Everything about Hunan totally explained
is a
province of
China, located in the middle reaches of the
Yangtze River and south of
Lake Dongting (hence the name
Hunan, meaning "south of the lake"). Hunan is sometimes called 湘 (
pinyin: Xiāng) for short, after the
Xiang River which runs through the province.
Hunan borders
Hubei in the north,
Jiangxi to the east,
Guangdong to the south,
Guangxi to the southwest,
Guizhou to the west, and
Chongqing to the northwest. The capital is
Changsha.
History
Hunan entered the written history of
China around 350 BC, when under the kings of the
Zhou dynasty it became part of the
State of Chu. Until then Hunan was a land of primeval forests, occupied by the ancestors of the modern
Miao,
Tujia,
Dong and
Yao peoples, but starting at this time and for hundreds of years thereafter it was a magnet for migration of
Han Chinese from the north, who cleared most of the forests and began farming rice in the valleys and plains. To this day, many of the small villages in Hunan are named after the Han families which originally settled there. Migration from the north was especially prevalent during the
Eastern Jin Dynasty and the
Southern and Northern Dynasties Periods, when nomadic invaders overran the north.
During the
Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, Hunan was home to its own independent regime,
Ma Chu.
Hunan, was, together with
Hubei, a part of the province of
Huguang (湖廣) till the
Qing dynasty.
Hunan became an important communications center from its position on the Yangzi River (Changjiang) and on the Imperial Highway constructed between northern and southern China. Its land produced grain so abundantly that it fed many parts of China with its surpluses. The population continued to climb until, by the nineteenth century, Hunan was overcrowded and prone to peasant uprisings.
The
Taiping Rebellion which began to the south in
Guangxi Province in
1850 spread into Hunan and then further eastward along the Yangzi River valley, but ultimately it was a Hunanese army under
Zeng Guofan which marched to
Nanjing and put down the uprising in 1864.
Hunan was relatively quiet until 1910 when there were uprisings against the crumbling Qing dynasty, which were followed by the Communist's
Autumn Harvest Uprising of 1927 led by Hunanese native
Mao Zedong, which established a short-lived
Hunan soviet in 1927. The Communists maintained a guerilla army in the mountains along the Hunan-
Jiangxi border until 1934, when under pressure from the Nationalist (
Kuomintang, KMT) forces they began the famous
Long March to bases in
Shaanxi Province. After the departure of the Communists, the KMT army fought against the Japanese in the
second Sino-Japanese war, defending the capital Changsha until it fell in 1944, when Japan launched
Operation Ichigo to control the railroad from
Wuchang to
Guangzhou (
Yuehan Railway). Hunan was relatively unscathed by the civil war that followed the defeat of the Japanese in 1945, and in 1949 the Communists returned once more as the Nationalists retreated southward.
Being
Mao Zedong's home province, Hunan supported the
Cultural Revolution of 1966-1976, and was slower than most provinces in adopting the reforms implemented by
Deng Xiaoping in the years that followed Mao's death in 1976.
Former Chinese Premier
Zhu Rongji is also Hunanese.
Geography
Hunan Province is located on the south bank of the Yangtze River (Changjiang, 长江), about half way along its length.
Shanghai lies 1000
km away,
Beijing 1200 km away, and
Guangzhou 500 km away.
Hunan is situated between 109°-114° east
longitude and 20°-30° north
latitude. The east, south and west sides of the province are surrounded by mountains and hills, such as the
Wuling Mountains to the northwest, the
Xuefeng Mountains to the west, the
Nanling Mountains to the south, and the
Luoxiao Mountains to the east. The mountains and hills occupy more than 80% of the area and the plain comprises less than 20% of the whole province.
The
Xiangjiang, the
Zijiang, the
Yuanjiang and the
Lishui Rivers converge on the
Yangtze River at
Lake Dongting (Dongting Hu, 洞庭湖) in the north of Hunan. The center and northern parts are somewhat low and a U-shaped basin, open in the north and with Lake Dongting as its center. Most of Hunan Province lies in the basins of four major tributaries of the Yangtze River.
Lake Dongting is the largest lake in the province and the second largest freshwater lake of China. Due to the reclamation of land for agriculture, Lake Dongting has been subdivided into many smaller lakes, though there's now a trend to reverse some of the reclamation, which had damaged
wetland habitats surrounding the lake.
Hunan's climate is
subtropical, with mild winters and plenty of precipitation. January temperatures average 3 to 8
°C while July temperatures average around 27 to 30 °C. Average annual precipitation is 1200 to 1700
mm.
Administrative divisions
Hunan is divided into fourteen
prefecture-level divisions, of which thirteen are
prefecture-level cities and the remaining division an
autonomous prefecture. The prefecture-level cities are:
The autonomous prefecture:
Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture (湘西土家族苗族自治州 Xiāngxī Tǔjiāzú Miáozú Zìzhìzhōu)
The fourteen prefecture-level divisions of Hunan are subdivided into 122 county-level divisions (34 districts, sixteen county-level cities, 65 counties, seven autonomous counties). Those are in turn divided into 2587 township-level divisions (1098 towns, 1158 townships, 98 ethnic townships, 225 subdistricts, and eight district public offices).
See List of administrative divisions of Hunan for a complete list of county-level divisions.
Politics
The Politics of Hunan is structured in a dual party-government system like all other governing institutions in mainland China.
The Governor of Hunan is the highest ranking official in the People's Government of Hunan. However, in the province's dual party-government governing system, the Governor has less power than the Hunan Communist Party of China Provincial Committee Secretary, colloquially termed the "Huanan CPC Party Chief".
Economy
Hunan's traditional crop is rice. The Lake Dongting area is an important center of ramie production, and Hunan is also an important center of tea cultivation.
The Lengshuijiang area is noted for its stibnite mines, and is one of the major centers of antimony extraction in China.
Its nominal GDP for 2006 was 749.3 billion yuan (US$96.8 billion). In 2006, its per capita GDP was 11,830 yuan (US$1,530). (External Link
)
Artistic
The Hunan Province is accredited with being filled with skilled craftsmen and women who create embroidered silks, carved jade and other skillfully hand made artistic goods of international quality.
Demographics
As of the 2000 census, the population of Hunan is 64,400,700 consisting of forty-one ethnic groups. Its population grew 6.17% (3,742,700) from its 1990 levels. According to the census, 89.79% (57,825,400) identified themselves as Han people, 10.21% (6,575,300) as minority groups. The minority groups are Tujia, Miao, Dong, Yao, Hui, Bai, Zhuang, Uyghurs and so on.
List of Chinese ethnic groups
Culture
Xiang is a subdivision of spoken Chinese that originates from Hunan.
Hunan cuisine is noted for its use of chili peppers.
Nü shu is a writing system that was used exclusively among women in Jiangyong County.
Tourism
Shaoshan chong, the village where Mao Zedong was born.
Wulingyuan Scenic and Historic Interest Area (World Heritage Site)
Yueyang Pagoda in Yueyang.
Hengshan in Hengyang.
Zhangjiajie.
Feng Huang.
Hong Jiang.
Miscellaneous topics
Professional sports teams in Hunan include:
Chinese Football Association Jia League
Colleges and universities
Central South University
Changsha University of Science and Technology Official website
Hunan University of Science and Technology
Changsha University
Hunan University
Hunan Normal University Official website in English
Xiangtan University
Jishou University Jishou University website (English)
Yuelu Academy of Classical Learning
Xiangnan University Official websiteFurther Information
Get more info on 'Hunan'.
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