History Hubei

detail of embroidered silk gauze ritual garment 4th-century bc, zhou era tomb @ mashan, jiangling county, hubei

during warring states period (475–221 bc) chu became major adversary of upstart state of qin northwest (in shaanxi province), began assert outward expansionism. wars between qin , chu ensued, chu lost more , more land: first dominance on sichuan basin, (in 278 bc) heartland, correspond modern hubei. in 223 bc qin chased down remnants of chu regime, had fled eastwards, part of qin s bid conquest of china.

qin founded qin dynasty in 221 bc, first unified state in region. qin succeeded han dynasty in 206 bc, established province (zhou) of jingzhou in hubei , hunan. qin , han played active role in agricultural colonization of hubei, maintaining system of river dikes protect farmland summer floods. towards end of han dynasty in beginning of 3rd century, jingzhou ruled regional warlord liu biao. after death, liu biao s realm surrendered successors cao cao, powerful warlord had conquered of north china; in battle of red cliffs, warlords liu bei , sun quan drove cao cao out of jingzhou. liu bei took control of jingzhou; went on conquer yizhou (the sichuan basin), lost jingzhou sun quan; next few decades jingzhou controlled wu kingdom, ruled sun quan , successors.

a family s ancestral hall, yangxin county

the incursion of northern nomadic peoples region @ beginning of 4th century began 3 centuries of division nomad-ruled (but increasingly sinicized) north , han chinese-ruled south. hubei, south, remained under southern rule entire period, until unification of china sui dynasty in 589. in 617 tang dynasty replaced sui, , later on tang dynasty placed hubei under several circuits: jiangnanxi circuit in south; shannandong circuit in west, , huainan circuit in east. after tang dynasty disintegrated in 10th century, hubei came under control of several regional regimes: jingnan in center, wu (later southern tang) east, , 5 dynasties north.

the song dynasty reunified region in 982 , placed of hubei jinghubei circuit, longer version of hubei s current name. mongols conquered region in 1279, , under rule province of huguang established, covering hubei, hunan, , parts of guangdong , guangxi. during mongol rule, in 1334, hubei devastated outbreak of black death, according chinese sources spread during following 3 centuries decimate populations throughout eurasia.

the ming dynasty drove out mongols in 1368. version of huguang province smaller, , corresponded entirely modern provinces of hubei , hunan combined. while hubei geographically removed centers of ming power. during last years of ming, today s hubei ravaged several times rebel armies of zhang xianzhong , li zicheng. manchu qing dynasty had of region in 1644, split huguang modern provinces of hubei , hunan. qing dynasty, however, continued maintain viceroy of huguang, 1 of well-known being zhang zhidong, modernizing reforms made hubei (especially wuhan) prosperous center of commerce , industry. huangshi/daye area, south-east of wuhan, became important center of mining , metallurgy.

in 1911 wuchang uprising took place in modern-day wuhan, overthrowing qing dynasty , establishing republic of china. in 1927 wuhan became seat of government established left-wing elements of kuomintang, led wang jingwei; government later merged chiang kai-shek s government in nanjing. during world war ii eastern parts of hubei conquered , occupied japan while western parts remained under chinese control.

during cultural revolution in 1960s, wuhan saw fighting between rival red guard factions.

as fears of nuclear war increased during time of sino-soviet border conflicts in late 1960s, xianning prefecture of hubei chosen site of project 131, underground military command headquarters.

the province—and wuhan in particular—suffered severely 1954 yangtze river floods. large-scale dam construction followed, gezhouba dam on yangtze river near yichang started in 1970 , completed in 1988; construction of 3 gorges dam, further upstream, began in 1993. in following years, authorities resettled millions of people western hubei make way construction of dam. number of smaller dams have been constructed on yangtze s tributaries well.