Hubei Province is located in the south-central part of China, adjacent to Henan Province, Anhui Province, Jiangxi Province, Hunan Province, Chongqing Municipality and Shaanxi Province, with an area of about 190,000 square kilometers. The terrain of Hubei Province is relatively closed, such as Tongbai Mountain and Dabie Mountain in the north across Henan and Anhui, Mufu Mountain in the southeast across Jiangxi, Hunan in the south bounded by the Yangtze River, Fangdou Mountain and Wushan Mountain (Three Gorges of the Yangtze River) across Chongqing in the southwest, and Daba Mountain in the northwest across Shaanxi. On the whole, the terrain of Hubei Province is high in the west and low in the east, the Yangtze River runs across its south, the Han River runs in the north, there are mountains and rivers and lakes, and the terrain is very dangerous.
For the abbreviation of Hubei Province, everyone is familiar with it, that is, E. Why is Hubei Province referred to as E? There are many reasons for this. On the south bank of the Yangtze River, east of Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province, there is a very small city, Ezhou. Don't look at Ezhou small, history is not generally brilliant. Ezhou had a state of E during the Western Zhou Dynasty, and by the time of King Yi of Zhou (the father of King Li of Zhou), the State of Chu in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River sent troops to destroy the State of E. XiongQu, the ruler of the State of Chu, sealed his son Xiong Hong in E, and called him the King of E.
Ezhou was called Exian during the Qin Dynasty, and because of this, the two Han Dynasties changed in the Three Kingdoms of Eastern Wu. In order to control Jingzhou, the Wu lord Sun Quan moved the capital to Ezhou and renamed it Wuchang, which is now Wuhan Wuchang at that time. After the Jin Dynasty destroyed Wu, Sima Yan, the Emperor of Jinwu, set up Exian County in Wuchang (鄂州, Hubei). After this, Wuchang and Exian were sometimes annexed and sometimes separated. Xiakou (Wuchang, Wuhan), the gateway town of Wuchang (Ezhou), had little to do with E until Emperor Wen of Sui destroyed Southern Chen, and Wuhan, then known as Yingzhou, was renamed Ezhou.
Among the Jinghu Lakes in Wuhan, the confluence of the Yangtze River and the Han River, it was one of the most important strategic towns of the Southern Dynasty, and the ancients lost Ezhou (Wuchang, Wuhan) to the east of the river. Since the Tang Dynasty, the status of Ezhou (Wuchang in Wuhan) has become increasingly important, while Ezhou, which has always been called Wuchang, has been relatively unknown. By the Song Dynasty, Wuhan Wuchang was still called Ezhou, and it did not change at the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty. It was not until the fifth year of Emperor Yuancheng's reign that Ezhou Road was renamed Wuchang Road, which was inherited by the Ming Dynasty, but the current Ezhou was still called Wuchang County in the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty set up Huguang province, including Hubei Province and Hunan Province, and the provincial capital was in Wuhan Wuchang. After talking about Wuchang and Ezhou for half a day, I don't know if you are dizzy or not. Since Wuhan Wuchang has been called Ezhou for hundreds of years, the influence of "E" is very large, and over time, the abbreviation of Hubei Province has become "E".
In addition to Hubei, there are many other names, such as Jingchu Dadi, which is easier to understand. During the Spring and Autumn Warring States period, Hubei was the main area of the southern power of chu, and the capital of the state of Chu was now Jingzhou, Hubei. The geographical concept of the Chu state continued to expand, and even Liu Bang of Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, called himself a Chu. Hunan can also be called Chu land, such as the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms ma Yin founded the country in Hunan, the national name is Chu. However, Hunan is more called Xiang or Sanxiang Dadi, mentioning Chu, if it is stated in advance that hunan is not included, the average person still associates Chu with Hubei.
The State of Chu is also known as the State of Jing, or Jing Chu. What is Chu? In fact, it is a kind of shrub, and the "Chu" and "Jing" as wood are one meaning. Thirteen states of the Han Dynasty, of which Jingzhou was particularly important. To the north of Jingzhou is the Central Plains, to the east is Yangzhou (provincial level, that is, Jiangdong), to the south is Jiaozhou (Liangguang), and to the west is Yizhou (Xichuan), with an extraordinary strategic position. In the last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Quan staged a great drama that shocked history for the battle for Jingzhou. Affected by historical factors, during the Two Han Dynasties, the economic development of Hunan in the south of Jingzhou was slightly slower than that of Hubei, after all, Hubei was close to the economically developed Yellow River Basin and was more susceptible to the radiation of the Central Plains economy. During the Two Han Dynasties and Three Kingdoms, Jiangling (Jingzhou, Hubei), Xiangyang, Xiakou (Wuhan, Hubei), Wuchang (Ezhou, Hubei), and Yiling in the Hubei region of Jingzhou were all important towns at that time. After this, Jingzhou's jurisdiction became smaller and smaller, such as Hunan later established Xiangzhou. However, the main jurisdiction of the smaller and smaller Jingzhou is still mainly in the Hubei region, and the seat of government has always been in Jiangling. For a long time, Hubei was called the land of Jingchu.
Hubei Province also has two names - Jianghan Dadi and Qianhu Province. In the south-central part of Hubei Province, there is the famous Jianghan Plain, which refers to the Yangtze River and Han refers to the Han River, so it is called. As for Qianhu Province, it is still very easy to understand that there are too many lakes in Hubei Province. The more famous ones are Wuhan East Lake, Honghu Lake, Liangzi Lake and many other lakes, including the famous Danjiangkou Reservoir.