Hunan
Hunan (湖南) is located in the south-central part of China to the south of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting. Hunan is abbreviated as “湘” (Xiāng), after the Xiang River which runs through the province. Hunan borders Hubei in the north, Jiangxi to the east, Guangdong to the southeast, Guangxi to the southwest, Guizhou to the west, and Chongqing to the northwest. The capital is Changsha.
Geography
Hunan covers an area of 211,800 square kilometers. 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 plains comprise less than 20% of the whole province. Lake Dongting is the largest lake in the province and the second largest freshwater lake of China. Hunan’s climate is humid subtropical, with short, cool, damp winters, very hot and humid summers, and plenty of rainfall.
Demographics
Hunan covers 2% of China’s land mass, and 5% of its population, ranking seventh in China with an average population density of 325 per square kilometer. The population is primarily concentrated in the Dongting Plain and the main river valleys. Hunan consists of forty-one ethnic groups. Han people constitute the majority and the rest are from Tujia, Miao, Dong, Yao, Bai, Hui, Zhuang, Uyghur, etc.
Administrative divisions
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 sub districts, and eight district public offices).
Natural Resources
Hunan has an extensive network of rivers. To the north is the Dongting Lake, the second largest freshwater lake in China. It has the largest reserve of natural water resources among the nine provinces of southern China. Its cultivated land, pastureland, and forests total 3.78 million hectares, 6.37 million hectares, and 10.3699 million hectares, respectively. It is rich in both nonferrous and non-metallic minerals. A total of 141 minerals were identified in the province. There are around 9,000 varieties of rice grown in Hunan. Oil crops include camellia seed, rapeseed, sesame, sunflower, cottonseed and castor-oil plant. Economic crops are mainly cotton, jute (red jute) and tobacco.
Agriculture
Rich in natural resources, Hunan has long been known as the granary of China, a Land of Rice and Fish. With only 3% of Chinese farmland, Hunan boasts a high yield of rice, cotton, oranges, pigs, rapeseed plants and aquatic products. Hunan is known for its contribution to agricultural science and technology. Yuan Longping, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, has been working on new generations of super hybrid rice which have made great contributions to world food production.
Economy
Hunan’s traditional crops are rice and cotton. As of the mid 19th century, Hunan exported rhubarb, musk, honey, tobacco, hemp, and birds. 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. 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 2011 was 1.90 trillion yuan. Its per capita GDP was 20,226 yuan.
Foreign Trade
The total volume of Hunan’s imports and exports in 2012 reached 21.941 billion USD, an increase of 15.5% over the previous year. Exports increased by 27.3 % year on year to 12.6 billion USD, while imports rose by 2.7 % to 9.341 billion USD. In terms of product categories, exports of mechanical and electronic products increased by 42.6 % to 5.09 billion USD, accounting for 40.4 % of the provincial total in exports. Exports of high and new-tech products grew by 75.8 % to 1.38 billion USD, making up 11 % of the provincial total in exports. Exports of agricultural products were up 13.6 % to 710 million USD. The actual utilized foreign direct investment in 2012 was 7.28 billion USD, a year-on-year growth of 18.4%.
Industry
The top ten industries of Hunan include tobacco, steel, electricity, chemicals, nonferrous metals, building materials, transportation equipment, agricultural processing, specialized equipment manufacturing and petroleum processing industry. The big companies of Hunan include leading tobacco and cigarette companies like Furong Wang Cigarettes and Baisha Cigarettes and Valin Steel, Sany Heavy Industry, Zoomlion Heavy Industry, Broad Group, etc. Many traditional products of Hunan have become best-sellers in the market, such as nonferrous metal products, fireworks, domestic ceramics, cigarettes, clothing, footwear, woven cotton fabrics, woven linen fabrics, household appliances, hardware tools, etc.
Aviation
Hunan has two international airports (Changsha Huanghua and Zhangjiajie Hehua airports) and three domestic airports (Changde, Yongzhou and Zhijiang airports). Changsha Huanghua International Airport now operates 80 regular air routes and four chartered routes to 56 domestic destinations and to Japan, Thailand, South Korea, Singapore and Vietnam.
Economic and technological development zones
Changsha National Economic and Technical Development Zone
The Changsha National Economic and Technology Development Zone was founded in 1992. It is located east of Changsha. The total planned area is 38.6 sq km. The major industries in the zone include high-tech industry, bio-tech industry and new material industry.
Chenzhou Export Processing Zone
Approved by the State Council, Chenzhou Export processing Zone (CEPZ) was established in 2005 and is the only export processing zone in Hunan province. CEPZ is mandated to focus on developing export-oriented hi-tech industries, including electronic information, precision machinery, and new-type materials.
Zhuzhou National New & Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone
Zhuzhou Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone was founded in 1992. Its total planned area is 35 sq km. The major industries in the zone include biotechnology, food processing and heavy industry.
Culture
Hunan cuisine is known for its use of chili peppers. In recent years, Hunan Satellite Television Channel has become the most-watched regionally produced channel in China for its programs like the ‘Super girl contest’, television cartoon series ‘Blue cat’, etc.
