Yichang is the second largest city of Hubei Province behind Wuhan, the former provincial capital. When the latter became a special municipality directly administered by the central government in Nanjing, Yichang replaced it as the new capital of Hubei. As a gateway to the province of Sichuan through the Yangtze River through the Three Gorges, Yichang is a strategically important city both economically and militarily. It was this strategic value, on the other hand, that made it one of the most ravaged cities throughout the Second Sino-Japanese War. The city's population sharply dropped amid the devastation of war.

However, in the aftermath of the war, an influx of immigrants from the rural towns and villages—as well as neighbouring provinces— heavily contributed to the revitalisation of Yichang. In recent years it has bloomed thanks to new trade opportunities and economic activity, no doubt helped by the popularity of their two primary exports, citrus and tea.

Despite all this prosperity, the locals in Yichang have still not forgotten and certainly have not forgiven the tyranny of the Japanese occupiers and their puppets in Nanjing. Some may be vocal in their resistance, yes, but their discontent is increasingly deafened by the swelling number of immigrants who simply hope for a better life in the boomtown capital.