- Hunan Province

Population: 57 million

Urban population: 18.8 million

Nationalities: Han, Tujia, Miao, Dong, Yao, Hui, Uygur, and Zhuang.

Area: 210,000 square kilometers

Climatic features: Subtropical, humid, monsoonal climate; short winters with low temperatures in the south and the northwestern mountains; frequent rainstorms between spring and summer; droughts from summer to autumn.

Average temperature: 4 - 8 C. in January, 26 - 30 C. in July.

Annual Average Rainfall: 1,250 - 1,750 mm; high precipitation on the seaward side of mountains; 40 percent of the rain falls from Appril to June.

Physical features: Mountains and hills cover 80 percent of the province; a small plain surrounds Dongting Lake in the central north.

Mountains: Wuling Mountains in the northwest; Xuefeng Mountains in the central west; Luoxiao Mountains in the east; Nanling Mountains in the south.

Rivers: Xiangjiang, Yuangjiang, Zishui, and Lishui Rivers; the Yangtze River touches the border near Dongting Lake.

Lakes: Dongting and Datong Lakes

Products: Rice, wheat, potatoes, corn, sorghum, millet, rapeseed, soybeans, peanuts, sugar cane, sesame, tea; cotton, ramie, silk cocoons; flue-cured tobacco; tung oil, tea oil; lotus seeds, yangtao, oranges, lily; timber; pork goose; antimony, lead, zinc, and other non-ferrous and rare metals.

Administrative divisions: 1 autonomous prefecture, 24 cities, 74 counties, and 6 autonomous counties.

Capital: Changsha

Neighboring Areas: Jiangxi, Guangdong, Guizhou, Sichuan, and Hunan Provinces; Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Major Cities: Changsha, Zhuzhou, Hengyang, Xiangtan, Shaoyang, Lengshuijiang.

Tourist Attractions: Mount Hengshan, 1,290 meters high, is one of the Five Mountains in eastern China; Dongting Lake, once the biggest fresh water lake in China, has an area of 2,820 sq. km.

Source: Atlas of the Peoples Republic of China, Beijing, 1989.

Last modified: Tuesday, December 16, 2003