People of Hunan

Population composition

The majority of the population is rural. The population is primarily concentrated on the Dongting Plain and in the main river valleys. The great majority of the people are Han (Chinese). In addition, some minority peoples, mainly of four groups—the Hmong (called Miao in China), Tujia, Dong, and Mien (called Yao in China)—live in the western highlands. The way of life and economy of the Miao and the Tujia are similar, and much intermarriage has occurred between them. They live in the northwest, where their economy is based on the cultivation of terraced fields in the foothills and narrow valleys. The Dong inhabit their own autonomous counties in the extreme southwest and west, with their centres at Tongdao and Xinhuang. Their language, economy, and way of life are similar to those of the Han. The Yao are widely scattered over the mountainous regions of the south and west. They practice dry farming and are known for their expertise in cedar tree culture. Much of their livelihood comes from forestry.

The Han of the province speak a Chinese language—Xiang (Hunanese)—that closely approximates Mandarin, especially in the Changsha region. Radio broadcasting has had the effect of slowly reducing differences in local dialects, which can be considerable. The minority languages were unwritten until missionaries devised scripts for some of them, such as the Samuel Pollard script for the Hmong-Mien (Miao-Yao) languages. Since 1949 these scripts have been revised, extended, or replaced by a phonetic script, based on the Latin alphabet, that is akin to the Pinyin script adopted for the Mandarin language of the Han. There is growing literacy among the Miao and Dong peoples. The interweaving of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism, as well as Islam and Christianity, is complicated.

Settlement patterns

Villages are usually small, and it is not unusual for an entire village to belong to one extended family, from which the settlement takes its name. Most of the farms on the plain south of Dongting Lake are built on islands of Yangtze alluvium, protected by dikes from summer flooding.

Three of the largest cities, Changsha, Xiangtan, and Zhuzhou, lie close together at the intersection of road, rail, and river communications along the Xiang River. Other large cities include Hengyang, the economic and communications centre of southern Hunan, and Changde, the marketing centre for the Yuan River basin.

Agriculture, forestry, and fishing

Although mining and industry have been developed since 1949, Hunan’s economy remains mostly agricultural. Hunan ranks first among China’s provinces in rice production. Most of Hunan’s arable land is farmed using modern techniques, including mechanized irrigation and chemical fertilization. Most farms are small, however, and mechanization has been confined to the use of simple machines and tools, such as rice transplanters, foot-operated rice-threshing machines, and a tube water raiser that is replacing the old wooden trough and paddles.

Hunan consistently ranks first nationally in rice output and exports a large surplus to other provinces. It is estimated that most of the province’s cultivable land is devoted to paddies (wet-rice fields), a great many of which in the south produce two crops of rice per year and demand careful cultivation. The first crop is planted at the end of April and harvested at the end of July; the second crop is harvested in November. Autumn is the most difficult period, as decreasing rainfall and increasing evaporation necessitate continuous irrigation. With improved irrigation, a decreasing amount of rice is grown on fields where the crop relies totally on rainfall. Introduction of hybrid rice varieties has further increased production. Other food crops include sweet potatoes, corn (maize), barley, potatoes, kaoliang (a variety of grain sorghum), buckwheat, garden peas, millet, and horsebeans.

Among the industrial crops, rape—an herb grown for its seeds—is cultivated mainly in the upper valleys of the Xuefeng Mountains, while ramie (a shrub that yields a fibre used in textile manufacture), cotton, and jute are produced around Dongting Lake. Red and black tea are grown on the foothills of the Xuefeng Mountains and on Mount Mufu on the eastern border. Peanut (groundnut) cultivation is widespread, and tung trees and tea seed shrubs are grown for their oils in the western and southern highlands. A variety of fruits is grown throughout the province, including citrus, pears, peaches, and chestnuts.

During the early 20th century, heavy and wasteful cutting of Hunan’s timber reserves occurred. Since then, stricter control of cutting has been enforced, and some reforestation has been carried out. Fish are taken in large quantities from lakes, rivers, and village ponds. The most common varieties are carp, silver carp, and “silver fish.” The full exploitation of fishpond culture was developed in the early 1970s. Cattle, including water buffalo, are used almost exclusively for draft purposes. Hogs are concentrated mainly in the central and eastern areas, where the population is densest. The swine industry is a significant source of rural cash income.

Resources and power

Hunan’s considerable mineral wealth includes ample coal reserves; iron ore, tin, and manganese deposits; rich deposits of antimony; and lead, zinc, tungsten, molybdenum, bismuth, niobium, and tantalum. The main coal measures are located in the south. Coal was little developed before 1949, but production rose substantially as a result of the opening of large mines north of Chenzhou in the extreme south. These mines serve the ironworks and steelworks at Wuhan in Hubei. Iron ore is widely distributed, and there is a long-established local industry that produces iron cookware. The main iron mines are located in the hills east and south of Changsha and Xiangtan. Antimony production is centred near Lengshuijiang, northwest of Shaoyang. Hunan is one of China’s largest producers of tungsten; it is chiefly mined in the hills between the Zi and Yuan rivers around Yuanling.

Coal is used in large thermal-generating plants in Hunan’s major cities. However, some two-fifths of the province’s electric power is produced by hydroelectric stations, most of them of small and medium size. The Wuqiangxi station on the Yuan River near Yuanling, the Fengtan station on one of the tributaries of the Yuan, and the Dongjiang station on the Lei River (a tributary of the Xiang) are some of the larger ones.