VIRTUAL Lisbon Livable Cities

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chinese government portrayed Wuhan as a “heroic city,” celebrating the courage and resilience of its residents in combating the virus. This paper traces the roots of that heroic narrative back to the 1954 Yangtze River flood and examines how the disaster—and its ongoing commemoration—has shaped Wuhan’s urban space, local identity, and the relationship between people and the environment from the 1950s to the present. The 1954 flood, the first major natural disaster after the founding of Communist China, positioned Wuhan—a key site in the disaster—as both a locus of lived experience and a symbol in state-led narratives of controlling nature. Drawing on local perspectives, this paper explores the evolving relationship between the river and the city across three periods. The first, in the 1950s–60s, highlights the construction of the first Yangtze River Bridge and river-crossing swimming, which fostered a heroic mindset of conquering nature. The second, during the Cultural Revolution, focuses on the 1969 flood memorial and the ideological shaping of official memory, often at the expense of personal narratives. The third period, from the post-Mao era to the present, examines riverside park renovations that reframe Wuhan as a site of “red tourism,” blending revolutionary legacy with themes of ecological harmony and local economic development. By examining the case of Wuhan, this paper aims to demonstrate the historical role of natural disasters in shaping urban space and local identity, while also bringing attention to the often-overlooked diversity of local and individual voices that exist beneath dominant state narratives.