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97-404: Cheng Fei was born in central China's Hubei Province to a father who was a shipping clerk and a mother who worked in a tire factory, not a very wealthy background. Indeed, said her mother, "Our family was poor so we hoped Cheng Fei could in some way change her life...we thought maybe being a professional athlete is good for her." And so her parents approached a gymnastics coach about training her by

194-473: A Viceroy of Huguang , one of the most well-known viceroys being Zhang Zhidong (in office between 1889 and 1907), whose modernizing reforms made Hubei (especially Wuhan ) into a prosperous center of commerce and industry. The Huangshi / Daye area, south-east of Wuhan, became an important center of mining and metallurgy. In 1911, the Wuchang Uprising took place in modern-day Wuhan. The uprising started

291-429: A 0.1-point penalty, with a final score of 15.200. The American team earned the silver medal, 2.375 points behind China. On August 15, Liukin performed clean routines on all four events (sticking her landings on three out of four events) to win the all-around gold medal with a final score of 63.325. Shawn Johnson took the silver medal with a score of 62.725. The win marked the third time that an American woman had won

388-705: A 13.950. Her beam routine scored a 14.950, and she did not make the Olympic team. Liukin went to London as the athlete representative for the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG). Liukin has one eponymous skill listed in the Code of Points . The Nastia Liukin Cup is an annual gymnastics competition held in the United States that is hosted by Liukin. The inaugural edition was contested in 2010. The competition

485-617: A group that also encompasses the Mandarin dialects of most of southwestern China. Perhaps the most celebrated element of Hubei cuisine is the Wuchang bream , a freshwater bream that is commonly steamed. Types of traditional Chinese opera popular in Hubei include Hanju and Chuju ( 楚剧 ; Chǔ Jù ). The Shennongjia area is the alleged home of the Yeren , a wild undiscovered hominid that lives in

582-419: A gymnast, knowing the pressure of high-level competition firsthand, but relented when they noticed her aptitude for the sport. Liukin competed in her first national championships as a junior in 2002, at the age of 12 and a half. In contrast to her WOGA teammates Carly Patterson and Hollie Vise , who finished first and second, respectively, Liukin fell on the uneven bars which rendered her unable to finish

679-536: A gymnastics coach. Cheng has one eponymous skill listed in the Code of Points . As of 2008, Cheng Fei performed the following skills on these apparatuses: Hubei Province Hubei is a province in Central China . It has the seventh-largest economy among Chinese provinces, the second-largest within Central China, and the third-largest among inland provinces. Its provincial capital at Wuhan serves as

776-549: A hub of higher education and research in China. Wuhan is the city that has the largest college student population in the world (1.3 million) studying in its 89 universities. Prior to the construction of China's national railway network, the Yangtze and Hanshui Rivers had been the main transportation arteries of Hubei for many centuries, and still continue to play an important transport role. Historically, Hubei's overland transport network

873-460: A major political, cultural, and economic hub for the region. Hubei is associated with the historical state of E that existed during the Western Zhou dynasty ( c.  1045  – 771 BCE). Its name means 'north of the lake', referring to Dongting Lake . It borders Henan to the north, Anhui and Jiangxi to the east, Hunan to the south, and Chongqing and Shaanxi to

970-504: A perfectionist, a great sport and a good friend. Shawn Johnson , 2008 Olympic Beam Champion, was also quoted to have called Cheng Fei 'inspirational' and 'a great competitor'. Cheng Fei's leadership abilities are of paramount importance to the Chinese Women's Gymnastics Team. She retired in June 2012 due to a ruptured Achilles tendon while performing a tumbling pass on the floor. Cheng Fei is

1067-510: A raised podium surface as well as in a large arena, which is not the norm for average USAG Optional competitions. In 2009, Liukin established the Nastia Liukin Fund in conjunction with USA Gymnastics . The fund's goals include building partnerships with fitness-oriented programs for young people and supporting clubs that have programs that aid gymnastics athletes who need financial assistance. Since its inception in 2010, all net proceeds from

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1164-476: A score of 62.325. Liukin also qualified to three event finals: beam, uneven bars (in spite of the fall) and floor exercise. In the team finals, Liukin performed on three events: beam, bars and floor exercise. Her uneven bars score of 16.900 was the highest mark awarded in the entire Olympic competition. Liukin performed second on balance beam, matching her qualifying score of 15.975. On floor exercise, she stepped out of bounds on her first tumbling pass, incurring

1261-678: A show of respect she gave the winner of the balance beam final Shawn Johnson of United States a small box with silk inside it. After the Olympic Games , she competed in various competitions. She won three gold medals on vault, floor exercise and balance beam at the DTG World Cup in Stuttgart . Her last 2008 competition was the 14th Artistic Gymnastics World Cup in Madrid where she won two gold medals on vault and floor exercise. In 2009, she competed at

