The first red carbonate-rock stone forest national geopark of China located in Guzhang County of Jishou City, Hunan Province started its soft opening on December 30, 2011.The geopark may date back to the Ordovician Period of 480 million years ago. The park outstands with its deep caves and miles of red carbonate-rock stones whose color changes with the weather, purplish red in sunny days and brownish red in rainy days.It is also of high value in geological research, aesthetic appreciation, and tourism, with karst typographies, canyons, caves, lakes and waterfalls all gathering here. Folk customs and arts such as original ecological dances "Maogusi" and "hand-waving" are included in the intangible cultural heritage of state level, further adding luster to the park.Translator: Li XuanSource: Hunan Official Web Portal

2012-01-02 21:46 View：2099

Hunan section of Daohe Expressway (from Daoxian County in Yongzhou City of Hunan Province to Hezhou City in Guangxi Province) opened to traffic on 30 December, 2011, shortening the travel time by two hours to five hours from Changsha to Daoxian.Daohe Expressway is the eighth one connecting Hunan with other provinces. It is scheduled to link Xiamen-Chengdu Expressway and Baotou-Maoming Expressway which are under construction.With a total investment of 2.59 billion yuan, Hunan section of the expressway, whose main road covers an actual mileage of 53 kilometers, is completed with two-way four lanes and the design speed is 100 kilometers per hour.According to the Department of Transportation of Hunan Province, there are still 45 expressway projects under construction.It is estimated that the expressway mileage put into operation in Hunan will amount to over 1,000 kilometers in 2012.Translator: Wang BilianSource: Hunan Official Web Portal

2011-12-31 21:44 View：1500

The 2011 Council of the Hunan Association for Exchange Promotion across the Taiwan Straits was held on the morning of Dec. 29  in Changsha. From January to November in 2011, the number of passengers to Taiwan for economic exchange and tourism reached 117,000 and 760,000 Taiwan compatriots travelled in Hunan,promoting exchanges and cooperation between both sides into a tendency of all-round, multilevel and wide.In the recent two years, the association successfully held activities to make economy and trade exchange with Taiwan, such as the "2010 Hunan-Taiwan Week" & the 6th Hunan-Taiwan Exchanges and Cooperation Forum on Economy and Trade and the 7th Hunan-Taiwan Cooperation Conference on Economy and Trade. This made great contributions in prospering Hunan, enriching its people and promoting Hunan-Taiwan exchange and cooperation. It also successfully deepened the exchange by holding activities like the tenth and eleventh Huxiang Culture Tour, Taiwanese of Changsha Origin Tour Hometown, Cross-strait Shengnong Cultural Festival and The First Zeng Guofan Academic Seminar across Taiwan Straits in Shangfeng.Translator: Xiao Juan Source: Hunan Official Web Portal

2012-01-02 21:40 View：1232

Tongren Fenghuang Airport is a feeder airport of Guizhou Province located at the province’s border with Hunan and Chongqing. It is over 20 kilometers away from both downtown Tongren and Hunan’s Fenghuang County seat.

2011-12-28 21:20 View：4178

A woman paints decorative parts of palace lanterns in a factory in Pan'an, east China's Zhejiang Province, Dec. 27, 2011. Local palace lantern business saw a peak season as the traditional Chinese new year is approaching. The Chinese palace lantern is a popular decoration for the Spring Festival, Chinese new year on the Lunar calendar. (Xinhua/Xu Yu)A man paints bases of palace lanterns in a factory in Pan'an, east China's Zhejiang Province, Dec. 27, 2011. Local palace lantern business saw a peak season as the traditional Chinese new year is approaching. The Chinese palace lantern is a popular decoration for the Spring Festival, Chinese new year on the Lunar calendar. (Xinhua/Xu Yu)A woman makes palace lanterns in a factory in Pan'an, east China's Zhejiang Province, Dec. 27, 2011. Local palace lantern business saw a peak season as the traditional Chinese new year is approaching. The Chinese palace lantern is a popular decoration for the Spring Festival, Chinese new year on the Lunar calendar. (Xinhua/Xu Yu)Source: Xinhua

