Overview

Xiaogan got its name because of Dong Yong’s filial deeds having deeply moved the God. Xiaogan is a new medium-sized city which has been developing since 1979(the year of Chinese Open and Reform Policy), with a land area of 11560 square kilometers and a total population of 5.8 million.

Xiaogan is one of the most important birthplaces of Chinese Chu culture. In Zhou dynasty, Erguo, Zhenguo and Yuanguo made this place their capitals successively. Besides, the colorful ancient culture of Xiaogan can be learned from those bamboo slips of Qin dynasty, lacquer wares of Qin and Han dynasties, national treasure and cultural relic of Eastern Han like earthenware buildings and the site of the city in which the king of Chu lived. The traditional cultural art here such as paper-cut, leather-silhouette, paste-mould are of long standing.

Water resources and minerals are abundant both on the earth surface and underground in Xiaogan area. Salt, phosphorus and paste are called “the Three Treasures of Xiaogan”, so Xiaogan has long been called “Capital of Paste”, “Sea of Salt”, “Mountain of Phosphorus”. Xiaogan , abundant in agricultural resources, is the base of national products like grain, cotton oil and rare aquatic product and thus has long been regarded as “A Land of Fish and Rice”.

Xiaogan is also rich in tourist resources, which has been granted with five national forest parks: three ponds in Dagui, three passes (Wusheng, Pingjing and Jiuli) in northern Chu, Spring of the Jade Maiden Pond, Double-peak Mountain and Baizhao Mountain (The poet-immortal Li Bai once lived in seclusion here for ten years long).