Hubei

Not to be confused with the unrelated province of Hebei.

湖北省 Húběi Shěng
Abbreviations: 鄂 (Pinyin: È)
Origin of name	湖 hú - lake 北 běi - north "north of Lake Dongting"
Administration type	Province
Capital (and largest city)	Wuhan
CPC Ctte Secretary	Yu Zhengsheng
Governor	Luo Qingquan
Area	185,900 km² (14th)
Population (2004)  - Density	60,160,000 (9th) 324/km² (12th)
GDP (2004)  - per capita	CNY 631.0 billion (10th) CNY 10,500 (15th)
HDI (2005)	0.755 (medium) (15th)
Major nationalities	Han - 95.6% Tujia - 3.7% Miao - 0.4%
Prefecture-level	13 divisions
County-level	102 divisions
Township-level†	1235 divisions
ISO 3166-2	CN-42
Official website http://www.hubei.gov.cn (Simplified Chinese)
Source for population and GDP data: 《中国统计年鉴—2005》 China Statistical Yearbook 2005 ISBN 7503747382 Source for nationalities data: 《2000年人口普查中国民族人口资料》 Tabulation on nationalities of 2000 population census of China ISBN 7105054255 † As at December 31, 2004

(Chinese: 湖北; pinyin: Húběi; Wade-Giles: Hu-pei; Postal map spelling: Hupeh) is a central province of the People's Republic of China. Its abbreviation is 鄂 (pinyin: È), an ancient name associated with the eastern part of the province since the Qin Dynasty. The name Hubei means "north of the lake", referring to Hubei's position north of Dongting Lake. The capital city of Hubei is Wuhan.

Hubei borders Henan to the north, Anhui to the east, Jiangxi to the southeast, Hunan to the south, Chongqing to the west, and Shaanxi to the northwest. The high-profile Three Gorges Dam is located in Yichang in western Hubei, as is the Three Gorges University.

A popular unofficial name for Hubei is Chu (Chinese: 楚; pinyin: Chǔ), after the powerful state of Chu that existed here during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.

History

By the Spring and Autumn Period (770 B.C.E.-476 B.C.E.), Hubei was home to the powerful state of Chu. Chu was nominally a tributary state of the Zhou Dynasty, and it was itself an extension of the Chinese civilization that had emerged some centuries before in the north. However, it was also culturally unique, and was a powerful state that held onto much of the middle and lower Yangtze River, with power extending northwards into the North China Plain.

During the Warring States Period (475 B.C.E.-221 B.C.E.) Chu became the major adversary of the upstart state of Qin to the northwest (in what is now Shaanxi province), which began to assert itself through outward expansionism. As wars between Qin and Chu ensued, Chu lost more and more land. First, its dominance over the Sichuan Basin was diminished, then, (in 278 B.C.E.) its heartland, which corresponds to modern Hubei, was affected. In 223 B.C.E. Qin chased down the remnants of the Chu regime, which had fled eastwards, as part of Qin's bid for the conquest of all China.

Qin founded the Qin Dynasty in 221 B.C.E., the first unified state in China. Qin was later succeeded by the Han Dynasty in 206 B.C.E., which established the province (zhou) of Jingzhou in what is now Hubei and Hunan. Near the end of the Han Dynasty in the beginning of the 3rd century, Jingzhou was ruled by regional warlord Liu Biao. After his death, Liu Biao's realm was surrendered by his successors to Cao Cao, another powerful warlord who had conquered nearly all of north China. In the Battle of Red Cliffs, warlords Liu Bei and Sun Quan drove Cao Cao out of Jingzhou, allowing Liu Bei to take full control of Jingzhou. He then went on to conquer Yizhou (the Sichuan Basin), but lost Jingzhou to Sun Quan, and for the next few decades Jingzhou was controlled by the Wu Kingdom, ruled over by Sun Quan and his successors.

The incursion of northern nomadic peoples into northern China at the beginning of the 4th century began nearly three centuries of the division of China into a nomad-ruled (but increasingly Sinicized) north and a Han Chinese-ruled south. Hubei, which is in southern China, remained under southern rule for this entire period, until the reunification of China by the Sui Dynasty in 589. In 617, the Tang Dynasty replaced Sui, and later on the Tang Dynasty placed what is now Hubei under several circuits: Jiangnanxi Circuit in the south; Shannandong Circuit in the west, and Huainan Circuit in the east. After the Tang Dynasty disintegrated in the 10th century, Hubei came under the control of several regional regimes: Jingnan in the center, Wu (later Southern Tang) to the east, and the Five Dynasties to the north.

