Hubei is a central province of the People’s Republic of China，which has an area of 72,400 sq mi (187,500 sq km). Its abbreviation is E, an ancient name associated with the eastern part of the province since the Qin Dynasty. The name Hubei means "north of the lake", referring to Hubei’s position north of Dongting Lake. A popular unofficial name for Hubei is Chu, after the powerful state of Chu that existed here during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.The capital of Hubei is Wuhan.
Administrative divisions
Hubei is divided into thirteen prefecture-level divisions (of which there are twelve prefecture-level cities and one autonomous prefecture), as well as three directly administered county-level cities and one directly administered county-level forestry area.
The semi-province-level city:
• Wuhan
The prefecture-level cities:
• Ezhou
• Huanggang
• Huangshi
• Jingmen
• Jingzhou
• Shiyan
• Suizhou
• Xiangfan
• Xianning
• Xiaogan
• Yichang
The autonomous prefecture:
• Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture
The three directly administered county-level cities are more accurately described as sub-prefecture-level cities:
• Tianmen
• Qianjiang
• Xiantao
The county-level forestry area:
• Shennongjia
The thirteen prefecture-level divisions and four directly administered county-level divisions of Hubei are subdivided into 102 county-level divisions (38 districts, 24 county-level cities, 37 counties, two autonomous counties, one forestry area; the directly administered county-level divisions are included here). Those are in turn divided into 1234 township-level divisions (737 towns, 215 townships, nine ethnic townships, and 273 subdistricts).