Leiyang

Leiyang (simplified Chinese: 耒阳; traditional Chinese: 耒陽; pinyin: Lěiyáng) is a county-level city and the third most populous county-level division in Hunan Province, China. Leiyang is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Hengyang. Located on the south of the province, the city is bordered to the north by Hengnan County, to the west by Changning City, to the south by Guiyang and Yongxing counties, to the east by Anren County. Leiyang City covers 2,656 km2 (1,025 sq mi) with registered population of 1,413,913 and resident population of 1,150,241 (as of the 2010 census).[1] The city has six subdistricts, 19 towns and five townships under its jurisdiction, the government seat is Caizichi Subdistrict.[3] Leiyang is the hometown of Cai Lun, the inventor of papermaking technology, one of the Four Great Inventions.[4] It has more than 2,000 years of history as an ancient city named after the north of Lei River. Archaeological excavation proved that as early as the Neolithic Age, people have been lived in the territory of Leiyang. Until Leiyang was built as a division, it was a part of Jingzhou, one of the Nine Provinces before the Spring and Autumn Period and a part of Chu State in the Warring States period. In the 26th year of the reign of Qin Shi Huang (221 BC), Lei County (Chinese: 耒县) was formed and took its name after the Lei River, it was part of Changsha Commandery (Chinese: 长沙郡). Dividing Changsha Commandery into Changsha State and Guiyang Commandery (Chinese: 桂阳郡; not to be confused with present-day Guiyang County) in 202 BC, Guiyang Commandery was formed from the southern portion of Changsha Commandery, the county of Lei was renamed to Leiyang and part of Guiyang Commandery.