Yiyang ( zh, s=益阳 , t=益陽 , p=Yìyáng) is a

prefecture-level city A prefecture-level city () or prefectural city is an administrative division of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC), ranking below a province of China, province and above a Counties of the People's Republic of China, county in China's ...

on the

Zi River The Zi River (资水) in Hunan, China, flows into the Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ) is the longest river in Eurasia and the third-longest in the world. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau an ...

Hunan Hunan is an inland Provinces of China, province in Central China. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the Administrative divisions of China, province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to the east, Gu ...

province, China, straddling

Lake Dongting Dongting Lake () is a large, shallow lake in northeastern Hunan Province, China. It is a flood basin of the Yangtze River, so its volume depends on the season. The provinces of Hubei and Hunan are named after their location relative to the la ...

and bordering

Hubei Hubei is a province of China, province in Central China. It has the List of Chinese provincial-level divisions by GDP, seventh-largest economy among Chinese provinces, the second-largest within Central China, and the third-largest among inland ...

to the north. According to the 2010 Census, Yiyang has a population of 4,313,084 inhabitants residing in an area of . The previous census was in 2000 when it was recorded there were 4,309,143 inhabitants. Compilation by LianXin website
Data from the Sixth National Population Census of the People's Republic of China
/ref>

History

Yiyang county was founded in 221 BC after Qin conquered

Chu state Chu (, Old Chinese: ''*s-r̥aʔ'') was an ancient Chinese state during the Zhou dynasty. Their first ruler was King Wu of Chu in the early 8th century BC. Chu was located in the south of the Zhou heartland and lasted during the Spring and A ...

. It is designated Yiyang as the county seat was situated at the north bank of the Yi River (modern Zi River). Then the present-day jurisdiction mostly became a part of the Principality of Changsha

commandery In the Middle Ages, a commandery (rarely commandry) was the smallest administrative division of the European landed properties of a military order. It was also the name of the house where the knights of the commandery lived.Anthony Luttrell and G ...

during the

Western Han The Han dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) and a warring int ...

Subdivisions

Yiyang administers two

districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

, one

county-level city A county-level city () is a County-level divisions of China, county-level administrative division of the China, People's Republic of China. County-level cities have judiciary, judicial but no legislature, legislative rights over their own local or ...

, and three

counties A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

. The information here presented uses the metric system and data from 2010 national census.

Climate

Agriculture

Yiyang has many hilly farmlands in its vicinity. The primary crop around Yiyang is

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

, with

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of south-western China and nor ...

, and

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial plant, perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily (biology), subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in th ...

is also grown.

Government

The current CPC Party Secretary of Yiyang is Qu Hai and the current mayor is Zhang Zhiheng.

Culture, people and language

Huaguxi The flower-drum opera or Huaguxi () is a form of Chinese opera originating in Hunan province. Some other provinces, such as Hubei, Anhui, Henan, Shanxi, also have Huaguxi. It is known in China for its earthy quality, and is often referred to as t ...

, the local Hunanese opera is very popular in Yiyang. The cuisine of Yiyang (a species of Xiang cuisine) is very famous for its spicy food made from pure

chili pepper Chili peppers, also spelled chile or chilli ( ), are varieties of fruit#Berries, berry-fruit plants from the genus ''Capsicum'', which are members of the nightshade family Solanaceae, cultivated for their pungency. They are used as a spice to ...

s. Yiyang has many famous people in the modern time of China.

Ho Feng-Shan Ho Feng-Shan (, September 10, 1901 – September 28, 1997) was a Chinese diplomat and writer for the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China. When he was consul-general in Vienna during World War II, he risked his life and career to ...

is very famous in the history of Chinese foreign affairs since he had saved many Jewish families in Europe and China when he worked as a diplomat for China during World War II. Libo Zhou is a well-known writer in China, who was born in Yiyang. The language in Yiyang is "Yiyong-Wa" ( Yiyang Dialect), which belongs to New Xiang dialect of the Chinese language. This dialect is very prevalent in all of Yiyang. But the western area of Anhua County of Yiyang has a slightly different accent, which is close to the

Old Xiang Old Xiang, also known as Lou-Shao (), is a conservative Xiang Chinese language. It is spoken in the central areas of Hunan where it has been to some extent isolated from the neighboring Chinese languages, Southwestern Mandarin and Gan languages, ...

accent of the Loudi District. Yiyang Dialect retains many ancient words and pronunciations and is influenced surprisingly little by Mandarin Chinese. Consequently, the Yiyang Dialect is very hard to understand for outsiders, although its speakers can communicate well with the speakers of other New Xiang dialects.

Religions

Historically,

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

and

Taoism Taoism or Daoism (, ) is a diverse philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China, emphasizing harmony with the Tao ( zh, p=dào, w=tao4). With a range of meaning in Chinese philosophy, translations of Tao include 'way', 'road', ' ...

both played very important roles in the life of Yiyang people. In modern times, both of these religions experienced a decline, as in many other places in China. Nowadays, however, Buddhism and Christianity have many adherents in Yiyang, respectively 340,500 and 238,100 registered members.

Colleges and universities

* Hunan City University ()

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Yiyang is twinned with: *

Stara Zagora Stara Zagora (, ) is a city in Bulgaria, and the administrative capital of Stara Zagora Province. It is located in the Upper Thracian Plain, near the cities of Kazanlak, Plovdiv, and Sliven. Its population is 121,582 making it the sixth largest c ...

, Bulgaria (1994.12.04) *

Namhae County Namhae County (''Namhae-gun'') is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, county in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. Demographics As of 2005, Namhae had a population of 54,392. However, Namhae has witnessed an aging and decreasing po ...

, South Korea (2006) *

Petah Tikva Petah Tikva (, ), also spelt Petah Tiqwa and known informally as Em HaMoshavot (), is a city in the Central District (Israel), Central District of Israel, east of Tel Aviv. It was founded in 1878, mainly by Haredi Judaism, Haredi Jews of the Old Y ...

, Israel (2011) *

Rajshahi Rajshahi (, ) is a metropolis, metropolitan city and a major Urban area, urban, administrative, commercial and educational centre of Bangladesh. It is also the administrative seat of the eponymous Rajshahi Division, division and Rajshahi Distr ...

, Bangladesh (2018) *

Guarulhos Guarulhos () is a Brazilian Municipalities of Brazil, municipality. It is the second most populous city in the Brazilian States of Brazil, state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo, the List of largest cities in Brazil, 13th most populous city in ...

, Brazil (2019)

Tourist attractions

White Deer Temple is a popular attraction. The Former Residence of Zhou Libo is a well known tourist spot.

References

External links

Hntj.gov.cn
rovides a brief overview of the city * {{Authority control Cities in Hunan Prefecture-level divisions of Hunan