What's Wuhan South Lake like?

[Westerndesigner]

I am entering a design competition for a corporate campus to be located on South Lake in Liujiazui, Hongshan District. I would like to know more about this part of Wuhan. Do any of you live there or know about this part of Wuhan?

From what I have researched it seems to have a lot of universities and schools around South Lake, almost like what we in the States would call a "college town". Is this so? Are there a lot of students living around this lake? Is it a nice part of town? What else goes on around this lake and what other kind of people live there?

What is the weather like in Wuhan? I keep reading that it is uncomfortably hot and humid - it too hot and humid in the summer to spend time outdoors? Are there nice periods in fall or spring? How cold is it in winter and for how long?

Other than sports, what do people do for fun? And what kind of sports are the favorites?

Well - a lot of questions, I clearly do not know anything and am very curious. If anyone out there has some information to share I would love to hear it!

[Hedge]

Its definitely hot there, its known as one of the three furnaces of China. I'd do some googling/wikipedia, should be lots of info available.

[Shadowdh]

Other than sports, what do people do for fun? And what kind of sports are the favorites?

That part of Wuhan is indeed an area filled with Universities, there are 3 major sections to Wuhan, Hankou, Hanyang and Wuchang (which is also the University district with Hankou being the commercial or business part and Hanyang being the industrial part more or less). South lake does indeed have a few unis in the area and its more a student area. Its not a bad part of town and has quite a few beautiful areas. The lakes are very scenic... The people use the lakes for a number of purposes, swimming, boating and cycling, walking etc around the east lake there was also a fun fair type of thing going on...

Weather ranges from boiling hot with relatively high humidity to freezing cold with 8 inches of snow. I felt it was really hot but not uncomfortably humid. Loads of people spend time outdoors in the summer... Spring and Autumn (fall) are really nice times where its not hot or cold and the weather is not too bad but it does rain something fierce at times... thunder storms and lightning... winter was not really a long period (for me coming from the UK, I was in shorts and a t shirt far longer than the locals)... but when it arrived it came with a howl, very cold and snow was common.

Sports and activities... Basketball is the big one there, but the usual activities like dancing, taiji, other martial arts and so forth... I am not much of an authority on Wuhan but there are one or two others here who would be in a better position to answer more fully...

[Westerndesigner]

you say there is boating and swimming? my compatriots in the area did not see any such activity (course it might be too cool now) and i was wondering if it was forbidden or just too dirty for it. here in the US there'd be sailboats, canoes, paddleboats, and jetskis all over that lake...what kind of boating have you seen there? the parcel i am competing on has waterfront access and i'd be interested to know about local watersport possibilities.

it does seem very scenic, clean, and low-rise from the fotos i've gleaned off google.

also - a fair? what kind of fair? crafts? art? carnival games and rides? some kind of thing i never heard of???

[Stanshall]

South Lake is, crudely speaking, out in the sticks. It's as green as Wuhan gets and is quite pleasant, there's a definite campus vibe going on in the whole area, thousands of students wandering around doing nothing too strenuous. In terms of watersports, I've seen nothing. Perhaps on the larger East lake, you'll occasionally find some in summer but it's not really that kind of city.

The weather in Wuhan is basically one mild month of Spring, five slow-burning months of Summer, a too-quick relief month and then five months of winter. It gets seriously hot and pretty damn cold. Bring two very distinct wardrobes.

It's a great city though, lots of character, lots of joie de vivre, the people are chatty to the point of over-familiarity - some find them rude but it's a question of perspective. It's developing rapidly, parts of the (more commercial) Hankou district look like they've been copy and pasted from a much more developed city, almost anachronistic. It's fairly dirty and chaotic (from a city planner's perspective), it lacks the veneer of even a Chengdu but it's an awful lot of fun. I think the people make it, ultimately.