Get to know Hengnan County
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- Administrative area
- County · 县
- Part of
- Hengyang
- Chinese name
- 衡南县
- Local areas
- County guide
Area & population
- Administrative seat
- Yunji
Source: cited geographic source, as of the dates shown.
Setting and landscape
Hengnan borders Hengyang's urban districts and Hengyang (衡阳县), Hengshan (衡山县) and Hengdong (衡东县) counties to the north, Anren (安仁县) to the east, Changning (常宁市) and Leiyang (耒阳市) to the south, and Qidong (祁东县) to the west.
History
The Western Han set up Ling County (酃县) in 202 BC, and in 1756, under the Qianlong emperor of the Qing, Qingquan County (清泉县) was carved out of south-eastern Hengyang County. Hengnan County itself was created in April 1952 from four districts in the south-east of Hengyang County. Its government sat in Hengyang city, on Zhongshan North Road in Shigu District (石鼓区), until the Ministry of Civil Affairs approved a move to Yunji town (云集镇) in January 2004; it now sits in Yunji Subdistrict (云集街道).
What to see
Qishan was once called Phoenix Mountain (凤凰山) because its outline resembles a phoenix with spread wings, and it counts among the 72 peaks of Mount Heng. The Qishan Tourist Area is a national forest park and a national 4A-level scenic area, with more than 400 plant species.
Jiangkou Bird Island (江口鸟洲), in Jiangkou town, is an islet in the middle of the Lei River with a large tree that takes several people to encircle and a ring of shrubs, where thousands of waterbirds rise from the thickets. Baogai (宝盖) has a ginkgo park and fields of rapeseed flowers. At Yihai village (怡海村) in Chashi town (茶市镇), a farming culture park has a farming museum.
Guiyuan (归园) holds the ashes of four martyrs, Duan Yun (段沄), Duan Fu (段复), Duan Huikai (段徽楷) and Xie Xiaoqiu (谢小球), and is described by the Hunan Daily as Hunan's only provincial national-security education base. Hengnan holds the titles China Poetry and Couplet County (中国诗词楹联县) and home of Chinese poetry, and the poet Luo Fu (洛夫) came from here.
Highlights
- Qishan Tourist Area 岐山旅游区: One of Mount Heng's 72 peaks, shaped like a phoenix; national forest park and 4A-level scenic area with more than 400 plant species.
- Jiangkou Bird Island 江口鸟洲: Islet in the Lei River where thousands of waterbirds roost.
- Baogai Ginkgo Park 宝盖银杏公园: Ginkgo park at Baogai, an area also known for its fields of rapeseed flowers.
- Guiyuan 归园: Resting place of the ashes of four martyrs, three of them surnamed Duan.
Sources for this guide
衡南县 - 维基百科，自由的百科全书 · Wikipedia (Chinese) · CC BY-SA 4.0
风景这边独好——衡南县全域旅游高质量推进_湖南探索_湖南政研网 · Hunan Daily, republished by the Hunan policy research site (hnzy.gov.cn)
中华人民共和国文化和旅游部 · Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People's Republic of China (from the Hunan Department of Culture and Tourism)
Original English written from the listed sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer. Updated 2026-09-24.
Explore Hengnan County
Core places to explore, with English and Chinese names.
Hengnan County 衡南县
Plan your visit
Getting there
Hengnan County is about 20 km in a straight line from central Hengyang. Search for 衡南县 in a map app to find stations and your accommodation.
Where to stay →More in Hengyang
Sources & geographic information
Administrative names and parent areas: Official geographic directory · Reference date 2026-09-06.
Some facts checked against 衡南县 — Wikipedia contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Pins mark approximate centres, not entrances or boundaries.