Yanglin Town of Hengdong County lies on both banks of the Mishui River, 32 kilometers southeast of the Hengdong county seat. It borders Mojing Township, Caoshi Town, Gaohu Township and Nanwan Township within the same county. Boasting a long history, Yanglin was known as Yanglin Wharf in the Tang Dynasty. It served as a key market town along the Mishui River and got its name from the lush green poplar and willow forests lining the riverbank back then. The Ancient Yanglin Street has a history of over 200 years, and it is one of the few well-preserved streets in Hunan Province lined entirely with brick-and-timber buildings covered in blue bricks and grey tiles.

Nestled between mountains and rivers, the town features the lofty, densely wooded Sifang Mountain and the clear, winding Mishui River. It is also home to Taiping Temple, famous for a poem inscribed by Huang Tingjian. Upstream stands Caoshi Town where three rivers converge and the incense-rich Lingshan Temple; downstream stretches the Mishui River Drifting Scenic Belt, a national-level water conservancy natural scenic area. Marshal Luo Ronghuan’s Former Residence and Xiyan Immortal Cave — hailed as the No.1 scenic wonder in southern Chu — are also located a short distance away.

As the Mishui River runs very close by and the river embankment stands less than one meter high, Yanglin suffers annual floods. Starting from the 1970s and 1980s, residents along the old street moved roughly 200 meters uphill to New Yanglin Street, a flood-safe elevated area. Only a handful of elderly people refused to relocate and remain on the over-one-kilometer-long old street. In 2003, Hengdong County People’s Government designated Ancient Yanglin Street an immovable cultural relic.

Yanglin develops large-scale rapeseed cultivation. Every spring, boundless golden rapeseed blossoms carpet both banks of the Mishui River, forming a spectacular, eye-catching landscape for the ancient town.