用英语介绍湖南

Hunan is a province of China, located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting (hence the name Hunan, meaning "south of the lake"). Hunan is sometimes called Xiang for short, after the Xiang River which runs through the province.

Hunan borders Hubei in the north, Jiangxi to the east, Guangdong to the south, Guangxi to the southwest, Guizhou to the west, and Chongqing to the northwest. It’s capital is Changsha.

History

Hunan 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. Until then Hunan

was a land of primeval（[praɪ'mi:vəl]，原始的）forests, occupied by the

ancestors（['ænsistə]，祖先, 祖宗）of the modern Miao, Tujia, Dong and Yao peoples, but starting at this time and for hundreds of years thereafter （此后，

在那之后）it was a magnet（有吸引力的人或物）for migration （[maɪˈgreɪʃən]，

迁移，迁居，迁徙）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 which originally

（[ə'rɪdʒənəli:]，起初，原来）settled there. Migration from the north was

especially prevalent（['prevələnt]，普遍的, 盛行的, 流行的）during the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties Periods, when nomadic

（[nəʊˈmædɪk]，游牧的，流浪的）invaders overran （占领，侵害）the north.

During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, Hunan was home to its own independent regime, Ma Chu.

Hunan, was, together with Hubei, a part of the province of Huguang till the Qing dynasty.

Hunan became an important communications center from its position on the Yangzi River (Changjiang) and on the Imperial（[im'piəriəl]，帝国的, 帝王的）Highway constructed between northern and southern China. Its land produced

grain so abundantly（[əˈbʌndəntlɪ]）that it fed many parts of China with its

surpluses（['sə:pləs]，过剩的）. The population continued to climb until, by the nineteenth century, Hunan was overcrowded and prone （[prəun]）to（倾于）peasant（['pezənt]，农民，农夫）uprisings（起义，暴动）.

The Taiping Rebellion（[ri'beliən]）which began to the south in Guangxi Province in 1850 spread into Hunan and then further eastward along the

Yangzi River valley, but ultimately（[ˈʌltəmɪtli]，最后，最终）it was a Hunanese

army under Zeng Guofan which marched to Nanjing and put down the uprising in 1864.

Hunan was relatively （相对来说）quiet until 1910 when there were uprisings against the crumbling （['krʌmbl]，衰落, 崩溃）Qing dynasty, which were followed by the Communist's（[ˈkɔmjunist]）Autumn Harvest Uprising of 1927

led by Hunanese native Mao Zedong, which established a short-lived Hunan soviet in 1927. The Communists maintained a guerilla army in the mountains along the Hunan-Jiangxi border until 1934, when 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, defending the capital Changsha until it fell in 1944, when Japan launched Operation Ichigo 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, and in 1949 the Communists returned once more as the Nationalists retreated southward.

Being Mao Zedong's home province, Hunan supported the Cultural Revolution of 1966-1976, and 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 （['premiə]，总理，首相）Zhu Rongji is also Hunanese.

Hunan's climate is subtropical（[sʌbˈtrɔpɪkəl]，亚热带的）, with mild winters and plenty of precipitation（[prɪ,sɪpɪ'teɪʃən]，降雨）. January temperatures average

3 to 8°C（degree）while July temperatures average around 27 to 30°C. Average annual precipitation is 1200 to 1700 mm（millimetre）.

Economy