Hong'an County (), formerly named Huang'an County (; Hwangan), located to the north of provincial capital

Wuhan Wuhan; is the capital of Hubei, China. With a population of over eleven million, it is the most populous city in Hubei and the List of cities in China by population, eighth-most-populous city in China. It is also one of the nine National cent ...

, is a county under jurisdiction of

Huanggang Huanggang is a prefecture-level city in easternmost Hubei, Hubei Province, China. It is situated to the north of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and is bounded in the north by the Dabie Mountains and is named after Mount Huanggang, Huang ...

, Hubei province, People's Republic of China. Hong'an is famous for being the birthplace of many generals in the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the military of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). It consists of four Military branch, services—People's Liberation Army Ground Force, Ground Force, People's ...

originally hailed from it. In the early 1950s, there were over 200 generals from Hong'an, far more than any other county in China. It earned Hon'an the nickname "County of the Generals". The former military leader and

President of China The president of China, officially the president of the People's Republic of China, is the List of state representatives of the People's Republic of China, state representative of the China, People's Republic of China. On its own, it is a Fig ...

Li Xiannian Li Xiannian (; 23 June 1909 – 21 June 1992) was a Chinese Chinese Communist Party, Communist military and political leader, president of China from 1983 to 1988 under paramount leader Deng Xiaoping and then chairman of the Chinese People's Politi ...

(1909–1992), was born in Hong'an.

History

In 845 BC, Marquis Wen () Huang Meng () (aka Huang Zhang; ) moved the capital of the State of Huang from Yicheng to Huangchuan (present-day Huangchuan, Henan). Huang Xi's descendants ruled the State of Huang until 648 BC when it was destroyed and conquered by the

State of Chu Chu (, Old Chinese: ''*s-r̥aʔ'') was an Ancient Chinese states, ancient Chinese state during the Zhou dynasty. Their first ruler was King Wu of Chu in the early 8th century BC. Chu was located in the south of the Zhou heartland and lasted ...

. The Marquis of Huang, Marquis Mu () Huang Qisheng (), fled to the

state of Qi Qi, or Ch'i in Wade–Giles romanization, was a ancient Chinese state, regional state of the Zhou dynasty in History of China#Ancient China, ancient China, whose rulers held Zhou dynasty nobility, titles of ''Hou'' (), then ''Gong (title), Go ...

. The people of Huang were forced to relocate to Chu. They settled in the region of present-day Hubei province, in a region known as the

Jiangxia Commandery Jiangxia Commandery ( zh, 江夏郡) was a Chinese commandery that existed from Han dynasty to Tang dynasty. Its territories were located in present-day eastern Hubei province. History Jiangxia Commandery was established during the reign of Emper ...

() during the

Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...

(206 BC-AD 220). There are many places in this region today that were named after Huang e.g. Huanggang, Huangpi, Huangmei, Huangshi, Huang'an (now Hong'an), Huangzhou etc. A large number of the people of Huang were also relocated to regions south of the

Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ) is the longest river in Eurasia and the third-longest in the world. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau and flows including Dam Qu River the longest source of the Yangtze, i ...

. During the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led Nationalist government, government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the forces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Armed conflict continued intermitt ...

, Huang'an County (as it was then known) was a stronghold of the

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

. It was in Huang'an where in November 1927 Communist guerrillas founded the first peasants' government that would eventually evolve into the future Eyuwan soviet. It was also the location where Communist General Xu Haidong founded the Seventh Red Army with a handful of recruits. From the core of Huang'an, Macheng, and Guangshan counties, the Eyuwan Soviet would gradually expand to become the second-largest soviet republic in China, with over one million inhabitants. The Red Army units based in Eyuwan recruited heavily from Huang'an, and many natives of the county went on to serve in high ranks of the

. In the early 1950s, over 200 PLA generals hailed from Huang'an. Two of these men, Dong Biwu and

, both would go on to serve as

President of the People's Republic of China The president of China, officially the president of the People's Republic of China, is the List of state representatives of the People's Republic of China, state representative of the China, People's Republic of China. On its own, it is a Fig ...

History

Geography

Administrative divisions

Climate

References

Bibliography