1358-461: A step on her dismount, earning a 15.225 and taking second place. At the 2008 U.S. National Championships in Boston , Liukin fell on the floor on her double front tuck on the first day of competition, but had a strong meet on her other events and placed second in the all-around behind Shawn Johnson. She regained her national champion title on the beam and defended her national title on the uneven bars for

1455-465: A surprising bronze medal on floor exercise with a score of 15.425, behind Shawn Johnson, with 15.500, and Romanian Sandra Izbasa, with 15.650. On uneven bars, Liukin and China's He Kexin both posted final marks of 16.725 and earned identical A- and B-panel scores of 7.70 and 9.025, respectively. However, He Kexin was awarded the gold medal, and Liukin got the silver, after a tie-breaking calculation that took into account individual marks given by judges on

1552-462: A two-time senior national champion. She was named to the U.S. team for the 2006 World Gymnastics Championships in Aarhus, Denmark, and was expected by many to be a strong contender for the all-around title. However, because of an ankle injury, she was only able to compete on the uneven bars. Her bars routine in team finals scored a 15.7 and helped the U.S. team win the silver medal. Liukin also qualified for

1649-515: A vaulting and floor exercise specialist. She has had national success in gymnastics as a two-time Chinese National Floor Exercise Champion (2004–2005), a two-time Chinese National Vault medalist (2003 and 2005) and the 2004 Chinese National Balance Beam Champion. Internationally, she has been very successful as well. She competed with the Chinese team at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens , Greece and although

1746-601: A welcome respite from Wuhan's and Yichang's summer heat, as well as skiing opportunities in winter. The tourist facilities in that area concentrate around Muyu in the southern part of Shennongjia , the gateway to Shennongjia National Nature Reserve ( 神农架国家自然保护区 ). Closer to the provincial capital, Wuhan, is the Mount Jiugong ( Jiugongshan ) national park, in Tongshan County near the border with Jiangxi . A particular important site of both natural and cultural significance

1843-561: Is Mount Wudang ( Wudangshan ) in the northwest of the province. Originally created early in the Ming dynasty , its building complex has been listed by UNESCO since 1994 as a World Heritage Site . Nastia Liukin Anastasia " Nastia " Valeryevna Liukin OLY ( / ˈ lj uː k ɪ n / ; Russian : Анастасия Валерьевна Люкина Russian pronunciation: [ˈlʲʉkʲɪnə] ; born October 30, 1989)

1940-413: Is an American former artistic gymnast . She is the 2008 Olympic all-around champion, a five-time Olympic medalist, the 2005 and 2007 World champion on the balance beam , and the 2005 World champion on the uneven bars . She is also a four-time all-around U.S. national champion, winning twice as a junior and twice as a senior. With nine World Championships medals, seven of them individual, Liukin

2037-724: Is divided into thirteen prefecture-level divisions (of which there are twelve prefecture-level cities (including a sub-provincial city ) and one autonomous prefecture ), as well as three directly administered county-level cities (all sub-prefecture-level cities ) and one directly administered county-level forestry area. At the end of 2017, the total population was 59.02 million. * – including Forestry district ** – Directly administered county-level divisions The thirteen Prefecture and four directly administered county-level divisions of Hubei are subdivided into 103 county-level divisions (39 districts , 24 county-level cities , 37 counties , 2 autonomous counties , 1 forestry district;

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2134-658: Is modest compared to other Chinese provinces. Hubei is well known for its mines of fine turquoise and green faustite. Hubei was a major recipient of China's investment in industrial capacity during the Third Front campaign. Since completion in 2012, the Three Gorges Dam in western Hubei provides plentiful hydroelectricity , with an average annual power production of 95 Twh. Existing hydroelectric stations include Gezhouba , Danjiangkou , Geheyan , Hanjiang , Duhe , Huanglongtan , Bailianhe , Lushui and Fushui . Hubei

2231-501: Is open to Level 10 gymnasts , who can only qualify for the event at designated invitationals across the country. There are both junior and senior fields for the competition, and the competition takes place the Friday prior to the AT&;T American Cup , which occurs on the next day, Saturday. The incentive of the competition is to give pre-elite athletes the experience and opportunity to compete on

2328-461: Is the 7th-largest provincial economy of China, the second largest in the Central China region after Henan , the third largest in the South Central China region after Guangdong and Henan and the third largest among inland provinces after Henan and Sichuan . As of 2021 , Hubei's nominal GDP was US$ 787 billion (CNY 5 trillion). Its GDP (nominal) per capita exceeded US$ 13,000, making it

2425-461: Is tied with Shannon Miller for the third-highest tally of World Championship medals among U.S. gymnasts. Liukin also tied Miller's record (later equaled by Simone Biles ) as the American gymnast having won the most medals in a single non-boycotted Olympic Games . In October 2011, Liukin announced that she was returning to gymnastics with the hopes of making a second Olympic team. Liukin did not make

