Hunan China

Hunan China covers over 80,000 square miles (more accurately 211,800 km), which makes it the country’s 10th largest province. There are over 66,980,000 inhabitants, making it the nation’s 7th most populous province. The population density ranks 13th with 316 p/sq km. The capital and largest city, Changsha, is located on the Xiang River, which runs from Dongting Lake just over 50 miles (80 km) to the north of Changsha. The name Hunan literally means lake south, or, south of Dongting Lake.

Hunan China Geography

Hunan Province is mostly hills and mountains, which surround the planes next to Dongting Lake in the northeast and extend over most of the province. In the northwest are the Wuling Mountains on the border shared with Hubei. The Xuefeng Mountains are shared with Guizhou to the west. In the south the Nanling Mountains are mostly within the borders with Guanxi and Guangdong. To the east, the Luoxiao Mountains vertically stack horizontal ridges over the border with Jiangxi. The province also borders Sichuan and Hunan provinces.

Hunan China Industry

Hunan’s primary crop is rice. The province remains covered by 34.3% forest, more than double the national average, 13%. Hunan Province is known as the home of nonferrous metals in China and its reserves of antimony are the largest in the world. It has the largest reserves of lead, zinc, wolfram, and bismuth in China.

Hunan China History

Hunan Province first entered the sphere of China’s history during the Zhou Dynasty (1122 BC – 221 BC). Han Chinese began migrating to the region at this time. They cleared many of the forests that had supported this region’s indigenous people until annexation and used the land primarily for rice farming. The Eastern Jin Dynasty (317 AD – 420 AD) and Southern and Northern Dynasties (420 AD – 589 AD) saw a great influx of Han who were fleeing invasions from the north. Until the Qing Dynasty (1644 AD – 1911 AD) the Hunan region was administered as part of the larger Huguang province, which also encompassed Hubei.

A Hunanese army marched to Nanjing and squelched the Taiping Rebellion in 1864. In 1910 uprisings sprouted in Hunan, which helped end the crumbling Qing Dynasty. In 1927 the Communist’s famous Autumn Harvest Uprising was led by a prominent Hunan native, Mao Zedong. The Communist forces remained in the mountains along Hunan’s border with Jiangxi until they were pushed into Shangxi by the Kuomintang in what is known as the Long March. Hunan largely supported its native leader Mao Zedong and all his efforts from the inception of his movement through his death. It even resisted many of the reforms implemented by Deng Xiaoping after Mao’s death.

Hunan Province was also home to Zhu Rongji, Liu Shaoqi, and Hu Yaobang.

Hunan China Demographics

Hunan China is home to many ethnic groups. Han comprise 90% of the population. Tujia constitute 4% and Miao 3%. Dong and Yao each compose 1%. Also present are Hui, Uygur, Zhuang and Bai among others. In a 2,000 census 41 ethnic groups were reported.

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China Provinces