Yueyang is a prefecture-level city at the northeastern corner of Hunan Province, South Central China, on the southern shores of Dongting Lake. The Yueyang metropolitan area occupies 14,896 sq km. and the city proper occupies 304 sq km. The population is 5,477,911 at the 2010 census whom 571,670 live in the built up area made of Yueyanglou District. The area now called Yueyang has been inhabited for over 3,000 years. It was originally established as a prefecture called Hanchang in 210 AD during the Three Kingdoms period. Under the Song Dynasty (AD 960-AD 1279) it was heavily fortified, with walls 4 miles (6.4 km) in circumference, and became the seat of the military prefecture of Yueyang, whence its present name. During the Taiping Rebellion, its capture by the rebels in AD 1852 was an important stage in their advance up the Yangtze River valley to Nanjing.