In 982, the Song Dynasty reunified China and placed most of Hubei into Jinghubei Circuit, a longer version of Hubei's current name. Mongols conquered China fully in 1279, and under their rule the province of Huguang was established, covering Hubei, Hunan, and parts of Guangdong and Guangxi. During the Mongol rule, in 1334, Hubei was devastated by the world's first recorded outbreak of the Black Death, which spread during the following three centuries to decimate populations throughout Eurasia.

The Ming Dynasty drove out the Mongols in 1368, and their version of Huguang province was smaller, and corresponded almost entirely to the modern provinces of Hubei and Hunan combined. The Manchu Qing Dynasty which had conquered China in 1644 split Huguang into the modern provinces of Hubei and Hunan in 1664. The Qing Dynasty continued to maintain a viceroy of Huguang, and one of the most famous was Zhang Zhidong, whose modernizing reforms made Hubei (especially Wuhan) into a prosperous center of commerce and industry.

In 1911, the Wuchang Uprising took place in modern-day Wuhan, overthrowing the Qing Dynasty and establishing the Republic of China. In 1927 Wuhan became the seat of a government established by left-wing elements of the Kuomintang, led by Wang Jingwei. This government was later merged into Chiang Kai-shek's government in Nanjing. During World War II, the eastern parts of Hubei were conquered and occupied by Japan, while the western parts remained under Chinese control.

After the defeat of the Japanese in 1945, China was embroiled in civil war until 1949, when Hubei came under the control of the Chinese communists. It played a major role in the establishment of the People's Republic of China, with countless revolutionaries from Hubei shedding their blood for the founding of the new country. The city of Hong'an in particular is known as the hometown of more than 200 generals, and in Yangxin, over 200 thousand revolutionaries sacrificed their lives for the Chinese revolution under the CCP. The city of Honghu was also an important base for the Chinese communist party in Hunan and west Hubei.

Since the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Hubei has become an important site for economic development in China. The construction of the Three Gorges Dam over the Yangtze River began in 1993 near Yichang, and symbolizes this shift towards economic development in the province. However, in the following years, authorities resettled millions of people from western Hubei, to make way for the construction of the dam.

Geography

The Jianghan Plain takes up most of central and eastern Hubei, while the west and the peripheries are more mountainous, with ranges such as the Wudang Mountains, the Jingshan Mountains, the Daba Mountains, and the Wushan Mountains (roughly in north-to-south order). The Dabie Mountains lie to the northeast, on the border with Henan and Anhui; the Tongbai Mountains lie to the north on the border with Henan; to the southeast the Mufu Mountains form the border with Jiangxi. The eastern half of the Three Gorges (Xiling Gorge and part of Wu Gorge) lies in western Hubei; the other half is in neighbouring Chongqing. The highest peak in Hubei is Shennong Peak, found in the Daba Mountains and in the forested area of Shennongjia; it has an altitude of 3105 m.

The Yangtze River enters Hubei from the west via the Three Gorges, and the Hanshui enters from the northwest. These two rivers meet at Wuhan, the provincial capital. Thousands of lakes dot the landscape, giving Hubei the name "Province of Lakes". The largest of these lakes are Lake Liangzi and Lake Honghu. The Danjiangkou Reservoir lies on the border between Hubei and Henan.

Hubei has a subtropical climate with distinct seasons. Hubei has average temperatures of 1 - 6 °C in winter and of 24 - 30 °C in summer; punishing temperatures of 40 °C or above are famously associated with Wuhan, the provincial capital.

Major Cities:

• Wuhan
• Jingmen
• Shiyan
• Shashi

Major Rivers and Lakes:

• Hanshui River
• Lake Liangzi
• Lake Honghu

Administrative divisions

Hubei is divided into thirteen prefecture-level divisions (of which there are twelve prefecture-level cities and one autonomous prefecture), as well as three directly administered county-level cities and one directly administered county-level forestry area.

The semi-province-level city:

• Wuhan (Simplified Chinese: 武汉市; Hanyu pinyin: Wǔhàn Shì)

The prefecture-level cities:

• Ezhou (鄂州市 Èzhōu Shì)
• Huanggang (黄冈市 Huánggāng Shì)
• Huangshi (黄石市 Huángshí Shì)
• Jingmen (荆门市 Jīngmén Shì)
• Jingzhou (荆州市 Jīngzhōu Shì)
• Shiyan (十堰市 Shíyàn Shì)
• Suizhou (随州市 Suízhōu Shì)
• Xiangfan (襄樊市 Xiāngfán Shì)
• Xianning (咸宁市 Xiánníng Shì)
• Xiaogan (孝感市 Xiàogǎn Shì)
• Yichang (宜昌市 Yíchāng Shì)

The autonomous prefecture:

• Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture (恩施土家族苗族自治州 Ēnshī Tǔjiāzú Miáozú Zìzhìzhōu)

