Optical Valley is trying to make a name for itself in Silicon Valley.

The Wuhan culture delegation hosted a Wuhan promotion at Stanford University on Sept 18. The event sought to increase exchanges between Wuhan and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Wuhan, a city of 10.2 million, is the capital of Hubei province. With more than 3,500 years of history, Wuhan, as the largest city in Central China, is referred to as the "thoroughfare to nine provinces".

Li Shuyong, Wuhan publicity director, gave a speech titled Wuhan Stories in the View of Chu Culture to Stanford students at the Li Ka Shing Center for Learning and Knowledge.

"Wuhan is commonly called the 'City of Lakes', as there is a total of 166 lakes scattered across the city," Li said. "It is also an entrepreneurial paradise, and an important base for Chinese scientific research and education. Wuhan boasts more than 80 universities and has more than 1 million college students."

There is lot in common between Wuhan and the San Francisco Bay Area, and Optical Valley, the high-tech area in Wuhan, is aiming to become the next Silicon Valley in 15 to 30 years, Li said.

In recent years, Wuhan officials have sought to launch more opportunities in fields such as communications, biomedicine, environmental protection and software.

There is a direct flight from Wuhan to San Francisco, and Wuhan-Shanghai-San Francisco air service started last year.

"The cooperation between Wuhan and the San Francisco Bay Area will cross the ocean barrier," said Kansen Chu, a California state assemblyman.

Zhenkun Xu in San Francisco contributed to this story.