Historically called
宝庆 (Baoqing) under the Ming and Qing; renamed Shaoyang in 1928. The city is the birthplace of Qing-dynasty reformer
魏源 (author of 《
海国图志》, an early Chinese treatise on world geography) and the base of the Miao and Yao minority areas along the Hunan-Guangxi border.
