Yongzhou is located in the south of Hunan Province, where Xiao and Xiang met. According to experts' argumentation, there was a relatively mature primitive agriculture and primitive pottery industry in Yongzhou area10.2 million years ago, and there was a very old civilization inheritance. Yongzhou was called Xiaoxiang in ancient times, also known as Lingling. Lingling is one of the oldest place names in China. There are thirty-four ancient place names before Xia Dynasty, and Lingling is one of them.

This group of pictures was taken by British missionaries in the late Qing Dynasty.

There has just been a heavy snow, and the vast land is covered with silver. On the left side of the photo, a corner of Yongzhou City Wall is exposed.

Built on the mountain, it is like a dragon winding into the Yongzhou city wall in the distance.

The ancient city of Lingling was founded in 124 BC, when it was the back city of Quanling and then the county city of Quanling. In the first year of Jianwu (25 years), Guangwudi of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Lingling County.

In the sixth year of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty (1373), the original earth-built ancient city wall was changed into a masonry city wall. The circumference of the city hall is nine miles and twenty-seven steps, more than three feet high, four feet five inches wide and nearly three thousand crenels.

Rows of residential roofs are covered with snow and look neat and clean.

Back to Dongshan, facing Xiaoshui, there are seven gates in Dailing City. In addition to the east, south and north gates, there are four gates facing Xiaoshui in the west: Xiaoxiangmen, Daximen, Yonganmen (Xiaoximen) and Taipingmen.

Yongzhou Confucian Temple, formerly known as Yongzhou Gong Xue, is located in the east of Lingling. It was built in the early years of Song Xiding (1208). The original site was on the left side of Yuxi Bridge in Hexi, and it was relocated and rebuilt many times.

There are three doors in front of Dacheng Hall, with the instrument door in the middle and the halberd door on both sides. The pillars of the main hall are carved with exquisite Panlong statues.

This temple is small in scale and beautifully designed. In the Sanheyuan, there are hollow walls and windows with the entrance of a tall stone square in the middle, and double-eaved arch buildings on the left and right sides.

Back to Long Ta is located on the east bank of Xiaoshui in the north of Yongzhou. Built in the reign of Shen Jia in the Wanli period of Ming Dynasty (1584), the tower is nearly 38 meters high, with masonry structure and octagonal appearance.

Back in Long Ta, there are seven floors on exterior and five floors on interior. There are stone steps leading to the top floor. Climbing high, a blue river surrounds the tower, which is beautiful.

Yongzhou local family of three. The man is holding a book, the woman is holding a bowl of tea, and her handsome son is standing by. Judging from their clothes and furnishings in the house, they are a well-off family.

A group of local people, men and women, old and young. In the photo, I saw the family in the previous picture.

On the outskirts of Yongzhou in spring. A small river is flowing, and houses with different heights are built along the river. Neat ridges and endless distant mountains are full of vibrant green.