Hunan

Fenghuang, a traditional town of Hunan

Hunan's primeval forests were first occupied by the ancestors of the modern Miao, Tujia, Dong and Yao peoples. The province entered written Chinese history around 350 BC, when under the kings of the Zhou dynasty, the province became part of the State of Chu. After Qin conquered the Chu heartland in 278 BC, the region came under the control of Qin, and then the Changsha Kingdom during the Han dynasty. At this time, and for hundreds of years thereafter, the province was a magnet for settlement of Han Chinese from the north, who displaced and assimilated the original indigenous inhabitants, cleared forests and began farming rice in the valleys and plains.[9] The agricultural colonization of the lowlands was carried out in part by the Han empire, which managed river dikes to protect farmland from floods.[10] 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 Northern and Southern 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 until the Qing dynasty. Hunan province was created in 1664 from Huguang, renamed to its current name in 1723.

Hunan became an important communications center due to its position on the Yangzi River. It was an important centre of scholarly activity and Confucian thought, particularly in the Yuelu Academy in Changsha. 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. Some of the uprisings, such as the ten-year Miao Rebellion of 1795–1806, were caused by ethnic tensions. The Taiping Rebellion began in 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.

Japanese invading soldiers firing across the Miluo River during the Battle of Changsha of the WWII in Asia

In 1920, a famine raged throughout Hunan and killed an estimated 2 million Hunanese civilians.[11] This sparked the 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 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 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.

In addition to Mao Zedong, a number of other first-generation communist leaders were also from Hunan: President Liu Shaoqi; Secretary-generals Ren Bishi and Hu Yaobang; Marshals Peng Dehuai, He Long, and Luo Ronghuan; Wang Zhen, one of the Eight Elders; Xiang Jingyu, the first female member of the party's central committee; Senior General Huang Kecheng; and veteran diplomat Lin Boqu. An example of a more recent leader from Hunan is former Premier Zhu Rongji.

Hunan is located on the south bank of the Yangtze River, about half way along its length, situated between 108° 47'–114° 16' east longitude and 24° 37'–30° 08' north latitude. Hunan covers an area of 211,800 square kilometres (81,800 square miles), making it the 10th largest provincial-level division. 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. Mountains and hills occupy more than 80% of the province, and plains less than 20%. At 2115.2 meters above sea level, the highest point in Hunan province is Lingfeng (酃峰).[12][13][14]

The Xiang, the Zi, the Yuan and the Lishui Rivers converge on the Yangtze River at Lake Dongting 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 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.

The Xiaoxiang area and Lake Dongting figure prominently in Chinese poetry and paintings, particularly during the Song dynasty when they were associated with officials who had been unjustly dismissed.[15]

Changsha (which means "long sands") was an active ceramics district during the Tang dynasty, its tea bowls, ewers and other products mass-produced and shipped to China's coastal cities for export abroad. An Arab dhow dated to the 830s and today known as the Belitung Shipwreck was discovered off the small island of Belitung, Indonesia with more than 60,000 pieces in its cargo. The salvaged cargo is today housed in nearby Singapore.

Hunan's climate is subtropical, and, under the Köppen climate classification, is classified as being humid subtropical (Köppen Cfa), with short, cool, damp winters, very hot and humid summers, and plenty of rainfall. January temperatures average 3 to 8 °C (37 to 46 °F) while July temperatures average around 27 to 30 °C (81 to 86 °F). Average annual precipitation is 1,200 to 1,700 millimetres (47 to 67 in). The Furongian Epoch in the Cambrian Period of geological time is named for Hunan; Furong (芙蓉) means "lotus" in Mandarin and refers to Hunan which is known as the "lotus state".[16]

Hunan is divided into fourteen prefecture-level divisions: thirteen prefecture-level cities and an autonomous prefecture:

Administrative divisions of Hunan
Changsha Zhuzhou Xiangtan Hengyang Shaoyang Yueyang Changde Zhangjiajie Yiyang Chenzhou Yongzhou Huaihua Loudi Xiangxi Aut. Prefecture
Division code[17]	Division	Area in km2[18]	Population 2010[19]	Seat	Divisions[20]
					Districts	Counties	Aut. counties	CL cities
430000	Hunan Province	210000.00	65,683,722	Changsha city	36	61	7	18
430100	Changsha city	11,819.46	7,044,118	Yuelu District	6	1		2
430200	Zhuzhou city	11,262.20	3,855,609	Tianyuan District	5	3		1
430300	Xiangtan city	5,006.46	2,748,552	Yuetang District	2	1		2
430400	Hengyang city	15,302.78	7,141,462	Zhengxiang District	5	5		2
430500	Shaoyang city	20,829.63	7,071,826	Daxiang District	3	6	1	2
430600	Yueyang city	14,897.88	5,477,911	Yueyanglou District	3	4		2
430700	Changde city	18,177.18	5,747,218	Wuling District	2	6		1
430800	Zhangjiajie city	9,516.03	1,476,521	Yongding District	2	2
430900	Yiyang city	12,325.16	4,313,084	Heshan District	2	3		1
431000	Chenzhou city	19,317.33	4,581,778	Beihu District	2	8		1
431100	Yongzhou city	22,255.31	5,180,235	Lengshuitan District	2	8	1
431200	Huaihua city	27,562.72	4,741,948	Hecheng District	1	5	5	1
431300	Loudi city	8,107.61	3,785,627	Louxing District	1	2		2
433100	Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture	15,462.30	2,547,833	Jishou city		7		1

