The river gave its name to the ancient Chinese Han dynasty, which marked one of ancient China's first golden ages and through it, to the Han Chinese, the dominant ethnic group in modern China and the most populous ethnic group in the world.

It crosses most of Hubei from the northwest to the southeast, flowing into the Yangtze at the provincial capital Wuhan,[2] 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.

[2] 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.

[3] Danjiangkou Dam was constructed on the Han River in northern Hubei in 1958.