The headwaters of the Han flow from
Mount Bozhong in southwestern
Shaanxi. The stream then travels east across the southern part of that province. Its highland valley—known as the Qinba Laolin—divides and is protected by the Qinling or
Qin Mountains to its north and the Dabashan or
Daba Mountains to its south. The main cities are
Hanzhong in the west and
Ankang in the east. It then enters
Hubei. It crosses most of Hubei from the northwest to the southeast, flowing into the Yangtze at the provincial capital
Wuhan, a city of several million inhabitants. The merging rivers divide the city of Wuhan into three sections:
Wuchang in the south,
Hankou to the northeast of the confluence, and
Hanyang to its southwest. The area surrounding the confluence is known as the
Jianghan Plain. Apart from a few major basins, such as the area around Hanzhong, the highlands of the Han were covered in primeval forests as late as the 19th century. The Nanshan Forest covered the northern slopes; the Bashan Forest, the southern. ,
Hubei ==Hydroelectric Projects==