Dāngyáng

Dangyang occupies a strategic part of western Hubei, on the Yangtze. The river and its tributaries link the area with Yichang and the wider Hubei basin, while roads across nearby hills and plains make the city a meeting point between western and central China. During the Western Han, Emperor Jing established an administration over a territory of roughly two thousand square kilometers, laying down a long county tradition.

The district's military importance belongs to this geography. Sun Bin and Pang Juan are said to have studied strategy at Daxian Cave, and the Green Woods Uprising began in Dangyang. Several battles of the Three Kingdoms period were fought here because control of movement around the middle Yangtze mattered to rival states.