Huarong County

Huarong County (Chinese: 华容县; Pinyin: Huáróng Xiàn) is the north-western county of Yueyang city, bordered by the Yangtze River and Hubei on the north.

Travel

Buses from Yueyang to the southeast leave for Huarong around every fifteen or twenty minutes, and the trip takes about one hour. Direct buses also run to and from Yichang (4 hours), Zhangjiajie (7 hours), Changsha (3 hours), Xiangtan (4 hours), Zhuzhou (4 hours) and many other places around China. Huarong is currently inaccessible by train, though this has been locally discussed as a future development. Northeast of Huarong (by about 45 minutes) lies Dongshan, a mountain town with a temple and a large reservoir.

Growth

Huarong has a population of around 100,000 people. It lies on opposite banks of the Huarong river, connected by two large traffic bridges. It is home to one of Hunan's key middle schools, Huarong County Number One Middle School （华容一中）. Huarong has very little tourism, and the foreign population is usually 2-3 people, generally English teachers at the Number One Middle School. Huarong county is plagued by annual floods, though these floods rarely reach the town itself.

Industry

One of Huarong's main industries is a beer factory, where the Xinghua （兴华） brand of beer is produced. The largest prison in Hunan is located just to the east of Huarong along the road to Yueyang, surrounded by fields. These fields are mainly used to grow pumpkins, and are cultivated by the prisoners. The surrounding area is home to many fish farms, large cotton fields, and rice paddies.

Huarong is the planned site for China's next nuclear power plant, to be built at an isolated location about an hour from the center of town (near the Yangtze river).

Culture

A popular summer pastime for locals in Huarong County is to sit and drink BingHua, a sweet slushy drink with fruit, nuts, and raisins. A special way of preparing fish, "Si bai yu", is a locally recognized dish. Huarong also boasts its own local dialect, which is called "Huaronghua."