Hengyang is a city with a long history. According to historical relics, ancestors who settled in the area as early as five to six thousand years ago had already begun to use primitive tools made from stones. They also grew rice and raised animals, chiefly cattle and pigs.  

The primeval district of Hengyang was first occupied by the ancestors of the modern Miao, Zhuang, and Hakka people. In the Warring States period, it was a much-fought-over territory of the Chu State.  

In 221 BC, when Emperor Qinshihuang united China, the southern state of Chu was divided into Qianzhong county and Changsha county to which the Hengyang district belonged. 400 years later in 220 AD, it was renamed Hengyang and became the administrative seat of Hengyang prefecture.     

During the Western Jin Dynasty, its name was changed to Hengzhou, and under the Eastern Jin Dynasty (618-907) it became the seat of Xiangdong prefecture. During the Southern and Northern Dynasty it was the capital of Hengyang kingdom.  

After the fall of the Sui Dynasty, Hengyang was a county. It was changed into a superior prefecture which was a part of the province of Huguang  until the Qing Dynasty.  

This status was retained until 1912, when the superior prefecture was abolished and the city became a county seat, which was in the charge of 34 counties of Hunan province.  

During the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945), not only was Hengyang a traffic hub in south China, but also the third biggest industrial and commercial city in the area controlled by Kuomingtang. At that time, the population of the area increased tenfold. It became an officially registered became a city in 1942.  

After the liberation of Hengyang on October 8th in 1949, the Railway Ministry set up Hengyang Railway Bureau, with jurisdiction over the railways of five provinces in the middle of southern China. The city has been governing the county since July 1983.  

Table of Evolutionary History ofHengyang