It is officially elected by the Hunan Provincial People's Congress and is formally responsible to the Hunan Provincial People's Congress and its Standing Committee.

Under the country's one-party system, the governor is subordinate to the secretary of the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.

In April 1950, the Hunan Provincial People's Government was officially established.

Its name was changed to Hunan Provincial People's Committee (湖南省人民委员会) in February 1955 and subsequently Hunan Provincial Revolutionary Committee (湖南省革命委员会) in April 1968 during the Cultural Revolution.

It reverted to its former name of Hunan Provincial People's Government in December 1979.