2522-460: The 2004 Olympics and a 2008 commercial for Visa Inc. She signed an endorsement deal on March 15, 2010, and appeared in commercials for Subway . After the Beijing Olympics, she was signed to be one of four American Olympians featured on Wheaties cereal boxes. Liukin was a Longines Sports Ambassador of Elegance in 2006 and, along with her teammates Shawn Johnson and Alicia Sacramone ,

2619-712: The 99th Indianapolis 500 . In January 2023, Liukin appeared on the reality show Special Forces on FOX alongside other celebrities. Liukin serves as an analyst for NBC Sports Group during their coverage of gymnastics events. She was also a special correspondent for NBC during the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. In 2017, Liukin launched her own line of gymnastics equipment, including mats, bars and balance beams in her signature pink, produced by American Athletic, Inc. Liukin's corporate sponsors include Visa , AT&T , GK Elite Sportswear and Longines . She appeared in an Adidas commercial with Nadia Comăneci that ran during

2716-645: The Battle of Red Cliffs (208 or 209), warlords Liu Bei and Sun Quan drove Cao Cao out of Jingzhou. Liu Bei then took control of Jingzhou and appointed Guan Yu as administrator of Xiangyang (in modern Xiangyang, Hubei ) to guard Jing province; he went on to conquer Yizhou (the Sichuan Basin), but lost Jingzhou to Sun Quan; for the next few decades Jingzhou was controlled by the Wu Kingdom , ruled by Sun Quan and his successors. The incursion of northern nomadic peoples into

2813-591: The Cultural Revolution in the 1960s, Wuhan saw fighting between rival Red Guard factions. In July 1967, civil strife struck the city in the Wuhan Incident ("July 20th Incident"), an armed conflict between two hostile groups who were fighting for control over the city at the height of the Cultural Revolution. As the fears of a nuclear war increased during the time of Sino-Soviet border conflicts in

2910-500: The Five Dynasties to the north and Shu to Shizhou (施州, in modern Enshi , Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture ). The Song dynasty reunified the region in 982 and placed most of Hubei into Jinghubei Circuit , a longer version of Hubei's current name. Mongols conquered the region in 1279, and under their rule the province of Huguang was established, covering Hubei, Hunan, and parts of Guangdong and Guangxi . During

3007-718: The Sichuan Basin , then (in 278 BC) its heartland, which correspond to modern Hubei. In 223 BC Qin chased down the remnants of the Chu regime, which had fled eastwards during Qin's wars of uniting China . Qin founded the Qin dynasty in 221 BC, the first unified dynasty in China . The Qin dynasty was succeeded in 206 BC by the Han dynasty , which established the province ( zhou ) of Jingzhou in today's Hubei and Hunan . The Qin and Han played an active role in

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3104-713: The Xinhai Revolution , which overthrew the Qing dynasty and established the Republic of China . In 1927 Wuhan became the seat of a government established by left-wing elements of the Kuomintang , led by Wang Jingwei ; this government later merged into Chiang Kai-shek 's government in Nanjing . During World War II the eastern parts of Hubei were conquered and occupied by Japan , while the western parts remained under Chinese control. During

3201-507: The richest landlocked province , the richest province in the Central China region, and 2nd richest province in South Central China region after Guangdong . Han Chinese form the dominant ethnic group in Hubei. A considerable Miao and Tujia population live in the southwestern part of the province, especially in Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture . On October 18, 2009, Chinese officials began to relocate 330,000 residents from

3298-459: The "Cheng". At the 2006 World Championships in Aarhus , Denmark, she competed on vault and floor exercise, qualifying in first position for both event finals. Her performances on those two pieces of apparatus were instrumental in securing victory for China in the team championship, but they also earned her the individual vault and floor exercise world titles. Cheng also won the gold medal on the vault at

3395-415: The 2006 U.S. Classic as the defending all-around champion, but falls on the uneven bars and floor resulted in a fourth-place finish. However, she scored well on the balance beam and was the only competitor in the meet, junior or senior, to earn a score over 16.00 on this event. In late August, at the 2006 U.S. National Championships, Liukin successfully defended her all-around, beam and bars titles, becoming

3492-543: The 2006 World Cup Final in São Paulo , Brazil . In 2007 Cheng began the year by winning the vault, balance beam and floor exercise titles at a World Cup event in Maribor , Slovenia . She was undefeated on vaulting and floor exercise in 2007 until the 2007 World Championships in Stuttgart , Germany. At those championships, Cheng was recognized as the leader for the Chinese women's team and though Cheng won her third World title on

