Shaoyang is a prefecture-level city in Hunan Province, People's Republic of China. Shaoyang is in the south west of Hunan, not far from Hengyang city. Shaoyang has a history of 2500 years and remains an important commercial and transportation city in Hunan. It has a city area and 8 suburban counties, with a population of 7.6 million, the largest in Hunan Province. One of the major forest areas in Hunan, Shaoyang has a forest coverage of 42.7%. The 23,000,000 acres (93,000 km2) Nan Shan Pastures is one of the biggest in Southern China which provide dairy products and meat for Hunanese.