Farming in Hunan and Hubei

During the political upheavals in northern China between the 8th and 11th centuries, the fertile fields of Hunan had begun to lure millions of people to the province in search of a more peaceful life, farming and developing the land. Hunan is famous for being the birthplace of Mao Zedong, as well as for its cuisine, which is as fiery as that of Sichuan.

As early as 770bce, the province of Hubei was home to the powerful state of Chu, a culturally unique tributary state of the Zhou Dynasty. It claimed much of the middle and lower Yangtze River area, which was a rich agricultural region with an abundance of small farms on the land. Because of the landlocked topography of the region, its borders have remained relatively constant for the past 500 years. The construction of the Three Gorges Dam over the Yangtze River in 1993 brought the Hubei province into world prominence, with some controversy over the treatment of people who were displaced by the dam, as well as the environmental impact of this massive project.