It is divided into 23 township-level divisions (November 27, 2015), its county seat is Liyuan Town (澧源镇).

[3] Migrant workers from Sangzhi have worked as drillers in the construction boom in the city of Shenzhen.

It is home to the Lishui River, the Badagong Mountain National Nature Reserve, and Jiutian Cave.

[8][9] Because the Lishui River has a high gradient in its upper reaches, floods arrive quickly, with sharp rises in water level.

Planners seek to raise the county's flood-control standard from 2-year-occurrence to 20-year-occurrence, and resettle households located in vulnerable areas.