Hankou is Wuhan's commercial centre — the side of the city with the most shops, restaurants, hotels, and the longest stretch of preserved European concession architecture in central China. The treaty-port concessions (British, French, German, Russian, Japanese) ran along the north bank of the Yangtze from 1861 onwards, and the streets behind Yanjiang Dadao are full of grand stone banks, consulates, and trading houses from that era.
The pedestrianised Jianghan Road, lined with department stores and snack vendors, runs back from the river through the heart of Hankou. Hubu Alley and Jiqing Street are the night-food destinations. Hankou Station, the Beijing-end of the Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed line, is the busier of the city's two main stations.