Loudi (娄底) is a prefecture-level city in the middle of Hunan, about 110 kilometres south-west of Changsha, where three railways cross. Coal, iron and antimony under its hills made it the province's steel, energy and chemicals base. To its west the land climbs into the Xuefeng Mountains toward the minority regions, and Xinhua County keeps the old Meishan highlands — terraced hills, a cave named for a dragon palace, and a hunting-and-song culture older than Han settlement. The prefecture counts the smallest minority population in Hunan, yet its mountain counties carry some of the province's oldest customs.
In the hills of Xinhua and Anhua, a hunting, herbal and song culture older than Han settlement survives under the name Meishan. The mountains, the culture's practices and its present are the three faces of a way of life the Song state opened up in 1072.