Telegraph line between Hankou and Nanjing was completed construction in April 1884. Shangjing-Nanjing telegraph line was extended to Hankou and meanwhile Hankou Telegraph Office was set up. Telecommunication to Shashi, Jingmen, Yichang in Hubei and to Chongqing and Chengdu in Sichuan was connected.
A residential house in Wuchang caught fire on September 22, 1884. The fire affected the Yellow Crane Tower which was burnt down and failed to reconstruct in the coming 100 years.
German Melchers foreign firm set sub branch in Hankou, operating leather, tobacco, medicine, cotton, silk, egg as well as shipping industry of Yangtze River, becoming one of the largest foreign businessman in Hankou.