1. "郴" (pronounced as chen) is a unique Chinese character, which was created in the Qin Dynasty (221 BC- 206 BC).Two rounds of character simplification movement once took place in the history of modern China, when many place names were substituted by their homonyms due to difficulties in writing and pronunciation. However, though rarely seen, the character "郴" remained the same throughout the history because of its unique cultural background.

2. Chenzhou is the origin of three major rivers, i.e. Gan River, Pearl River and Xiang River, nourishing nurishment and profound cultural customs.

3. Chenzhou, with time has seen funeral procession for three emperors.

4. Chenzhou is a place that gave birth to nine immortals and two Buddhas. Its culture was recorded in the Commentary to the River Classic (a 40-volumeCommentary to the River Classic, gives detailed descriptions of the history, geography, economy, culture, and social customs, and so on of the areas where the rivers pass by) by Li Daoyuan and other books such as Collected Biographies of Immortals ( the first Daoist hagiography),  Strange Tales of a Lonely Studio (Exquisite Chinese stories of the supernatural), Tale of the Earthly Paradise and in  Extensive Records of the Taiping Era (a collection of stories, some stories are historical or naturalistic anecdotes, each is replete with a historical elements, and qualify as fiction, but the topics are mostly supernatural, about Buddhist and Daoist priests, immortals, ghosts, and various deities). Moreover, Chenzhou's  reputation as the 18th blessed land of China also contributes to its brand culture on blessing.

5. Chenzhou has advanced farming culture. As is noted in books like Ancient Records of Heng Xiang and Records of Guiyang County, in the north of Guiyang County lies Qi River, of which Jiahe is on the north. Jiahe is reputated as the grain storehouse and is said to be the breeding place of some excellent rice picked up by Shennong, the legendary father of Chinese agriculture in the era of Yan Emperor. He then taught people the practices of agriculture such assowing the seeds and farming. The totem worship towards farming culture is ubiquitous in Chenzhou's folk handicrafts like wood carvings and stone carvings.

6. Chenzhou is where the lotus culture sprang from. It is the Neo-Confucianism, a Confucian School Idealist Philosophy of the Song and Ming Dynasties, that integrated Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism before the Tang and Song Dynasties and developed into ancient China's most significant cultural school. Zhou Dunyi, founder of the Neo-Confucianism, had been an official of Chenzhou for 11 years, whose environment gave him much inspiration to write on lotus flower. Lotus flower has been associated with the human soul, purity and enlightenment. He built schools in Chenzhou and gave lectures in Yufeng Mountain, greatly influencing the character of the local people.

7. Chenzhou is where the Huxiang culture originated.  Zhou Dunyi can be said to be the pioneer of the cultural school if Huxiang culture is dated back to Neo-Confucianism; while Zeng Guofan, a Chinese imperial official who played a crucial role in crushing the Taiping Rebellion, is regarded as the most famous modern authority on Huxiang culture, then Ou Yanghou from Chenzhou should be the founder, as Zeng Guofan, Li Yuandu and Zuo Zongtang were all his disciples.

 

8. Chenzhou is a famous place in history where demoted officials could have a change of luck. The practice of degrading officials was initiated from the well-known court struggle between Niu Sengru and Li Deyu, two high-ranking officials of the Tang Dynasty. A review of the national history shows that during the sixty years between the reign of Zhenyuan (1153-1156) and Emperor Wuzong's Huichang era (841-846), 11 officials had been demoted as officials of Chenzhou. They were Li Jifu, Yang Yuling, Han Tai, Cheng Yi, Mu Zan, Dou Can, Zheng Yuqing, Liu Wangjing, Li Yu, Li Zongmin, and Zhu Pu equivalent to that of prime minister nowadays. However, these demoted officials had their luck changed as Chenzhou is a blessed land. Meanwhile, they played an important role in Chenzhou's cultural exchanges with the outside, laying a solid foundation for its cultural development. A vast majority of the masters in the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties left writings, paintings or poems in Chenzhou. 　　

9. According to Han Yu, Chenzhou also possessed the elegance and grace as that of Zhongzhou of Henan Province. In his prose Farewell with Taoist Liao Zhengfa, he wrote that Chenzhou was located on a mountain with an altitude of two thirds of the mountain's height, because of which beautiful scenery stretched from Chenzhou and continued with the height of the mountain.

10. Chenzhou boasts multicultural elements and exchanges. There are many various dialects in Chenzhou, whose unique features differ from both Sichuan dialects and Hunan dialects.