Under the administration of Chenzhou City, Anren County got its name in China's Qing Dynasty during the reign of Emperor Tongzhi, with the origin tracing back to the expression of  "The virtuous rest content with benevolence" in The Analects of Confucius.

 

Anren is seated in Yongle River valley of Mi shui River, northeast Chengzhou City, southeast Hunan Province. To the east and the north, it adjoins You County, Chaling County and Yanling County of Zhuzhou City, Hunan Province; to the northwest, it is adjacent to Hengdong County, Hengnan County and Leiyang County of Hengyang City; and to the south, it is contiguous to Yongxin County and Zixin City.

 

Covering a total area of 1,642 sq. km, Anren governs 15 townships of 6 towns. At the village level, it boasts 8 neighborhood committees and 217 village committees. The county's total population is 393,000 with the ethnic Han as the majority and 8 other minorities such as Miao, Yao, Man and Meng, etc.

 

The Anren County People's Government is located in Chengguan Town, 230 km from Changsha City and 120 kmfrom Chengzhou City. During the time of the Three Kingdoms, it was subsumed under Hengshan County and Hengyang County in the Wu Kingdom. In the Tang Dynasty (during the reign of Emperor Wude: 618A.D.-626A.D.), Anren was set up as a town. It was approved as a special region of Hengyang City in 1949, then an administrative region of south Hunan in 1952 and finally a special region of Chengzhou City in 1954.