3589-483: The 2012 Olympic team and retired from the sport on July 2, 2012. Liukin was born on October 30, 1989, in Moscow , Russian SFSR , Soviet Union . She is the only child of two former Soviet champion gymnasts: 1988 Summer Olympics double-gold medalist Valeri Liukin and 1987 World clubs champion in rhythmic gymnastics Anna Kotchneva . Her nickname Nastia is a Russian diminutive for Anastasia . The family emigrated to

3686-666: The 25th Universiade in Belgrade and won a team gold medal and a Silver medal on Vault. After a near two-year off from competitions due to a leg injury, she competed in the 2011 Chinese National Championships in May on vault and floor Exercise. She led the qualifications on vault and finished 2nd in the final. She announced her intention to compete in the University Games in August, but was reported to be suffering from leg injury again and retreated from

3783-464: The April 2006 Touchstone Pictures film Stick It , and a 2008 episode of Gossip Girl . Liukin also guest starred on The CW series Hellcats . Liukin was on The Tour of Gymnastics Superstars after the 2008 Olympic Games, which was broadcast nationwide on MyNetworkTV . On February 24, 2015, Liukin was announced as one of the celebrities who would compete on the 20th season of Dancing with

3880-615: The B-panel. In the balance beam final, Liukin scored 16.025 to claim silver behind Shawn Johnson's 16.225. With her fifth Beijing medal, Liukin tied Mary Lou Retton and Shannon Miller for the most gymnastics medals won by an American in a single Olympic Games. Following her success in Beijing, Liukin was named the USOC Female Athlete of the Month (August) and ultimately USOC Co-Sportswoman of

3977-578: The CoverGirl Classic, where she competed only on the balance beam. She placed second behind WOGA teammate Ivana Hong . Liukin once again just performed on the beam at the U.S. Championships, placing fourth. Liukin was added to the national team and included in the World Championships selection camp. However, she pulled out of Worlds selection consideration because she felt that she was not up to World Championships standards. Liukin announced in

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4074-563: The Hubei and Henan provinces that will be affected by the Danjiangkou Reservoir on the Han river . The reservoir is part of the larger South-North Water Transfer Project . Religion in Hubei The predominant religions in Hubei are Chinese folk religions , Taoist traditions and Chinese Buddhism . According to surveys conducted in 2007 and 2009, 6.5% of the population believes and is involved in cults of ancestors , while 0.58% of

4171-574: The Mongol rule, in 1331, Hubei was devastated by an outbreak of the Black Death , which reached England , Belgium , and Italy by June 1348, and which, according to Chinese sources, spread during the following three centuries to decimate populations throughout Eurasia. The Ming dynasty (1368–1644) drove out the Mongols in 1368. Their version of Huguang province was smaller, and corresponded almost entirely to

4268-497: The Nastia Liukin Cup have gone to the fund. Many former competitors at the Cup have gone on to elite competition and even international competition, with 2012 Olympic Champion Gabby Douglas and 2017 World all-around Champion Morgan Hurd having competed in the 2010 and 2014 editions respectively. World champions including Maggie Nichols and Mykayla Skinner have also participated in the event. Liukin had cameo roles in

4365-455: The Olympic all-around title; Mary Lou Retton and Carly Patterson were the two previous American gold medalists. It was also the fourth time in the history of the Games that two athletes from the same country had taken first and second place in the women's all-around. "Liukin is simply breathtaking [on balance beam]. From the moment she puts her fingertips onto the beam and presses herself up into

4462-454: The Stars . She was partnered with professional dancer and five-time champion Derek Hough . They made it to week 9 (the semi-finals), but were then eliminated on May 12, 2015, despite consistent high scores. She later returned to Dancing with the Stars during season 27 to be a trio partner to Mary Lou Retton and Sasha Farber . On May 4, 2015, Liukin was announced as the grand marshal for

4559-450: The Tang dynasty placed present-day Hubei under the jurisdiction of several circuits : Jiangnanxi Circuit in the south; Shannandong Circuit (山南东道) in the west, and Huainan Circuit in the east. After the Tang dynasty disintegrated in the early 10th century, Hubei came under the control of several regional regimes: Jingnan in the center, Yang Wu and its successor Southern Tang to the east,

4656-818: The United States when Nastia was two and a half years old, following the breakup of the Soviet Union and easing of travel restrictions, and settled first in New Orleans before moving to Texas . In 1994, Valeri Liukin teamed up with another former Soviet champion athlete, Yevgeny Marchenko , to open the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy (WOGA) in Plano, Texas . Liukin is fluent in English and Russian . She graduated from Spring Creek Academy , located in Plano, Texas, in

4753-569: The Yangtze and han representing the Han River. The Yangtze River enters Hubei from the west via the Three Gorges ; the eastern half of the Three Gorges ( Xiling Gorge and part of Wu Gorge ) lie in western Hubei, while the western half is in neighbouring Chongqing . The Han River enters the province from the northwest. After crossing most of the province, the two great rivers meet at the center of Wuhan,

