The name Zhongxiang means "Blessed with propitious omen", and was given to the city by the Jiajing Emperor in the Ming dynasty.

Because the Jiajing Emperor (r. 1521–1566) of the Ming dynasty was born and had lived in the city before he succeeded to the throne, Zhongxiang, the place where the Chengtian Prefecture (fu) Government Office was located, became one of the three major prefectures directly under the central government.

[7] Zhongxiang, with a total land area of 4,488 square kilometres (1,733 sq mi), is situated in the central part of Hubei.

It borders Suizhou to the northeast, Jingshan County to the east, Tianmen to the south, the two districts (urban area) of Jingmen to the west, and Yicheng to the northwest.

Zhongxiang is administratively equal to a county and is divided into 17 township-level division: 1 subdistrict, 15 towns, and 1 township.

Main agricultural products include grains, cotton, oil, pigs, poultry, fruits, vegetables, and edible fungus.

Main crops includes rice, wheat, corn, soybean silkworm peas, and cotton, rapeseed, peanut, sesame, vegetables, citrus fruit, pears, grape, red jujube, peaches, tea, etc.