The three directly administered county-level cities are more accurately described as sub-prefecture-level cities:

• Tianmen (天门市 Tiānmén Shì)
• Qianjiang (潜江市 Qiánjiāng Shì)
• Xiantao (仙桃市 Xiāntáo Shì)

The county-level forestry area:

• Shennongjia (神农架林区 Shénnóngjià Línqū)

The thirteen prefecture-level divisions and four directly administered county-level divisions of Hubei are subdivided into 102 county-level divisions (38 districts, 24 county-level cities, 37 counties, two autonomous counties, one forestry area; the directly administered county-level divisions are included here). Those are in turn divided into 1234 township-level divisions (737 towns, 215 townships, nine ethnic townships, and 273 subdistricts).

See List of administrative divisions of Hubei for a complete list of county-level divisions.

Economy

Hubei is often called the "Land of Fish and Rice". Important agricultural products include cotton, rice, wheat, and tea, while industries include automobiles, metallurgy, machinery, power generation, textiles, foodstuffs and high-tech commodities.

Mineral resources that can be found in Hubei in significant quantities include borax, hongshiite, wollastonite, garnet, marlstone, iron, phosphorus, copper, gypsum, rutile, rock salt, gold amalgam, manganese and vanadium. The province's recoverable reserves of coal stand at 548 million tons, which is modest compared to other Chinese provinces.

Once completed, the Three Gorges Dam in western Hubei will provide plentiful hydroelectricity, with an estimated annual power production of 84,700 Gwh. Existing hydroelectric stations include Gezhouba, Danjiangkou, Geheyan, Hanjiang, Duhe, Huanglongtan, Bailianhe, Lushui and Fushui.

Hubei's economy ranks 10th in the country and its nominal GDP for 2004 was 631.0 billion yuan (78.28 billion USD) and a per capita of 9000 RMB (1087 USD).

Demographics

The population of Hubei is much more homogenous than other provinces of China. Han Chinese form the dominant ethnic group, but a considerable Miao and Tujia population lives in the southwestern part of the province, especially in Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture.

Culture

People in Hubei speak Mandarin dialects, and most of these dialects are classified as Southwestern Mandarin dialects, a group that encompasses the Mandarin dialects of most of southwestern China.

Perhaps the most celebrated element of Hubei cuisine is the Wuchang fish, a freshwater bream that is commonly steamed.

Types of traditional Chinese opera popular in Hubei include Hanju and Chuju.

The Shennongjia area is the alleged home of the Yeren, a wild undiscovered hominid that lives in the forested hills.

The people of Hubei are given the uncomplimentary nickname "Nine Headed Birds" by other Chinese, from a mythological creature said to be very aggressive and hard to kill. "In the sky live nine-headed birds. On the earth live cunning Hubei people."

Wuhan is one of the major culture centers in China.

The premier Wuhan University (founded in 1893) and many other institutions in Wuhan makes it a hub of higher education and research in China.

Tourism

Hubei is home to the ancient state of Chu, a local state during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty that developed its own unique culture. Chu (Hubei) culture mixed with other influences, ancient and modern, endows Hubei richly with tourist resources. Famous attractions include:

• Jingzhou City
• Mount Jiugong
• Mount Wudang
• Three Gorges
• Yellow Crane Tower in Wuhan

In 1994, the ancient building complex of the Wudang Mountains was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

Transportation

Hubei plays an important role in China's transportation industry. Situated on the Yangtze and Hanshui Rivers, which are important waterways, Hubei also enjoys the convenience of railways linking Beijing to Guangzhou, Beijing to Kowloon, Shanghai to Wuhan, Wuhan to Chengdu, and Zhicheng to Liuzhou. Hubei also has several airports, located at Wuhan, Yichang, Sanxia, Xiangfan and Shashi. National and provincial highways are fairly well developed, demonstrating Hubei's strong level of economic development.

Miscellaneous topics

Professional sports teams in Hubei include:

• Chinese Football Association Super League
  • Wuhan Huanghelou
• Chinese Basketball Association
  • None

External links

• Official site, in English
• Large map of Hubei
• UNESCAP
• People's Daily
• Hubei Travel Guide
• Overview of Hubei
• A trip to Lake Liangzi
• The Ancient Building Complex in the Wudang Mountains at the Unesco World Heritage List

Prefecture-level divisions of Hubei Sub-provincial cities: Wuhan Prefecture-level cities: Ezhou | Huanggang | Huangshi | Jingmen | Jingzhou Shiyan | Suizhou | Xiangfan | Xianning | Xiaogan | Yichang Autonomous prefecture: Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture Sub-prefecture-level cities: Xiantao | Qianjiang | Tianmen

List of Hubei County-level divisions

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