Hunan (Chinese: 湖南; pinyin: Húnán; listen (info • help)) is a province of South Central China, in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting (The characters in the name Hunan mean "lake" and "south"). Hunan is sometimes called 湘|湘 (pinyin: Xiāng) for short, after the Xiang River which runs through the province.