Wulingyuan Scenic Spot near Zhangjiajie
Wǔlíng Yuán (武陵源) near Zhangjiajie city in Hunan province of China, is a natural UNESCO world heritage site. It is an area of spectacular sandstone karst scenery which forms towering pillars of rock; some almost 3000 feet tall. The area is also home to the Tujia ethnic minority with their own unique and distinct culture.
Cities in Hunan
Changsha (长沙) is the capital city of Hunan province in South Central China. It sits beside the Xiang river, which is a tributary of the Yangtze River. The city has been an important trading hub, going back for Qin dynasty and before. It became the provincial capital during the mid 17th century. In the 20th century, the city was the scene of many battles in the war between China and Japan. It was in Changsha that a young Mao Zedong was first introduced to communism.
Tourist Sites in Hunan
Intro to Hunan
Húnán (湖南) province is in central China, south of the Yangtze river. The famous Chinese leader, Mao Zedong, was a native of Hunan. During the 1927, he setup the short-lived Hunan soviet in this region. Hunan remained a communist stronghold until 1934 then they were finally ejected by the Nationalist KMT soldiers causing the communists to undergo the infamous "Long March" to Shaanxi province. The village of Shaoshan, where Mao Zedong was born, is a popular tourist attraction with both Chinese and foreign visitors. Wuyingyuan UNESCO World Heritage Site is also located in Hunan province.
History of Hunan
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.
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.
Culture of 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% (57,825,400) 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.
Xiang 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 billion 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.
Industry of Hunan
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).