# Hu'nan
## English
### Proper noun

Hu'nan
* Misspelling of Hunan.
** 2001, “The Legend of Mt Lanke”, in 韩玉 [Y N Han], transl., edited by 李小香 [Li Xiaoxiang], 中华文化的故事 [Origins of Chinese Culture]‎, Asiapac Books, published 2005, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page :Li Xiaoxiang 李小香 was born in 1946. After graduating from Hu’nan Normal University in 1969, she taught Chinese language and literature in a high school.
** 2004, Mark Elvin, Retreat of the Elephants: An Environmental History of China‎, Yale University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 56:Here is what seems an illustration of this from 1851. It comes from Tongdao,⁵⁶ which is in the south of Hu'nan province.
** 2006, 杭间 [Hang Jian], 郭秋惠 [Guo Qiuhui], translated by 朱攸若 [Zhu Youruo] and 宋佩铭 [Song Peiming], Chinese Arts & Crafts (Cultural China Series)‎, Beijing: China Intercontinental Press (五洲传播出版社), published 2008, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 20:The textiles of the Western Han unearthed at Mawangdui in Changsha, Hu’nan, have many different varieties and the workmanship is of great exquisiteness, representing the high standard of the textile technology of that time.
** 2016 November 24, “BRIEF-Qingdao Kingking Applied Chemistry units to set up five JVs”, in Reuters‎, archived from the original on 10 March 2023, CONSUMER PRODUCTS & RETAIL NEWS‎:Qingdao Kingking Applied Chemistry Co., Ltd. : […] * Says its Hubei-based cosmetics unit will invest 25.5 million yuan to set up a 51-percent-owned cosmetics JV in Hu’nan
** 2021, 张惠娟 [Zhang Hui-juan], 王奕茗 [Wang Yi-ming], 廖伟程 [Liao Wei-cheng], 陈希雯 [Chen Xi-wen], 覃大保 [Qin Da-bao], 黄大元 [Huang Da-yuan], “Somatotype characteristics of Dong nationality adults in Hu’nan Province (湖南侗族成人的Heath-Carter体型特征)”, in 解剖学报 [Acta Anatomica Sinica]‎, volume 52, number 3, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC:Adults of Dong in Hu’nan have thick subcutaneous fat, underdeveloped skeletal and muscular systems, and medium linearity. The somatotype of Dong adults in Hu’nan is close to that of Jiangsu Han, Fujian Han and Liaoning Han.
** For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Hu'nan.

#### Usage notes

The misspelling Hu'nan attempts to make clear that 湖南 (Húnán) is made up of the two Mandarin syllables hu and nan instead of hun and an. However, in theory, this clarification is not needed because the syllable-dividing mark (隔音符號／隔音符号 (géyīn fúhào)) should only be added before a non-initial syllable beginning with a, o, or e. Hence, Hunan could only ever refer to a word made up of hu and nan since a word made up of hun and an would be spelled as Hun'an. In practice, syllable-dividing marks are often added or omitted at will.

### References

* ↑ Elvin, Mark (2004) Retreat of the Elephants: An Environmental History of China‎, Yale University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page xxviii:The plain inverted comma is used when the break between two transcribed vowels or syllables is not unambiguous. ‘Xian’ (one syllable) means ‘a county’, but ‘Xi'an’ (two syllables) is the city. The province names ‘Hu'nan’ and ‘He'nan’ are therefore properly written with the inverted comma, as ‘hun'an’ and ‘hen'an’ are both permissible pinyin readings.

### Further reading

* Hu'nan at the Google Books Ngram Viewer.
* “Hu'nan” in TheFreeDictionary.com, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.: Farlex, Inc., 2003–2024.