Língxiàn

Ling County lies in the Luoxiao Mountains. Its seat at Xiayang, on the Mi River, was established in 1211, when the Southern Song carved a new county from three districts of Chaling after suppressing unrest in the mountain country. In the south stands the shrine of the Flame Emperor, a legendary ancestor said to have taught people farming and tasted the hundred herbs, with a temple before the tomb.

The Ming built walls around the county seat in 1523, but the wars accompanying the fall of the dynasty damaged the town and reduced its population. The Qing rebuilt the shrine at the Flame Emperor's mausoleum in 1733, using funds from the state treasury. Imperial representatives came to perform sacrifices there under successive dynasties, making the mountain mausoleum an important place of state sacrifice.