Changsha 长沙 · Capital of Hunan Province

3,000 Years at the Heart of China

Changsha has been continuously inhabited for over 3,000 years, first appearing as a walled city during the Western Zhou dynasty (1046–771 BC). As the capital of the ancient state of Chu — a rival to the Zhou — it became one of the most sophisticated cultural centres of pre-imperial China, producing the extraordinary lacquerware and silk textiles preserved at Mawangdui.

During the Han dynasty (206 BC–220 AD), Changsha flourished as a regional capital. The Han-era Mawangdui tombs, excavated in 1972, yielded one of archaeology's greatest discoveries: the extraordinarily preserved body of Lady Xin Zhui (辛追), along with thousands of burial objects that revolutionised understanding of Han culture.

Through the Tang and Song dynasties, the city became a centre of learning; the Yuelu Academy (岳麓书院), founded in 976 AD, remains one of China's four great ancient academies and is still operational today. In the Qing dynasty and early Republic period, Changsha became a hotbed of reformist and revolutionary thought — most famously as the birthplace and intellectual home of Mao Zedong (1893–1976), who studied at Yuelu Academy and organized early communist cells here.

The city suffered enormously during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945); the "Changsha Burning" (文夕大火) of 1938 was one of the war's most tragic episodes, when the city was set ablaze to deny advancing Japanese forces. Post-1949, Changsha industrialised rapidly and today stands as a dynamic, modern megalopolis while jealously guarding its extraordinary heritage.