The birthplace of modern industry in China

Population: 57,752,557 (2020)

Area: 185,900 square kilometers

Location: Hubei province lies in the middle reach of the Yangtze River. The province borders Chongqing and Anhui to the west and north respectively, and is adjacent to Shaanxi, Jiangxi, Hunan and Henan provinces. About 56 percent of the areas of Hubei are mountainous area. The terrain of Hubei is high in the west and low in the east and wide open to the south, the Jianghan Plain.

Economy

The province is rich in agriculture, forestry and hydropower resources. Agriculture and fishery are well developed in Hubei, primarily with products such as paddy rice, wheat, ramie, cotton, silk, tea, orange, fish, and vegetable oil.

The construction of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the Belt and Road Initiative has become an important national strategy to boost the green development along the Yangtze River. More preferential policies are expected to be granted to the provinces in Central China including Hubei.

By the end of 2018, Hubei province achieved a gross domestic product of 3.94 trillion yuan ($570.54 billion) with a year-on-year growth of 7.8 percent. The total foreign trade value of Hubei in 2018 amounted to 348.72 billion yuan, up 11.2 percent compared with that of last year. The import turnover of Hubei climbed to 123.4 billion yuan by 15 percent year-on-year in 2018 while the export turnover reached 225.32 billion with a 9.2 percent growth year-on-year.

Administrative divisions

Hubei province governs 13 prefectural-level divisions, covering 12 prefecture-level cities and one autonomous prefecture, namely Wuhan, Huangshi, Shiyan, Yichang, Xiangyang, Ezhou, Jingmen, Xiaogan, Huanggang, Xianning, Suizhou and Enshi Tujia and Miao autonomous prefecture. Hubei also has four county level administrative units under the jurisdiction of the provincial government, covering three county-level cities and one forest district, which are Xiantao, Qianjiang, Tianmen and Shennongjia Forestry District.