made it a major military base.

Wuhan had even served as the capital of China in 1927 under the left wing of Kuomintang (KMT) government.

Here's why Wuhan is important:

1. Wuhan is also known as 'China's thoroughfare' as it is a major transportation hub. Many roads, trains, and highways pass through the city connecting to other major cities.
2. Wuhan is also the cultural and educational hub of China.
3. Wuhan is considered an important center for trade, economy, finance, transportation and IT in China. Wuhan's major industries include optic-electronic, automobile manufacturing, iron and steel manufacturing, new pharmaceutical sector, biology engineering, new materials industry.
4. Wuhan is strongly linked to France when it comes to economics partnerships. Wuhan receives most French investment in comparison to all Chinese cities. Many big French companies like Renault, PSA group etc are present in Wuhan.
5. Wuhan has attracted foreign investment from over 80 countries. Wuhan has 5,973 foreign-invested enterprises established in Wuhan with a capital injection of 22.45 billion USD.
6. Wuhan has a direct competition with first-tier cities of China like Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou when it comes to domestic trade in terms of volume of retail.
7. Wuhan is also among the top list of China's metropolises.
8. Wuhan emerged as a heavy industry center over the years, but the presence of China's best research institutions add the city on the top of the list when it comes to advance technology and electronics.
9. Wuhan, currently, has over 300 British-funded firms with a total investment of 5 billion USD.
10. Wuhan Gymnasium will also be the venue for the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup.

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