4850-555: The Year alongside swimmer Natalie Coughlin ; the Women's Sports Foundation Individual Sportswoman of the Year and FIG Athlete of the Year. In addition, she was ranked third in the Associated Press' 2008 Female Athlete of the Year voting behind Candace Parker and Lorena Ochoa . Liukin decided that she was not done with gymnastics and made her first post-Olympics competitive appearance at

4947-506: The adjacent Chongqing municipality) is the scenic area of the Three Gorges of the Yangtze. Located in the far west of the province, the gorges can be conveniently visited by one of the numerous tourist boats (or regular passenger boats) that travel up the Yangtze from Yichang through the Three Gorges and into the neighboring Chongqing municipality. The mountains of western Hubei , in particular in Shennongjia District, offer

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5044-571: The capital Wuhan (the epicenter of the outbreak). Authorities partially or fully locked down 15 cities, directly affecting 57 million people. Following severe outbreaks in numerous other countries, including in different areas of the world, the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 a pandemic in March 2020. However, after more than eight weeks, the lockdown on most cities in the province

5141-550: The competition in fifth place. In the event finals, however, Liukin regained her world champion title on the balance beam with a score of 16.025. She also earned a silver on the uneven bars behind Russia's Ksenia Semenova , scoring a 16.300 after taking a step on her dismount. Liukin's first meet of the 2008 season was the American Cup in New York City, where she defeated 2007 winner Shawn Johnson to regain her title. She posted

5238-668: The competition. In April 2012, Cheng competed at the Zibo World Cup in her home country, qualifying second into the vault final behind the Dominican Republic's Yamilet Peña Abreu . She intended to compete floor as well, but withdrew prior to the qualifying round. Cheng won the gold medal in the vault final. Cheng injured her Achilles tendon in June 2012, taking her out of the running for the 2012 Chinese Olympic Team. In June 2012, she announced her retirement from elite artistic gymnastics, trying to switch from being an elite gymnast to

5335-912: The directly administered county-level divisions are included here). Those are in turn divided into 1234 township-level divisions (737 towns , 215 townships , nine ethnic townships , and 273 subdistricts ). Secretaries of the Chinese Communist Party Hubei Committee: Governors of Hubei: Hubei is often called the "Land of Fish and Rice" ( 鱼米之乡 ). Important agricultural products in Hubei include cotton , rice , wheat , and tea , while industries include automobiles , metallurgy, machinery, power generation, textiles, foodstuffs and high-tech commodities. Mineral resources that can be found in Hubei in significant quantities include borax , hongshiite , wollastonite , garnet , marlstone , iron , phosphorus , copper , gypsum , rutile , rock salt , gold amalgam, manganese and vanadium . The province's recoverable reserves of coal stand at 548 million tons, which

5432-466: The event finals on bars, scoring 16.05 to earn a silver medal behind Britain's Beth Tweddle . Liukin's ankle injury required surgery, and the recovery period kept her out of both national and international competition for much of the year. In July 2007, although she was still recovering from her injury, she returned to competition as a member of the American team for the Pan Am Games in Rio de Janeiro . She competed only on bars and beam, contributing to

5529-402: The extension of farmland in Hubei, maintaining a system of river dikes to protect farms from summer floods. Towards the end of the Eastern Han dynasty in the beginning of the 3rd century, Jingzhou was ruled by regional warlord Liu Biao . After his death in 208, Liu Biao's realm was surrendered by his successors to Cao Cao , a powerful warlord who had conquered nearly all of north China; but in

5626-400: The fall of 2011 that she had resumed training for the 2012 Olympic Games. She returned to competition at the 2012 U.S. Classic and only competed on the balance beam, where she finished third. At the Visa Championships, Liukin competed on the balance beam and the uneven bars. On the balance beam, she scored a 15.100 on night one, followed by a 14.100 on night two to place sixth on the event. On

5723-418: The finals. Liukin's score for her bars routine in team finals was a 16.375, the highest score of the day and, in the end, the entire World Championships. However, she made an error at the end of her beam routine and scored 15.175. The team recovered from this and other mistakes to finish first overall with 184.400. Her struggles with the balance beam continued in the all-around final, where she fell. She finished

5820-546: The first gymnast ever to successfully perform one of the most difficult vaults ever attempted by a woman. The vault consisting of: a round-off onto the springboard, a half-turn onto the vaulting horse and a 1½ somersault with a 540-degree turn in a straight body position, is now officially recognized in the FIG Code of Points as "The Cheng" which carries a D-score of 6.5 under the 2009 Code of Points. During Event Finals on vault in Melbourne, Cheng scored 9.725 in her first vault (S.V: 10.0) and 9.587 in her second vault (S.V: 10.0),

