Yizhang (宜章) is a county in southern Chenzhou, in the middle of the Nanling mountains at the southern foot of Qitian Ridge, near the northern border of Guangdong. Its county town sits on the border between the two provinces, and the national highway from Guangzhou to Beijing passes through the middle of it, so it has long been a crossing point for the road south. The county covers 2,142.7 square kilometres and includes Mangshan Yao Ethnic Township in its far south. In early 1928 the survivors of the Nanchang Uprising, led by Zhu De, found refuge in the county before marching on to the Jinggangshan mountains. It is a border county whose history runs through its passes.
Yizhang sits in the mountains on the Guangdong border, where the routes south have long crossed the Nanling. In 1928 Zhu De's uprising survivors found refuge here before marching on to Jinggangshan, and the Guangzhou-Beijing highway still crosses the town.