Yìyáng

Yiyang stands beside the Zi River, where the waters of western Hunan flow toward Lake Dongting. Its name has endured through many changes in the territory administered from the town. In the Song, part of its mountain hinterland was separated to form the counties of Xinhua and Anhua.

Under the Ming and Qing, Yiyang belonged to Changsha Prefecture. The Zi carried the dark tea of Anhua downstream to Yiyang, tying the town to the tea markets of the interior. Farther upriver, specialist tea towns and merchants developed along both banks, with the river providing the means to carry their goods out of the mountains.