Hengyang History, China

Prominent because of its designated name Bright Pearl in Southern China, Hengyang or Heng-yang city, sited in the south of Hunan Province’s Mt. Hengshan and in the Xiangjiang River in its middle reaches, is a city with significant history.

Also recognized as the Wild Goose City because of the wild geese’s flocks flying south to stop and take a rest, during winter seasons. It is the second city that is considered to be the largest in Hunan with seven million people in it.

Besides its rich agriculture, its natural resources are also very affluent in supply including zinc, lead, and coal, sulfur and tungsten with mines of these nearby. They are also known as manufacturers of different materials such as chemicals, mining and agricultural equipment, paper, textile, and foods that are already processed, and the leading center for transport of Hunan, linking rail, water, and highway routes among the city.

Hengyang is a city that is considered to be ancient, located on a route of traditional southern and northern communications, which on the 6th century AD was made a territory. In 1944 the city was captured by the Japanese, causing a lot of considerable damage. The name Hengchou or Hengchow was given to the place until 1912.

It was always visited by celebrities and emperors for the purpose of leaving a number of stone inscriptions of literary pieces such as poems, 2000 years ago. With those people, famous poets such as Dufu, Libai and Zhuxi are included. During its past, Hengyang became the place of birth of a great number of well-known people. The poets Du Fu and Han Yu, the Paper Maker’s inventor Cai Lun, and Luo Ronghuan, the revolutionist. It also became a major center for commercialization since its ancient times with an excellence in transportation systems. It was said that Hengyang could brag a long history just like what it was seen in the works or pieces of those poets that was from the era of Tang (618-907) and those politicians and writers of latter periods.

From the book of the past to the present, Hengyang really has a one great story behind. The more we try to experience how to go along with its timeline, the more it became clearer why it happened to evolve with elegance and grace.