Located on the southern margin of the province, it is adjacent to the northeastern border of Guangxi. The county borders to the northeast by Shuangpai County, to the east by Ningyuan County, to the south by Jianghua County, to the southwest by Jiangyong County, to the northwest and the north by Guanyang and Quanzhou Counties of Guangxi. Dao County covers 2,448 km2 (945 sq mi), as of 2015, It had a registered population of 802,800 and a resident population of 624,600.[4] The county has 11 towns, four townships and 7 subdistricts under its jurisdiction, the county seat is Lianxi (濂溪街道).[5]
The 1967 mass killing in Dao County, known as the Dao County Massacre, lasted 66 days from August 13 to October 17, 1967. It resulted in 4,519 dead, of whom 4,193 were killed outright and 326 were forced to commit suicide.[6]
There are two principal features of this massacre. The first one is that it took place during the Cultural Revolution. The other is that nearly 90 percent of the victims were labeled as "class enemies", i.e., the so-called Black Five Categories (landlords, rich peasants, counter-revolutionaries, "bad elements," and rightists) and their family members.[7]
^Yongzhou City Land Use Plan (2006–20)/《永州市土地利用总体规划(2006-2020年)》.(in Chinese) Accessed 8 July 2014.
^永州市2010年第六次全国人口普查主要数据公报. TJCN.org (in Chinese). China Statistical Information Network/中国统计信息网. Archived from the original on 17 September 2014. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
^the population of Dao County in 2015, according to the Statistical Communiqué of Dao County on the 2015 National Economic and Social Development - (2015年道县国民经济和社会发展统计公报): yzcity.gov.cnArchived 2017-02-01 at the Wayback Machine or yztj.gov.cnArchived 2017-02-02 at the Wayback Machine
^the divisions of Dao County in 2015, according to the result on adjustment of township-level administrative divisions of Dao County on November 16, 2015 - 《湖南省民政厅关于同意道县乡镇区划调整方案的批复》(湘民行发〔2015〕22号): rednet.cn, also see 《湖南省乡镇区划调整改革109个县市区批复方案》: people.comArchived 2017-04-07 at the Wayback Machine or xinhuanet.com