Hunan Province (; Hunanese: Shuangfeng, ; Changsha, ) is a province of the People's Republic of China. It is located in South Central China, south of the middle course of the Yangtze River, and south of Lake Dongting (hence the name Hunan, which means "south of the lake"). Hunan is sometimes called for short and officially abbreviated as "" (pinyin: Xiang), after the Xiang River which runs through the province.