Hanchuan (simplified Chinese: 汉川; traditional Chinese: 漢川; pinyin: Hànchuān) is a county-level city in Hubei, China. It is under the administration of Xiaogan city.
The city's urban area is located on the left bank of the Yangtze a few tens of kilometres upstream from Wuhan. However, the county-level city as an administrative unit also includes some land on the right bank of the river as well.
The city is served by the Hanchuan Railway Station on the new Wuhan-Yichang Railway.
Story-telling in Hanchuan 汉川善书 is called Shanshu. It is popular in places such as Hanchuan, Tianmen, Mianyang, Qianjiang, and Xiaogan. The art is most prosperous in Hanchuan where it has a long-standing and deep-rooted tradition.
Shanshu formed in the late Qing Dynasty and during the early Republic of China. It originated from the official campaign to promote the Emperor's instruction to enhance the morality of the people. Traditionally it was performed by only one person. In the Republic of China (1912-1949), it evolved into a duet or a multi-role play.
The vocal music includes Daxuan Qiang, Xiaoxuan Qiang, Ya Qiang, Suoluo Qiang, Nuchi Qiang, and Aisi Qiang. Popular repertoires are Dropping Blood, Honeybee Juice, Anan Sending Rice and Chastity.
Can you tell it's hard to find information on Hanchuan? It's located about on hour east of Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei province.
A funny story,, our daughter is from Hanchuan and when we visited her finding spot in 2005 my mother asked me to find some pretty rocks to bring home from her birthplace and she was going to put them in her garden. Well, I looked high and and low and all I could find in Hanchuan were chunks of broken cement! - the closest think I could find to a rock! lol. We noticed that most of the 'townies' had never seen an American and we were quite a spectacle! Can't wait to follow your trip! Regards!
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