Yiyang Travel Guide

Chinese Name: 益阳 (yì yáng)
Population: 4,938,000
Area: 12,144 square kilometers (4,689 square miles)
Location: in the north of Hunan Province, south-central China
Administrative Division: 3 counties (Taojiang, Anhua, Nanxian); 3 districts (Ziyang, Heshan, Dotonghu); 1 county-level city (Yuanjiang)
Area Code: 0737
Zip Code: 413000
GDP (2018): CNY 175.84 billion (USD 26.57 billion)

Located in the north of Hunan Province, Yiyang is bordered by Hubei Province to the north. Within Hunan, it neighbors the choppy Dongting Lake in the northeast, in the neighborhood of Yueyang, Changde and Huaihua. Changsha, the capital city of Hunan, is 70 kilometers (43 miles) east of Yiyang. Yiyang is honored as the city of badminton because it has cultivated many world badminton champions and has a very broad mass base.

The fertile soil and suitable climate in Yiyang provide excellent conditions for planting a variety of crops, making the city the main production base of grain, cotton, hemp, oil and sugar. A large amount of bamboo and tea is planted in the central region, and the output ranks first in Hunan. All these turn Yiyang into an abundant place and hometown of bamboo. The Yiyang travel features beautiful Dongting Lake, waving bamboo sea and ancient tea-horse roads.

It is a brook in Taojiang County well known to the whole country for a song about the river composed in the 1930s. The River zigzags for 58 kilometers (36 miles) and is dotted with many fine landscapes. On Hongshan Mountain 5 kilometers (3 miles) from Taoyuan county seat, there is a bamboo sea.  This impression is given by the waves of rolling green. Shy Lady Mountain lying 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the county seat is made up of seven peaks in the shape of a beautiful woman laying on the river bank. Southward 35 kilometers (22 miles) from Taoyuan, Taohua Lake can be found. During late March and early April, the peach blossoms are set off perfectly by the choppy lake water in the breeze. Luoxi Waterfall is in Shijingtou Township of Taojiang County. It is definitely an imposing sight to see the water rushing furiously down, and stirring up whirlpools when it reaches the bottom.
 
 Other Scenic Spots: Bailu Temple, Yuanjiang River1. A fifty-minute expressway ride connects Yiyang City and Changsha Huanghua International Airport.
 
2. Yiyang Railway Station is on South Jinshan Road in Ziyang District. It is the largest transfer railway station in northern Hunan Province.
 
3. Heshan Bus Station is the largest road transport station of Yiyang and is located on Luoxi Lu. From the station, buses to Changsha leave every thirty minutes and arrive in one hour.

Yiyang enjoys a subtropical humid monsoon climate and the annual average temperature is a bit higher than many other regions around it. Comparatively, it has cooler summers and warmer winters. The rainfall is obviously abundant during July. Overcast and rainy weather together with cold air may occur in spring. 
 
 When to Go: March to September

 History: As early as 5,000 years ago, there were villages scattered around Yiyang. During the Warring States Period (476BC-221BC), it belonged to the territory of the Chu Kingdom. The Qin Court (221BC-206BC) put it under the administration of Changsha Shire. Later in the early Western Han Dynasty (206BC-24AD), Yiyang County, the first county in this area was established.    
 
 Physical Features: Medium mountainous and plain areas comprise over seventy percent of the territory of Yiyang. The terrain of the city generally slopes downward from the southern hilly and mountainous region to the northern alluvial plain formed by Dongting Lake.                
 
 Special Local Products: Bamboo wares, paper umbrellas, preserved eggs, hawthorn, bamboo shoot, Fu Zhuan Cha (a kind of tea brick or compressed tea)