5917-444: The first reactor would start construction in 2011 and go online in 2015. However, construction of the first phase had yet to start as of 2018 . On 1 December 2019, the first case of COVID-19 in the COVID-19 pandemic was identified in the city of Wuhan . In January 2020, the SARS-CoV-2 virus was officially identified, leading local and federal governments to implement massive quarantine zones across Hubei province, especially in

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6014-453: The floor exercise event final (14.550), after an uncharacteristic fall. Cheng cried after the unfortunate vault and floor finals. After the Olympics, she said that she cried about her failure to capture the two gold medals she wanted most until she could cry no more. However, she received great support from both her fellow countrymen and the international gymnastics community, who acknowledged her talents and abilities as an exceptional gymnast. In

6111-430: The following years, authorities resettled millions of people from western Hubei to make way for the construction of the dam. A number of smaller dams have been constructed on the Yangtze's tributaries as well. The Xianning Nuclear Power Plant is planned in Dafanzhen, Tongshan County, Xianning, to host at least four 1,250-megawatt (MW) AP1000 pressurized-water reactors. Work on the site began in 2010; plans envisaged that

6208-411: The forested hills. The people of Hubei are given the uncomplimentary nickname " Nine-headed Birds " by other Chinese, from a mythological creature said to be very aggressive and hard to kill. "In the sky live nine-headed birds. On the earth live Hubei people." ( 天上九头鸟，地上湖北佬 ; Tiānshàng jiǔ tóu niǎo, dìshàng Húběi lǎo ) Wuhan is one of the major culture centers in China. Hubei is thought to be

6305-423: The fourth consecutive year, scoring 17.050 in preliminaries and 17.100 in finals. In June, Liukin competed in the U.S. Olympic Trials in Philadelphia , finishing second behind Johnson and earning a spot on the American team for Beijing. Liukin performed in the all-around in the qualifying round of competition. She fell on her dismount from the uneven bars, but nevertheless qualified for the all-around final with

6402-406: The gold on the uneven bars and balance beam and the silver on the floor exercise . In March 2006, Liukin placed first in the all-around at the American Cup . At the 2006 Pacific Alliance Championships , Liukin tied with teammate Memmel for first in the all-around, won the uneven bars title and a silver medal on beam, and contributed to the U.S. team's gold-medal performance. She competed at

6499-419: The highest score of the meet, a 16.600 on the uneven bars. In March, Nastia competed at the Pacific Rim (formerly Pacific Alliance) Championships in San Jose , where she led the American team to a gold medal and won the all-around and balance beam titles. In the team competition, Liukin posted an all-time high score of 16.650 on the uneven bars, but in event finals, she fell on her Gienger release move and took

6596-496: The junior division of the U.S. National Championships, as well as gold medals on three of the four events: uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise . She was a member of the gold medal-winning U.S. team at the 2003 Pan American Games ; she took second place in the all-around behind teammate Chellsie Memmel . She also won the all-around in the junior division of the 2004 Pacific Alliance Championships . She repeated as junior U.S. all-around champion in 2004. Born in 1989, Liukin

6693-453: The late 1960s, the Xianning prefecture of Hubei was chosen as the site of Project 131 , an underground military-command headquarters. The province—and Wuhan in particular—suffered severely from the 1954 Yangtze River Floods . Large-scale dam construction followed, with the Gezhouba Dam on the Yangtze River near Yichang started in 1970 and completed in 1988; the construction of the Three Gorges Dam , further upstream, began in 1993. In

6790-439: The modern provinces of Hubei and Hunan combined. Hubei lay geographically outside the centers of the Ming power. During the last years of the Ming, today's Hubei was ravaged several times by the rebel armies of Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng . The Manchu Qing dynasty which took control of much of the region in 1644, soon split Huguang into the modern provinces of Hubei and Hunan. The Qing dynasty, however, continued to maintain

6887-705: The name of "Province of Lakes"; the largest of these lakes are Liangzi Lake and Hong Lake . The numerous hydrodams have created a number of large reservoirs, the largest of which is the Danjiangkou Reservoir on the Han River, on the border between Hubei and Henan . Hubei has a humid subtropical climate ( Cfa or Cwa under the Köppen climate classification ), with four distinct seasons. Winters are cool to cold, with average temperatures of 1 to 6 °C (34 to 43 °F) in January, while summers are hot and humid, with average temperatures of 24 to 30 °C (75 to 86 °F) in July; punishing temperatures of 40 °C (104 °F) or above are widely associated with Wuhan,

6984-699: The north on the border with Henan ; to the southeast, the Mufu Mountains form the border with Jiangxi . The highest peak in Hubei is Shennong Peak , found in the Daba Mountains of the forestry area of Shennongjia ; it has an altitude of 3105 m. The two major rivers of Hubei are the Yangtze River and its left tributary, the Han River ; they lend their names to the Jianghan Plain – Jiang representing

