Mons, the capital city of the Hainaut Province, the Kingdom of Belgium, is  located 54 kilometres from Bruseels, and 100 kilometers from Antwerpen, the second largest harbor of Europe. Mons is not only one of the cities have the most banks in Belgium, but it is the hub of communications. Expressways connect it directly with Italy go the south, and with the Scandinavian Peninsula to the north. It only takes two hours to Paris by the European express railway.

Mons has a dense population of over 100,000. The urban area accounts for 14,815 hectares and the population density is 640 persons per hectare. Within a radius of 250 kilometers from the center of Mons, it is the area of the thickest industrial population of Europe.

The main mineral resource of Mons is chalk. Mons is also the biggest agricultural center in Belgium. One third of its land is mainly for feed production, cows raising, milk production, crop and beet growing.

On May, 14,1998, Du Yuanming, Mayor of Changsha and Maurice Lafosse, Mayor of Mons, signed the “Agreement on the Establishment of Friendship City Relationship Between Mons and Changsha” in Mons.