or I-ch'ang
City (pop., 1999 est.: 481,277), western Hubei province, east-central China.
An ancient city, it is located at the head of navigation on the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang), below the entrance to the gorges of the Daba Mountains. As the gateway to the rich province of Sichuan , it was often disputed during times of Chinese political turmoil. It was made a treaty port for foreign trade in 1877; a Western quarter grew beside it, and many Western commercial firms established branches there. It was occupied by the Japanese and badly damaged during World War II, but the city and its shipyards have been rebuilt. It is now an industrial centre and a distribution point for the region's manufactured goods.