Jingzhou is a prefecture-level city in southern Hubei, located on the banks of the Yangtze River. The city has been a strategic location of military importance since ancient times. The area of present-day Jingzhou was where the State of Chu was founded. It is considered a birthplace of Chu culture and the center of the Three Kingdoms (220-280) culture. During the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period (770-221 BC), 20 generations of Chu kings set capital in Jingzhou, forming the Chu culture which is comparable to the Athens culture in ancient Greece and leaving invaluable cultural relics from their 400 plus years’ reign. Many stories of the Three Kingdoms took place here. Jingzhou is home to a large number of historical sites, with the most famous being the relic site of Jinan (capital of the Chu State), the Tombs on the Baling Range, the Xuanmiao Taoist Temple and the Taihui Taoist Temple. As Jingzhou bears so much importance in Chinese history, the city was acknowledged by the State Council as a top historical and cultural city in February 1982.