Famed waterways viewed with a new eye to industrialization

Hubei Week, tomorrow through July 22 at Shanghai's ongoing World Expo, will showcase the province's friendly environment and rich culture.

Dubbed "Crisscrossed by Rivers and Lakes: A City Park," the Hubei pavilion is modeled after the ancient Chinese character for "water." It is encompassed by a painted phoenix, a symbol unique to Hubei, according to local officials.

The overall pavilion design reflects a harmony between urban development and environmental preservation, following its province's current growth pattern.

Hubei means "north of the lake," referring to Dongting Lake, credited with the origin of Dragon boat racing.

The province boasts 4,228 rivers and 843 lakes. East Lake, China's largest urban lake, covers an area of 33.2 sq km. Honghu Lake, with an area of 344.4 sq km, is the nation's seventh largest freshwater lake.

Moreover, Hubei contains more than one third of the Yangtzee river.

Rapid growth

The province has embraced brisk growth over the past few decades, with its GDP rising to more than 1 trillion yuan in 2008 from 15.1 billion yuan in 1978.

Despite the 2009 global financial crisis, the province's GDP reached nearly 1.3 trillion yuan, up 13.2 percent from the previous year, or 4.5 percentage points higher than the national average.

With such rapid economic development, locals' quality of life has also improved markedly.

Per capita disposable income was 14,367 yuan for urban residents in 2009, up 9.2 percent over 2008.

Net average income of farmers surpassed 5,000 yuan, up by 8.1 percent. Consumption of residents in urban and rural areas for the whole year increased 17.9 and 21.6 percent respectively.

Wuhan, capital of China's central province, has made great contributions to these achievements.