Study On The Hengyang City

Hengyang is a city of great historic and cultural significance, which located in thesouth of Hengshan with marvelous landscape and profound historical and culturalheritage.“North Yan flies southerly, hover here and stop to settle ", that is the sourceof “Yan city”. During the Anti-Japanese War, the famous Hengyang Battle happenedhere, and it enjoys the "City of the Anti-Japanese War Memorial" in the world.Hengyang is the second largest city in Hunan Province, enjoys significantgeographical position, and military strategist strived for it form ancient times.Hengyang has a long history of more than two thousand years, since when it graduallybecame the political and economic center in the south district of Xiang (now HunanProvince). The current paper selects Hengyang as the research object, and starts withthe following aspects like geographical condition of arising and developing, the cityform and urban spatial layout aiming to provide reference and advice for Hengyang’sfuture develop.Hengyang, which belongs to a subtropical monsoon climate, has the advantageof warm and humid, adequate light, rain and heat in the same period climatecharacteristics, is very suitable for the growth of crops and human habitation. Lowand flat terrain is the ideal place for the construction of city. In addition, sufficientwater resources guarantee the city’s daily necessities. All of these favorableconditions promoting the city coming into being in the district of Hengyang at earlyage. The strategic position of Hengyang in history was gradually improved, and therulers continued to strengthen the operation of this region. Over the years, Hengyanghas significant transportation location since it acts as the transportation junction ofCentral Plains and Guangdong&Guangxi areas. And the social economy develops andbecomes flourishing. In short, favorable natural conditions and human conditions,prompting the political status of Hengyang City and made it continue to improve, itsinfluence in southern Hunan was expanded.It has gone through a long process for Hengyang to select the site city. Duringthe period of Warring States, there was a place which called Pang Yap that was theoldest city in the Eastern of Xiangjiang River, and this is the beginning of theconstruction of Hengyang urban construction city. Afterwards, of Hengyang citymoved to the western Xiangjiang River which has a higher geographical position dueto flooding. With the development of society, Hengyang City form continuous toimprove. Up to the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the urban facilities of Hengyang cityhave been basically completed and it laid foundation for the urban form of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The period of Ming and Qing Dynasties is an important stage ofHengyang City’s Development. During Ming Dynasty, it appears the city buildingboom. Under the circumstances, huge and solid walls were built, broad and deepmoats were excavated, which greatly improve the city’s power of defense. During thetime of Republic of China, due to the war and the effects of urbanization, theHengyang City urban form has changed dramatically.Because of limited historical data, it is difficult to carry out the research of thespatial arrangement of Hengyang city before the Ming and Qing dynasty; it couldonly be studied in the way of analyzing the existing documents. During the time ofMing and Qing Dynasties, the urban facilities of Hengyang city were basicallycompleted which covers the government offices, cultural, educational, fairs, religiousand other facilities were all in readiness. Government offices not only occupied themost important position in the inner city, it is also has the largest construction scale.The cultural and educational institutions in Hengyang city were relatively perfect, andit was divided into prefectures school, which were the main places to nurture talentsIn addition, the College of Education developed prosperously. With the developmentof commodity economy, the bazaar of Hengyang city was more prosperous, and thenumber of street was gradually increasing. Close to the famous Buddhist Mountain–Nanyue, Hengyang city has a large number of religious facilities. After Qing Dynasty,foreign religions began to spread in. During this period, the arrangement of theinternal construction and layout of streets in Hengyang city had been formalized andinstitutionalized. And all these changes have some relationship with the developmentof economy.At the early time of New China, great achievement of Hengyang constructionhad been made. Nevertheless, due to the guidance of erroneous ideas, there had someblindness and disorder in the urban arrangement and construction process and whichin turn influenced the healthy development of Hengyang city. The author believes that:the future development of Hengyang city should correctly sort out the relationshipbetween the Old Town and the New Area, and take some measures to protect anddevelop this area. Highlight the city cultural characteristics and enhance the city’simage and charm. With the help of regional advantages, we can enhance regionalcompetitiveness. Reshape the urban culture well and create an ecological livable city.By these efforts, we can promote the scientific development of Hengyang City.