| Huaihua | |
| Native Name: | 怀化市 |
| Native Name Lang: | zh-Hans |
| Settlement Type: | Prefecture-level city |
| Pushpin Map: | China Hunan |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location of the city centre in Hunan |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | People's Republic of China |
| Subdivision Type1: | Province |
| Subdivision Name1: | Hunan |
| Seat Type: | Municipal seat |
| Seat: | Hecheng District |
| Area Total Km2: | 27600 |
| Area Blank1 Title: | Districts |
| Area Blank1 Km2: | 722.8 |
| Area Urban Km2: | 64.00 |
| Area Urban Footnotes: | (2017)[1] |
| Population Total: | 5235200 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Population Density Urban Km2: | auto |
| Population Blank1 Title: | Districts |
| Population Blank1: | 855000 |
| Population Urban: | 623800 |
| Population Urban Footnotes: | (2017) |
| Demographics Type2: | GDP[2] |
| Demographics2 Info1: | CN¥ 187.8 billion US$ 27.8 billion |
| Demographics2 Title2: | Per capita |
| Demographics2 Info2: | CN¥ 35,865 US$ 5,333 |
| Timezone: | China Standard |
| Utc Offset: | +8 |
| Coor Pinpoint: | Yingfeng Park (Chinese: 迎丰公园) |
| Coordinates: | 27.5608°N 109.9856°W |
| Iso Code: | CN-HN-12 |
Huaihua is a prefecture-level city in the southwest of Hunan province, China. It covers 27564km2 and is bordered by Xiangxi to the northwest, Zhangjiajie and Changde to the north, Yiyang, Loudi and Shaoyang to the east, Guilin and Liuzhou of Guangxi to the south, and Qiandongnan and Tongren of Guizhou to the southwest. It has a population of 4,741,948 (2010 census), accounting for 7.22% of the provincial population.[3] [4] According to the 2010 Census, 2,909,574 people, or 61.4% of the population, are Han Chinese. Minorities constitute 38.6% of the population, with 1,832,289 people. The Dong, Miao, Tujia, Yao and Bai are major native minority groups.[5] Huaihua is the central region of the Dong ethnic population, home to nearly 28.35% of the Chinese Dong ethnic group.[6]
Huaihua is very mountainous, being located between the Wuyi and Xuefeng mountain ranges. The Yuan river runs from the south to the north. The forest coverage reached 70.8% in 2015.[7]
Huaihua lies in the mountainous west of Hunan, south-east of Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, and shares the same mountain belt. Railroads is a major means of transportation in the region, and an airport was opened in 2004.
Huaihua is home to the Second Artillery Corps Base 55, which is charged with maintaining ICBMs. http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/report/1999/chinamod.pdfhttp://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/china/huaihua.htm The nuclear assets at Huaihua are intended for small-scale nuclear conflicts https://web.archive.org/web/20141001230052/http://www.softwar.net/dongfeng.html (with a limited, but nuclear, exchange), as well as the ability to strike Guam, one of only two B-2 bases.
See main article: Politics of Huaihua.
The current CPC Party Secretary of Huaihua is Peng Guofu and the current mayor is Lei Shaoye.
Huaihua is located at a major railway node and its economy has historically benefited from the concentration of railways meeting in the city. Five major railways, the Shanghai–Kunming railway, the Shanghai–Kunming high-speed railway, the Jiaozuo–Liuzhou railway, the Chongqing–Huaihua railway, and the Zhangjiajie–Huaihua high-speed railway intersect in the city. Through these railways Huaihua has connections to almost all major Chinese cities. Passenger trains are served by the Huaihua railway station. Huaihua South railway station meanwhile is served by high-speed trains.
A rail freight handling station, Huaihua West, was opened on 31 January 2021.[8]
Huaihua is on the route of G65 Baotou-Maoming Expressway, which connects it with Chongqing to the northwest. It is also on the route of G60 Shanghai–Kunming Expressway, which connects it with Guiyang to the west, and Changsha to the east. Other roads that run through the city include China National Highway 209 and China National Highway 320.
By air, Huaihua is served by Huaihua Zhijiang Airport, located some 31 kilometers from the city proper in the Zhijiang Dong Autonomous County.