Location

Hunan Province lies in the south of the middle Yangtze River valley, with its name meaning "south of the lake" because most of the province is located on the south of the Dongting Lake. Situated 108'47"-114'13" east longitude and 24'38"-30'08" north latitude, it has an area of 210,000 square kilometers.

Survey

Hunan Province, known as Xiang for short, is located at the south bank of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, with Changsha as its provincial capital. According to archaeological finds and recorded history, there were human beings living in this area more than 8,000 years ago. Hunan Province was officially set up in 1664 during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Hunan is known as the land of fish and rice because of plentiful production of rice, cotton, tung oil, orange, and fresh water fishes. It is also noted as the home for rich mineral resources.
It is divided into 1 autonomous prefecture, 13 prefecture-level cities, 16 county-level cities, 65 counties and 7 autonomous counties, with a population of 64.40 million by 2000, mainly including ethnic groups of Han, Tu, Miao, Hui, Dong, Yao, Hui, Uygur, and Zhuang, etc. Xiang Cuisine (Hunan Cuisine) is one of the Eight Great Cuisines in China. Famous dishes include Dong'an Chicken, Peppery and Hot Chicken (Hot and Spicy Chicken), Orange Beef, Sweet and Sour Chicken, and Crispy Duck, etc.

Transport

 Because Hunan lies in the center of China, the transportation in this region by air, by land, and by car are much developed, It is in the middle of one main railway - Beijing -Guangzhou. Therefore, transportation is not a problem for passengers who travel in Hunan.

Sightseeing

Hunan Province is famous for its picturesque scenery. There are places of historic interest and scenic beauty, such as Yuelu Mountain, Hengshan Mountain, Jiuyi Mountain, the Yueyang Tower, the Dongting Lake and Wulingyuan Scenic and Historic Interest Area. In 1982, China established its first national forest park. Zhangjaijie National Forest Park was established in a particular scenic area in northwest Hunan. The park is especially known for its quartz-sandstone rock formations, bare stone sculpted by nature and set among green trees and frequent clouds.

 
 
 
Highlights

. Hunan is the hometown of Mao Zedong, the founder of the People's Republic of China

. Zhangjiajie is a very famous place of natural scenery of world heritage

. Hunan Cuisine is one of the eight major Chinese food representatives