7081-700: The north; but Chu also represented a culturally unique blend of northern and southern culture, and it developed into a powerful state that controlled much of the middle and lower Yangtze River , with its power extending northwards into the North China Plain . During the Warring States period (475–221 BC) Chu became the major adversary of the upstart State of Qin to the northwest (in present-day Guanzhong , Shaanxi province), which began to assert itself by outward expansionism. As wars between Qin and Chu ensued, Chu lost more and more land: first its dominance over

7178-604: The original Wuhan-Guangzhou line, opened in late 2009, it was subsequently extended to the north, to Beijing becoming the Beijing–Guangzhou high-speed railway . An east-west high-speed corridor connecting major cities along the Yangtze, the Shanghai–Wuhan–Chengdu passenger railway was gradually opened between 2008 and 2012, the Wuhan–Yichang railway section of it opening in 2012. The Wuhan–Xiaogan intercity railway

7275-405: The population identifies as Christian, declining from 0.83% in 2004. The reports did not give figures for other types of religion; 92.92% of the population may be either irreligious or involved in worship of nature deities , Buddhism, Confucianism , Taoism, folk religious sects . People in Hubei speak Mandarin dialects; most of these dialects are classified as Southwestern Mandarin dialects,

7372-463: The province that originated the card game of dou dizhu . As of 2022, Hubei hosts 130 institutions of higher education, ranking sixth together with Hunan (130) among all Chinese provinces after Jiangsu (168), Guangdong (160), Henan (156), Shandong (153), and Sichuan (134). The Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), Wuhan University and many other institutions in Wuhan make it

7469-667: The provincial capital. Among the notable tributaries of the Yangtze within the province are the Shen Nong Stream (a small northern tributary, severely affected by the Three Gorges Dam project); the Qing , a major waterway of southwestern Hubei; the Huangbo near Yichang ; and the Fushui River in the southeast. Thousands of lakes dot the landscape of Hubei's Jianghan Plain, giving Hubei

7566-510: The provincial capital. The mountainous districts of western Hubei, in particular Shennongjia , with their cooler summers, attract numerous visitors from Wuhan and other lowland cities. Besides the capital Wuhan , other important cities are Jingmen ; Shiyan , a center of automotive industry and the gateway to the Wudang Mountains ; Yichang , the main base for the gigantic hydroelectric projects of southwestern Hubei; and Shashi . Hubei

7663-518: The region at the beginning of the 4th century ( Five Barbarians' rebellion and Disaster of Yongjia ( 永嘉之乱 )) began nearly three centuries of division into a nomad-ruled (but increasingly Sinicized) north and a Han Chinese -ruled south. Hubei, to the south, remained under southern rule for this entire period, until the unification of China by the Sui dynasty in 589. In 617 the Tang dynasty replaced Sui, and later on

7760-421: The routine. She continued through the rest of the competition and, despite the incomplete bars set, finished 15th, which landed her one of the final spots on the U.S. National Team. She was chosen to compete with the U.S. team at the 2002 Junior Pan American Championships , where she contributed to the team gold medal and placed second on the uneven bars, balance beam , and in the all-around . In 2003 she won

7857-411: The splits, her long legs unfurling like the petals of a flower, every movement is performance art. In one front somersault she lands without ever putting one of her feet on the beam, brushing it back until her leg is fully extended behind her. It's incredibly difficult – few other people even try it – yet she does it as easily as a cartwheel. — USA Today , 2008 In the event finals, Liukin earned

7954-610: The spring of 2007. She enrolled as an international business major at Southern Methodist University in January 2008, and took a leave from classes to concentrate on preparations for the 2008 Olympic Games. She returned to campus in spring 2009, but her travel schedule and professional commitments caused her to withdraw before the end of the semester. In January 2013, Liukin attended New York University where she studied sports management and psychology, graduating in May 2016. Nastia has been involved with numerous charities and philanthropy over

8051-451: The team did not medal, she performed very well, scoring 9.475 on vault and 9.662 on floor. She also qualified for and competed in the floor exercise final, finishing 4th with a score of 9.412. She was the bronze medalist at the 2004 World Cup Final on floor exercise. On 23 November 2005 Cheng made history at the 2005 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Melbourne , Australia, for being

8148-422: The team's gold-medal finish and winning individual silver medals in the uneven bars and balance beam finals. Despite limited training time on floor and vault in the summer of 2007, Liukin opted to compete all-around at the 2007 U.S. National Championships. She posted the highest score of the entire meet on bars and the second highest score on beam on the second day of competition, winning the senior bars title for

8245-422: The third year in a row and placing second on beam. However, she made several falls and errors on floor and vault, finishing in third place overall, more than five points behind Shawn Johnson , the all-around gold medalist. Following Nationals, Liukin was named to the American team for the World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany , where she competed all-around in the team qualifying round and on bars and beam in