The fourteen prefecture-level divisions of Hunan are subdivided into 122 county-level divisions (35 districts, 17 county-level cities, 63 counties, 7 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). At the year end of 2017, the total population is 68.6 million.

Young Mao Zedong statue in Changsha

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".

As of the mid 19th century, Hunan exported rhubarb, musk, honey, tobacco, hemp, and birds.[22] The Lake Dongting area is an important center of ramie production, and Hunan is also an important center of tea cultivation. Aside from agricultural products, in recent years Hunan has grown to become an important center for steel, machinery and electronics production, especially as China's manufacturing sector moves away from coastal provinces such as Guangdong and Zhejiang.[23]

The Lengshuijiang area is noted for its stibnite mines, and is one of the major centers of antimony extraction in China.

Hunan is also well known for a few global makers of construction equipment such as concrete pumps, cranes, etc. These companies include Sany Group, Zoomlion and Sunward. Sany is one of the world's major players. The city of Liuyang is the world's top center for manufacturing fireworks.[24]

As of 2016, its nominal GDP was US$475 billion (CNY 3.16 trillion), the per capita GDP was US$6,983 (CNY 46,382).[25]

Ethnic minority-inhabited areas in Hunan

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% (57,540,000) identified themselves as Han Chinese and 10.21% (6,575,300) as minority groups. The minority groups are Tujia, Miao, Dong, Yao, Bai, Hui, Zhuang, Uyghurs and so on.

In Hunan, ethnic minority languages are spoken in the following prefectures.

• Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture: Qo Xiong language, Tujia language
• Huaihua: Qo Xiong language, Dong language, Hm Nai language, Hmu language
• Shaoyang: Maojia language, Hm Nai language, Pa-Hng language
• Yongzhou: Mien language, Biao Min language
• Chenzhou: Dzao Min language

Hunan's culture industry generated 87 billion yuan (US$11.76 billion) in economic value in 2007,[51] and is major contributor to the province's economic growth. The industry accounts for 7.5 percent of the region's GDP.

Language

Xiang Chinese (湘语) is the eponymous variety of Chinese spoken in Hunan. In addition to Xiang Chinese, there are also other dialects and languages present, such as Southwestern Mandarin, Hakka, Waxiang, and Xiangnan Tuhua. Nü shu, a writing system for Xiangnan Tuhua, is used exclusively among women in Jiangyong County and neighboring areas in southern Hunan.

Yongfeng chili sauce

Located in the south central part of the Chinese mainland, Hunan has long been known for its natural environment. It is surrounded by mountains on the east, west, and south, and by the Yangtze River on the north. For thousands of years, the region has been a major center of agriculture, growing rice, tea, and oranges. China's first all glass suspension bridge was also opened in Hunan, in Shiniuzhai National Geological Park.[53]

• Wulingyuan is a World Heritage Site and a 5A Scenic Area. Located in south-central Hunan, Wulingyuan is noted for its thousands of quartzite sandstone pillars, caves, and waterfalls. The area also contains Zhangjiajie National Forest Park.
• Shaoshan County, known for being the birthplace of Mao Zedong
• Yueyang Tower, on the shores of Lake Dongting, was built in the Han and Jin dynasties, and has existed in its current state since the Qing Dynasty. Alongside the Pavilion of Prince Teng and Yellow Crane Tower, it is one of the Three Great Towers of Jiangnan.
• Mount Heng, in Hengyang, is one of the Five Great Mountains of China, and is home to the largest temple in southern China.
• Fenghuang County, in Xiangxi Prefecture, has been placed on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List for its ancient town. Fenghuang is known for its incorporation of mountain features and water flow into city design, and the ancient syncretism between the local Han and Miao cultures.[54]

Panoramic view of Mount Heng

Yiyang Olympic Stadium

Professional sports teams in Hunan include:

• Chinese Football Association League One
  • Hunan Billows F.C.

• Major national historical and cultural sites in Hunan
• Xiaoxiang, the "lakes and rivers" region of south-central China
• State of Chu, ancient Chinese state partly in modern-day Hunan

Look up Hunan in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Hunan travel guide from Wikivoyage
• Hunan Government website
• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Hu-nan" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
• Economic profile for Hunan at HKTDC
• "History of Hunanese", the first book on the history of Hunanese(Phoelanese) civilization and nation from the perspective of we the hunanese (phoelanese) people.