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Zhangjiajie City, formerly named Dayong City,was founded as a prefecture city in 1988.The new name of Zhangjiajie City was adopted in 1994, after Zhangjiajie National Forest Park in the Wulingyuan Scenic Area in order to give it more prominence and after this site had been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992. 

Why to rename ?

Here i need to tell you the story why to change the name of Dayong City as Zhangjiajie City.In 1990's,Mr Xiao Zhenglong, the first Mayor of Dayong City once attended a conferences in Hongkong.He exchanged business cards with his customers while he introduced himself that he was from Hunan's Dayong City. In 1990s, most Hongkong people knew Zhangjiajie,but did not know Dayong. Because the unique magnificent scenry of Zhangjiajie had been known widely in Hongkong since 1985. Many tourists were attracted to visit Zhangjiajie National Forest Park. So the name of Zhangjiajie was known widely but less people knew the City name of Dayong. After this time, the Mayor of Mr Xiao decided to change the city name as Zhangjiajie so as to promote Zhangjiajie Tourism worldwide.

Easily to understand the meaning of Zhangjiajie

In fact,Zhangjiajie is a small village located within the bounds of Zhangjiajie National Forest Park. The three-character name (Chinese : 张家界,Chinese Pingyin: Zhang Jia Jie ) can be interpreted as follows: "Zhang" (张) is a common surname in China; "jia" (家) can be translated as "family"; and "jie" (界) can be translated as "homeland or border", giving the completed translation of "Zhang family homeland or Zhang family border." 

Zhangjiajie, the name may have been chosen to convey the idea or impression of "Open the family door to welcome friends from all over the world", but this is not the locally accepted and directly-translated meaning of the name. 

The official version of its name is linked to a Han general.In the West Han Dynasty, Zhang Liang, who resettled in the area after a suspicious Liu Bang, the first Han emperor, started to persecute his staffs and generals who had contributed to his becoming emperor. It was so named to signify that the Zhang family had set up home there.