8342-511: The time she was three and her father practiced calisthenics with her every morning before school. By the age of five, Cheng won her first competitive medal at a local competition. The 7-year-old Cheng was sent to Wuhan , where she joined the Wuhan Institute of Physical Education and officially entered the national sports program. Her first coach, Yao Juying remembered her as being uniquely 'hard-working' and extraordinarily focused. At ten, she

8439-486: The uneven bars, she placed 20th after scoring a 13.150 on night one and 13.650 on night two. Liukin was chosen to compete at the Olympic Trials. Liukin's gymnastics career came to an end after the 2012 Olympic Trials. On the final night of competition, she fell off the bars on her Gienger release, but got back up to finish her routine and landed her first competitive dismount since her comeback. Her bars routine received

8536-516: The vault, she made a serious error on the vault during the team championship where the Chinese team finished 2nd. She went on to finish 5th on floor exercise, with a score of 15.050, after stepping out of the bounds with both feet in her final tumbling series. Cheng fulfilled her goal of competing at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China as the captain to the Chinese team. In the qualification, Cheng competed on three events, placing first on both vault and floor exercise, and fifth on balance beam. She

8633-534: The west. The high-profile Three Gorges Dam is located at Yichang in the west of the province. The Hubei region was home to sophisticated Neolithic cultures. By the Spring and Autumn period (770–476 BC), the territory of today's Hubei formed part of the powerful State of Chu . Chu, nominally a tributary state of the Zhou dynasty , was itself an extension of the Chinese civilization that had emerged some centuries before in

8730-495: The years including Cards for Hospitalized Kids , breast cancer awareness and more. Liukin also established the Nastia Liukin Fund with USA Gymnastics which helps support fitness oriented programs for young people. Liukin began gymnastics at the age of three because she was "always hanging around in the gym" with her parents, who could not afford a babysitter to look after her while they were working as coaches. Liukin's parents initially did not aspire for their daughter to become

8827-645: Was hampered by the lack of bridges across the Yangtze River , which divides the province into northern and southern regions. The first bridge across the Yangtze in Hubei, the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge was completed in 1957, followed by the Zhicheng Bridge in 1971. As of October 2014 , Hubei had 23 bridges and tunnels across the Yangtze River, including nine bridges and three tunnels in Wuhan. The railway from Beijing reached Wuhan in 1905, and

8924-464: Was invited to join the Hubei provincial team. In late 2001, at the age of 13, she was accepted to the Chinese National Team. Her coaches are head coach Lu Shanzhen, and Liu Qun Lin. Cheng Fei is well known in the sporting world for being highly consistent, powerful and elegant, as well as displaying a fine level of sportsmanship. Sandra Izbașa , 2008 Olympic Floor Champion has described her as

9021-508: Was later extended to Guangzhou, becoming the first north-to-south railway mainline to cross China. A number of other lines crossed the province later on, including the Jiaozuo–Liuzhou railway and Beijing–Kowloon railway , respectively, in the western and eastern part of the province. The first decade of the 21st century has seen a large amount of new railway construction in Hubei. The Wuhan–Guangzhou high-speed railway , roughly parallel to

9118-645: Was lifted. The Jianghan Plain takes up most of central and southern Hubei, while the west and the peripheries are more mountainous , with ranges such as the Wudang Mountains , the Jing Mountains , the Daba Mountains , and the Wu Mountains (in rough north-to-south order). The Dabie Mountains lie to the northeast of the Jianghan Plain, on the border with Henan and Anhui ; the Tongbai Mountains lie to

9215-462: Was one of three female gymnasts to have entered 3 Olympic Event Finals in those Games, along with Nastia Liukin and Anna Pavlova . In the team final, She led the team to win China's first-ever women's gymnastics Olympic team gold medal in history. Individually, she won a bronze medal on vault (even after falling on her own "Cheng Fei vault"). She got 16.075 and 15.025 on her saltos. She won another bronze medal on balance beam (15.950) and placing 7th in

9312-697: Was opened in December 2016 and it was extended when the Wuhan–Shiyan high-speed railway opened in November 2019. Hubei's main airport is Wuhan Tianhe International Airport . Yichang Sanxia Airport serves the Three Gorges region. There are also passenger airports in Xiangyang , Enshi , and Jingzhou ( Shashi Airport , named after the city's Shashi District ). The province's best-known natural attraction (shared with

9409-442: Was ten months too young to compete as a senior in 2004, and thus was not eligible for a place on the U.S. team for the 2004 Olympics in Athens . In 2005, Liukin won her first senior national championships and, once again, earned gold medals on the bars and beam. At the 2005 World Championships in Melbourne , she finished second in the all-around behind teammate Chellsie Memmel with a score of 37.823. In event finals, she won

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