The county, a part of the city of Changsha, covers 1,997 square kilometers and has 19 towns and villages and three districts, with its government in the Xingsha district. The 2011 census showed it had 979,000 people.

It has convenient transportation and Changsha’s Huanghua International Airport, train station, and Xianing New Port are all within 10 km of the county. It is in a “Dual-type society” pilot area involving the cities of Changsha, Zhuzhou, and Xiangtan cities, and is one of the central government’s reform and opening–up zones.

It has good accommodation, with two 4-star hotels and one 5-star, with standard rooms running around 398 yuan for the former and 498 yuan for the latter

It also has international schools that can cater to foreign children. The Changsha Country Garden Venice Bilingual School, a Country Garden Education Group property, opened in September 2007, on a 60,000-square–meter area and can hold 1,800 students, from kindergarten to high school. The Changsha WES Academy, opened in January 2011, can hold 500 students from primary to high school.

The county has 39 hospitals and clinics with 3,213 staff members, including Changsha city’s Hospital No.8 and the county’s Hospital No.1.

The county has many special restaurants, such as Yuloudong, Xinyuege, Daronghe, and Qinhuang, and large shopping malls, such as the Lotus Supermarket, Tongcheng Business Plaza, and Better-life Supermarket, and entertainment facilities, such as Window of the World and Underwater World.

Its financial market has been developing, with the added value reaching 850 million yuan in 2011, for year-on-year growth of 11 percent. The same year, bank savings amounted to 43.59 billion yuan, up 19.1 percent from 2010, while loans were up 32.7 percent year-on-year, at 32.78 billion, and deposits were 19.65 billion yuan, up 23.4 percent from 2010. The county had 155 financial institutions in 2011, seven more than 2010.