Xiantao

Xiantao lies in the heart of the Jianghan Plain, between the Han River to the north and the Dongjing River to the south, on low alluvial land laced with lakes and channels. Finds around Shahu and Yuezhou lakes show that people were farming and fishing here by Neolithic times. A commandery named Mianyang was created in 503, and for more than a thousand years that name, later a prefecture under the Yuan and a subprefecture under the Ming, identified this water country. The present name comes from the town of Xiantao, said to echo the local place name Jiandaozui. A mild monsoon climate and a dense web of waterways long made it a celebrated land of rice and fish.