Capital of Hunan Province, Changsha was the city where Mao Zedong received much of his formal education. But local history goes back thousands of years, leaving plenty of interesting sites for tourists.
Changsha is easily 3,000 years old, and the greatest archeological find was the tomb of the Marquess of Dai (Xin Zui). Her body was perfectly preserved, and appears even more lifelike than the embalmed bodies of 20th-century preserved communist party leaders in Russia. Today her body and effects are on display in the Hunan Provincial Museum.
Sites related to Mao Zedong’s legacy include the No 1 Teacher’s Training School, where he both studied and taught between 1913 and 1922. During his tenure as a teacher, Mao lived at the Hunan CPC Committee. This area is also worth visiting for the antiques market that convenes every weekend.
Getting There & Away
Huanghua International Airport is relatively close to Changsha and can be reached by car in under an hour. This facility offers mostly domestic connections intermixed with a few international routes to and from prominent Asian cities. The flight from Beijing to Changsha takes around 2 hours. Trains to Shanghai take 20 hours to arrive.
Things to Do
Changsha Attractions
- Hunan Provincial Museum
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This museum houses an impressive collection of han dynasty artifacts as well as the tomb of xin zui.
- Hunan CPC Committee
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Chairman mao lived here in the 1920s and a collection of his personal effects (including poems he penned himself) are on display.
- Tianxin Ge
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This remnant of the ancient city walls is of interest to tourists.
- Hunan No 1 Teacher’s Training School
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Mao zedong studied here in the early 1900s, and tours reveal the dormitory where he stayed and the meeting halls where he launched his life’s ambition.