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Changsha

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Province of Changsha

There's little evidence to show that the site of CHANGSHA , Hunan's tidy, nondescript capital, has been inhabited for three thousand years, but it has long been an important river town and, prior to Qin invasions in 280 BC, was the southern capital of the kingdom of Chu . Caught in the crossfire of the nineteenth-century peasant rebellions which swept through central China, most of what was left of the old city was torched in the 1940s by the Guomindang, who were trying to dislodge Japanese resistance, and the rest was largely cleared in recent modernizations. While ancient sites and objects occasionally surface nearby - such as Shang-era bronze wine jars, and the magnificently preserved contents of three Han burial mounds - their presence is swamped by more contemporary structures: busy clover-leaf intersections, grey concrete facades and stylish modern street lighting.

Primarily, though, Changsha is known for its links with Mao . Aged eighteen and intent on becoming educated, he arrived here from his native village as nationwide power struggles erupted following the Manchu dynasty's fall in 1911, and soon put aside his studies to spend six months in the local militia. After he returned to the classroom in 1913, Changsha became a breeding ground for secret political societies and intellectuals, and by 1918 there was a real movement for Hunan to become an independent state. For a time, this idea found favour with the local warlord Zhao Hendi , though he soon violently turned on the students and workers who supported him. Mao, by now a teacher, was singled out and fled to Beijing, where he was soon to co-found the Chinese Communist Party. He later returned to the city and spent much of the 1920s organizing peasant uprisings in rural Hunan.

Mao was by no means the only young Hunanese profoundly affected by these events, and a number of his contemporaries later surfaced in the Communist government: Liu Shaoqi , Mao's deputy until he became a victim of the Cultural Revolution; four Politburo members under Deng Xiaoping, including the former CCP chief, Hu Yaobang ; and Hua Guofeng , Mao's lookalike and briefly empowered successor. Today, Changsha's few formal attractions are dominated by the Chairman's presence, though there are also a couple of parks to wander around, and a fascinating Provincial Museum . The only real day trip from Changsha is out to Mao's birthplace at Shaoshan , 90km to the southwest, a very pleasant excursion made easier by well-organized public transport.

The City
Much of Changsha is functional, with little to absorb between the sights, but it's a clean, well-ordered city and people are noticeably friendly - don't be surprised if you acquire a guide while walking around. For unknown reasons, tropical betel Much of Changsha is functional, with little to absorb between the sights, but it's a clean, well-ordered city and people are noticeably friendly - don't be surprised if you acquire a guide while walking around. For unknown reasons, tropical betel nut (the areca palm's stimulating seed pod) is a popular pick-me-up in Changsha, sold either boiled and sliced for chewing, or powdered in cigarettes.

Qingshui Tang (Clearwater Pool), Mao's former home in Changsha and the site of the first local Communist Party offices, is on Bayi Lu (daily 8.30am-5pm; ¥5; bus #1 stops outside). A white marble statue of Mao greets you at the gate, and the garden walls are covered with stone tablets carved with his epigrams. Near the pool itself is a scruffy vegetable patch and the reconstructed room in which Mao and his second wife, Yang Kaihui (daughter of Mao's stoical and influential teacher, Yang Chang Qi), lived after moving here from Beijing following their marriage in 1921. There's also a display of peasant tools - a grindstone, thresher, carrypole and baskets - and a short history of Chinese agriculture. A few minutes' walk farther on is the monumental Local Museum , brightly tiled in red and containing a low-key but interesting collection of historical artefacts, including clay tomb figurines - look for the bearded horseman - and a cannon used for defending the city against Taiping incursions in 1852. These pieces lead through to a depressing photographic record of Guomindang atrocities and eulogies to Mao, Zhou Enlai, and others. The three red flags here are those of the Party, the PLA and the nation.