HUPEH

Chinese (Wade-Giles) Hu-pei, (Pinyin) Hubei, sheng (province) lying in the heart of China and forming a part of the middle basin of the Yangtze River. Until the reign of the great K'ang-hsi emperor (16611722) of the Ch'ing dynasty, Hupeh and its neighbour Hunan formed a single province, Hukuang. They were then divided and given their present names: Hupeh, meaning, North of the Lakes (of the Yangtze River); and Hunan, South of the Lakes. Hupeh has an area of 71,800 square miles (185,900 square kilometres). Its capital is Wu-han, the composite name of the three cities of Han-k'ou, Han-yang, and Wu-ch'ang, which lie at the confluence of the Han River and the Yangtze at a point approximately 600 miles (1,000 kilometres) from the sea and halfway between Shanghai and Chungking. WadeGiles romanization Hu-pei, Pinyin Hubei, sheng (province) lying in the centre of the People's Republic of China and forming a part of the middle basin of the Yangtze River. It is bounded on the north by the eastern extension of the axis of the Tsinling, T'ung-pai, and Tapieh mountain ranges. In the southeast the Mu-fu Mountains divide the province from Kiangsi. There is no clear physical divide along the central southern border apart from the Yangtze itself. Until the reign of the Great Ch'ing emperor K'ang Hsi (16611722), Hupeh and its neighbour Hunan formed a single province, Hu-kuang. They were then divided and given their present names. Since the mid-19th century, many momentous events have occurred in Hupeh. It was the scene of devastating battles for 10 years following the 1850 Taiping Rebellion. Then certain cities were opened to Western nations as commercial ports and European influence began to increase steadily in central China. The Revolution of 1911, which toppled the Ch'ing (Manchu) dynasty, began in Hupeh. The province was heavily bombed during the Sino-Japanese War of 193745; restoration began in 1949 with the advent of the People's Republic of China. The provincial capital is Wu-han. Almost all of Hupeh Province lies immediately north of the Yangtze River. Western Hupeh has highlands that lie above 6,000 ft (1,830 m) and consist of the eastern extension of two ranges that mark the boundary between Hupeh and Szechwan. The Shih Pao Shan forms the boundary between southwest Hupeh and northwest Hunan. The Yangtze cuts its way from the Szechwan Basin through the Ta-pa Shan in a series of magnificent gorges, and descends rapidly to the Hupeh Plain in I-ch'ang. Hupeh is subject to disastrous flooding, mainly due to enormous rises of the Yangtze. The province's winters, although short, are often rigorous. Summers are long, hot, and so oppressive that on intolerable nights mothers bring their bamboo beds into the streets and sit fanning their children. Most of the population is rural, concentrated around the lake plain and around the Yangtze and lower Han rivers. Villages are small, usually consisting of 10 families or fewer. The urban population is found mainly in Wu-han and in a tri-city complex including Hankow, the commercial and industrial centre; Han-yang, formerly residential but now largely industrialized; and Wu-ch'ang, the administrative, educational, and cultural hub of the province. Hupeh lies in the agricultural transition zone between the wheat-growing north and the rice-growing south. In addition to these two crops, barley, corn (maize), sweet potatoes, millet, beans, and peas are grown. The most important economic crops are cotton, vegetable oils, and fibres. Hupeh's mineral wealth consists mainly of iron, copper, phosphorus, ores, coal, and gypsum. For more than 2,000 years waterways have been the main means of communication in Hupeh. The Yangtze and Han rivers and their tributaries are used by all types of craft. Railway and road networks are continually being developed. Wu-ch'ang has become an important centre for air traffic, second only to Peking. Both cities and towns have undergone great cultural changes. In the cities, not only have museums and libraries been opened, but also large stadiums, sports halls, and swimming pools have been built. Athletics has reached a high international standard. Rural districts now have electricity, which has enabled the opening of stores, libraries, and various community facilities. Area 72,400 sq mi (187,500 sq km). Pop. (1983 est.) 48,010,000. History When China was slowly evolving in the HonanShansi region during the Shang and Chou dynasties (18th to 3rd century BC), Hupeh formed part of the kingdom of Ch'u. It was subjugated by Shih huang-ti (reigned 221210/209 BC), who created the first united empire of China; it was finally assimilated into the Chinese state under the Han dynasty (206 BCAD 220). Hupeh at that time was described by the ancient Chinese historian Ssu-ma Ch'ien as: a large territory, sparsely populated, where people eat rice and drink fish soup; where land is tilled with fire and hoed with water; where people collect fruits and shellfish for food; where people enjoy self-sufficiency without commerce. The place is fertile and suffers no famine and hunger. Hence the people are lazy and poor and do not bother to accumulate wealth. From this time on, the facility of communications afforded by its river system has caused Hupeh to figure prominently in Chinese history. Since the mid-19th century it has been the centre of many momentous events, sometimes to its sorrow. The Taiping Rebellion, led by a Hakka, Hung Hsiu-ch'an, broke out in Kwangsi in 1850, after which the rebel armies moved north, taking Wu-ch'ang in 1853. During the succeeding 10 years the central plains of Hupeh and Hunan were devastated by fighting and banditry. After China's defeat in the second Opium, or Arrow, War of 185660, the Hupeh cities of Han-k'ou, I-ch'ang, and Sha-shih were opened to Western nations as commercial ports. From this time on, European influence in central China steadily increased. Han-k'ou became the head of international oceangoing traffic. In the first 20 years (i.e., until 1880) trade was based almost exclusively on tea, but, with increasing Indian and Ceylonese competition, Han-k'ou became the centre for the collection and processing of other central Chinese raw materials, notably vegetable oils, egg products, and tobacco. Hupeh's industrialization began with the establishment of the Han-yeh-p'ing ironworks in Han-yang by Chang Chih-tung, the governor of the province, who also established a cotton mill in Wu-ch'ang opposite Han-k'ou. The ironworks had a checkered career. At first it enjoyed some government protection and tax exemption but later suffered from internal political unrest and instability, lack of capital, and poor management. Subsequently a Japanese concern gained financial control with a view to securing ore from Hupeh for its ironworks in Japan. The Han-yang works were allowed, even induced, to fall into decay. They were destroyed by bombing during the Sino-Japanese War of 193745 and were restored only after the advent of the Communist government in 1949. The Chinese Revolution of 191112 began in Hupeh. The army in Han-k'ou mutinied, and the soldiers, led by their commander, Li Yan-hung, took the cities of Han-k'ou, Han-yang, and Wu-ch'ang. Yan Shih-k'ai led his northern troops, on behalf of the Emperor, against them and retook Han-k'ou but was unable to cross the Yangtze and eventually retired. This was the only significant fighting during the revolution. The province was ruled by a warlord (tu-chn) from 1916 to 1927, but from 1928 to 1938 there was some attempt at local government of a democratic Western pattern. When Nanking was taken by the Japanese in 1937, Han-k'ou became a temporary headquarters for the Nationalists; after the Nationalist retreat to Chungking in 1938, much of Hupeh came under Japanese control. A period of near chaos after the Japanese defeat in 1945 ended with the establishment of the People's Republic in 1949. Thomas R. Tregear Victor C. Falkenheim The Editors of the Encyclopdia Britannica