() is a
province of
China, located to the south of 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's primeval
forests were first occupied by the ancestors of the modern
Miao,
Tujia,
Dong and
Yao peoples. It 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. 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 who settled there. Migration from the north was especially prevalent during the
Eastern Jin Dynasty and the
Southern and Northern Dynasties Periods, when nomadic invaders pushed these peoples south.
During the
Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, Hunan was home to its own independent regime,
Ma Chu.
Hunan and
Hubei became a part of the province of
Huguang (湖廣) until the
Qing dynasty.
Western Han painting on
silk was found draped over the coffin in the grave of Lady Dai (c. 168 BC) at
Mawangdui near Changsha in Hunan province.
Hunan became an important communications center due to its position on the Yangzi River (Changjiang). It was also on the
Imperial Highway constructed between northern and southern China. The 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 became overcrowded and prone to
peasant uprisings.
The
Taiping Rebellion began to the south in
Guangxi Province in 1850. The rebellion spread into Hunan and then further eastward along the Yangzi River valley. Ultimately, it was a Hunanese army under
Zeng Guofan who marched into
Nanjing to 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. It was led by Hunanese native
Mao Zedong, and established a short-lived
Hunan soviet in 1927. The Communists maintained a guerrilla army in the mountains along the Hunan-
Jiangxi border until 1934. 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. They defended the capital
Changsha until it fell in 1944. Japan launched
Operation Ichigo, a plan 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. In 1949, the Communists returned once more as the Nationalists retreated southward.
As
Mao Zedong's home province, Hunan supported the
Cultural Revolution of 1966-1976. However it 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 is 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 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 "Hunan
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 2008 was 1.12 trillion yuan (US$160 billion). Its per capita GDP was 17,521 yuan (US$2,523).
- Changsha National Economic and Technical Development Zone
- Changsha National New & Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone
- Zhuzhou National New & Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone
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.
Culture
Wulingyuan
Zhangjiajie
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.
Hunan's culture industry generated 87 billion yuan (US$11.76 billion) in economic value in 2007, a major contributor to the province's economic growth. The industry accounts for 7.5 percent of the region's GDP - 0.9 percentage points higher than the previous year.
In recent years, Hunan's cultural exports to the rest of China have been making a big impact. For instance, the
Supergirl contest – a Chinese version of
Pop Idol – was a significant and ground-breaking achievement for Chinese television. It included live broadcast, voting by mobile phones, and featured quirky and atypical characters. Another television export has been the television cartoon series
Blue Cat.
The gross profit for the
Supergirl contest in 2005, for example, was 17.79 million yuan (US$ 2.48 million). As a result of programs like Supergirl, Golden Eagle Broadcasting System's Hunan satellite television channel has become the most-watched regionally-produced channel in China, with over 5.6 million viewers. According to Golden Eagle, its programming also airs in the US, Japan, and Europe.
The local government started developing its cultural industry earlier than other cities, which is the main reason why they are ahead. There is a mature entertainment chain and standardized management in Hunan`s cultural industry. A prime example of this is Golden Eagle Broadcasting System.
Tourism
Education
See
List of universities and colleges in Hunan Sports
Professional sports teams in Hunan include:
