Changsha ( 长沙 Chángshā )

Changsha ( 长沙 Chángshā ) is the capital of Hunan, a province of Southcentral China, located on the lower reaches of Xiangjiang river, a branch of the Yangtze River.

• About Changsha City
• How to Get to Changsha
• How to Get around in Changsha
• Attractions
• When to Visit
• Where to Stay

About Changsha City

Changsha is the capital of Hunan, a province of Southcentral China, located on the lower reaches of Xiangjiang river, a branch of the Yangtze River. It covers an area of 11,819 sq. kilometers and has a population of 6,017,600 (2003 population census).

Changsha has jurisdiction over five districts (Furong, Tianxin, Yuelu, Kaifu, Yuhua districts), three counties (Changsha, Wangcheng, Ningxiang counties) and Liuyang city.

Changsha is located at 111°53'–114°5' east longitude and 27°51'–28°40' north latitude, situated in the east central Hunan. Its terrain is high in the west and low in the east. There are many mountainous areas in the west and in the north. The Xiangjiang River flows south to northwest; 296 m high Mt. Yuelushan is in the west; and Liuyanghe River (Liuyang River) and Ladaohe River (Laodao River) east.

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How to Get to Changsha City

By Air

Changsha has an international airport located to the east of the city center (Huanghua International Airport). The airportis around 15.5 miles (25 km) away from the city centre.

By train

There are plenty of trains transporting passengers to and from most of the major cities inside China.The railway station is located in the east end of the city at Chezhan Lu. It takes about 16 hours from Changsha to Beijing, Shanghai, Guiyand and Kunming and 8 to 10 hours from Changsha to Guangzhou and Shenzhen by train.

 

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Get around in Changsha City

By bus

There are busses serve all parts of the city and its suburbs. Regular busses within the city cost 1RMB or 2RMB.

By taxi

Taxis start at 8 RMB and usually have reliable meters. As usual, care should be taken when travelling at night or long distances (agree on a price ahead of time).

 

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Attractions

 

Changsha is not a city full of lots of heritage site and wonder. Lots of tourists arrive at Changsha since they choose Changsha as their transfer point when traveling on to Zhangjiajie, Hengyang, Yueyang or Pheonix town. But there are still some culture sights to see in Changsha.

Landmarks

The Island of Oranges - The place is actually a narrow and long strip of sandbank (about 3 miles or 5 kilometers) in the midstream of the Xiangjiang River. It's named after the large numbers of orange trees growing there. Visitor could find a good view of the river at the southern end of the island. and enjoy oneself in the scenic park. The public scenic park has pretty pavilion and marble monument that engraved with Mao Zedon's inscriptions.

Yuelushan Hill - The mountain stands to the west of the Old Town on the west bank of the Xiangjiang River. It is naturally charming with once famous YueLu Academy located at the eastern foot of the Yuelushan Hill. Yuelu Academy was originally built in 976. It is historically glorious feudal academic shool in ancient times, and today the home of Hunan Univerisity.

Mawangdui Han Tombs - The three Han graves were excavated between 1972 and 1974 located about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) to the northeast of the town. This famous Mawangdui Han Tombs is a open window to the ancient Chinese history of more than two thousand years ago. This three Han tombs belonged to a noble family who lived at the beginning of the Western Han dynasty (206-24 BC).

The first tomb site uncovered the well-preserved mummified remains of the wife of Prince Li Cang with rich grave-goods which are now housed in the provincial museum in Changsha city. Her remains was complete and the skin still flexible as if she had been buried yesterday. The other two tombs were for the Prince himself and his son.

Thousands of relics have been unearthed from the three graves, such as inscriptions and paintings on silk, lacquer works, potteries, books written on bamboo leaves, weapons, herbs, and so on.

Mao's Birthplace - Shaoshan village is located about 100 kilometers (60 milies) south-west of Changsha city. It was home of Mao Zedong. Built in Hunan style, the house was now a museum displaying young Mao's personal items and photos of his revolutionary period.

 

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When to Visit

The four seasons in Changsha are distinct. Summer is long and broiling, with heavy rainfall, and autumn is comfortable with abundant sunlight. In winter, it is nearly rainless and not very cold, changing to rainy and wet weather with rapidly increasing temperatures in the spring. The best time to visit is Fall season.

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Where to Stay

 

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Some information in this article is based on information from an article on Wikipedia.org and is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License.