2011-12-28 21:06 View：2039

A plate-conferring ceremony was held on December 23 to mark the official renaming of Tongren Daxing Airport of Guizhou Province into Tongren Fenghuang Airport and the extension project was launched in the meanwhile.It is the first airport in China whose name concerns two districts of different provinces.Tongren Fenghuang Airport is a feeder airport of Guizhou Province located at the province’s border with Hunan and Chongqing. It is over 20 kilometers away from both downtown Tongren and Hunan’s Fenghuang County seat. Around 50% of its site area is within Fenghuang County in Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Region, Hunan Province. Xiangxi, Guizhou’s Tongren District and Guizhou Airport Group reached an agreement in November, 2008 to confer this new name to the airport and expand it in line with the standards of domestic key tourist airports. Translator: Liu FenSource: Hunan Official Web Portal

2011-12-24 21:01 View：1622

The Hunan Provincial Forestry Department revealed on Dec 21 that four photography works of Guidong County in Chenzhou City won awards in a photo competition marking the decennial of Hunan's public welfare forest protection project.Since the competition announcement was released in April 2011, shutterbugs in Guidong were busy taking photos on their favorable ecological environment. The Guidong Forestry Department received over 500 photos before the deadline and recommended 35 works to the Provincial Competition Organizing Committee after careful selection.Among the 92 awarded photography works, there are four from Guidong, accounting for 5% of the total. It is said that some of these awarded photos would be published in Forestry and Ecology, a periodical and Ecological Hunan, a picture album.Translator: Wu Lirong Source: Hunan Official Web Portal "Dense Forest" by Guo Mingxuan, in the Dongbian Mountain in Guidong County, Oct, 2011 "Observation on an Old Tree" by Deng Renxiang, Luo Xiuquan and Fu Renfei in July 2011

2011-12-21 20:57 View：2031

Hunan Province hosted a New Year reception for the international experts on December 23 at Huatian Hotel in Changsha City, where awards were presented to winners of the international experts' photo competition. Deputy Secretary-General of the Hunan Provincial People's Government Liu Mingxin delivered a greeting speech, Deputy Director of the Hunan Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs Lu Xiangli presided over the award ceremony and Director Wang Guishu announced the list of winners.To acquaint overseas experts with Hunan customs and conditions, encourage their love for the land, offer to them a more colorful sparetime life, enhance friendship between Chinese people and the people of the world, and arouse their work enthusiasm, the Hunan Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs invited overseas experts working in Changsha, Zhuzhou and Xiangtan to take part in the photo competition. The event has received a total of 159 works from enthusiastic experts.After the award ceremony and the reception, over 200 international experts and friends working or studying in Hunan attended a New Year concert at the Hunan Music Hall.Source: Hunan Official Web PortalOfficials present awards for the winnersSmiling Second Prize winnersA Japanese expert wins the First PrizeNew Year reception for overseas experts in HunanNew Year Concert for Overseas Experts is held at Hunan Music HallAudience listen to the Chinese national music. 

2011-12-23 20:53 View：2723

It is reported that the information industry has become the eighth industry in Hunan Province that has achieved a productive capacity of more than 100 billion yuan.The new industrialization has been promoted effectively in Hunan these years. Up to 2010, there had already been seven industries each with an output of 100 billion yuan, including machinery industry, food industry and petrifaction industry. The contribution rate that the industry makes to the economic growth increased from 47.5% in 2006 to 55.8% in 2010. The province has kept a rapid growth in the industrial economy in 2011. From January to November, the added value of industrial enterprises above designated size totaled 720.106 billion yuan. The developing trend characterized by "Two-Oriented "conventional industries, clustering advantageous industries and expanding high-tech industries was taking its shape rapidly. The petrochemical industries of Yueyang have turned into an industrial cluster with an output of 100 billion yuan.The province also faces problems in the new industrialization, such as the necessity of strengthening the capacity of energy saving and the difficulty in financing for small and medium sized enterprises.Translator: Hao JingruSource: Hunan Official Web Portal

2011-12-22 20:50 View：1211

Hunan Oil Group, first of its kind in the province, was established in Lixian County of Changde City on December 24. Composed of 17 oil companies including Hunan Vchen Industry Co., Ltd and Hunan Shanrun Tea Oil Technology Development Co., Ltd, the group aims to form an integrated industrial chain in the sector, improve its deep-processing level, and optimize the industrial layout to realize its large-scale development along the course of collectivization, and specialization.In 3 to 5 years, the group will be built into a large domestic oil corporation mainly engaged in the processing of low-fat and low-cholesterol rapeseed oil, refined rice oil, camellia oil and quality plant protein, with an annual output of 400,000 tons, a storage capacity of 150,000 tons and a sales revenue of 8 billion yuan.Translator: Li Xuan Source: Hunan Official Web Portal

2011-12-24 20:49 View：1360