外文名称:
CHANGSHA, the capital of Hunan Province,
is a flourishing regional center for culture and education. Situated in
south-central China on the lower reaches of the Xiangjiang River,
Changsha lies 525 km. (315 mi.) northwest of Guangzhou and 1,350 km.
(810 mi.) south of Beijing. It is one of three principal stops on the
Beijing-Guangzhou railway line (12 hours from Guangzhou, 26
from Beijing). Greater Changsha has an area of 3,989 sq.km. (1,540 sq.
mi); the central city occupies 218 sq.km.(25 sq.mi). Greater
Changsha supports a population of 4.4 million.
Changsha owes its contemporary
significance to two factors: the intensively cultivated alluvial
lowlands, which are among the most beautiful and productive in China;
and the major role it played in the life and political career of late
Chairman Mao Zedong.
Mao was
born in neighboring Shaoshan and moved to Changsha in 1912 to attend
high school. His observations of life in this area served as the basis
of the most important of his early political essays, "Report on an
Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan."
Changsha in History
The site of Changsha was inhabited as
long as 3,000 years ago. Metallurgy, textile handicrafts, and lacquer
work have flourished here since the Spring and Autumn and Warring
States periods (770-221 BC.)
The city was known as an important educational center as early as the
Song Dynasty (c. 10th century AD). The Yuelu Academy was founded here
in 976 as one of the country's four imperial academies of higher
learning. A large encircling wall with nine gates (portions of which
are still standing) was built during the Ming Dynasty.
In 1904, an "open-door" treaty
established Changsha as a foreign trade port. Afterwards, large numbers
of Europeans and Americans began to take up residence in the city.
Foreign influences were soon manifested in the establishment of
churches, educational institutions-including a college (now a medical
center) set up by Yale University -- and a number of small export factories.
Mao Zedong
was a student in Changsha from 1912 to 1918. It was here that he became
a Communist. Local guides relate that during this period Mao matured
politically from a naive country lad who had never read a newspaper to
a questioning student, progressive teacher, and local political
organizer. One of his first jobs was editing the local Xiangjiang River
Review.
Changsha suffered
acute damage during the Chinese People's War Resistance Against
Japanese Aggression (1937-45), and much of it remained in ruins until
after the establishment of the PRC in 1949. By 1952, reconstruction and
rehabilitation had been well under way and important industrial
construction had began.
Natural Features
Situated on the two sides of the Xiangjiang River, the city proper of
Changsha features the topography declining from Southwest to Northeast.
To the west lies the Yuelu Mountain 297 meters above sea level, and the
rolling red soil land is largely distributed to the south. To the north
and east of the city are vast plain areas where Liuyang and Laodao
rivers meet the Xiangjiang River.
Changsha has a subtropical wet
monsoon climate featuring
relatively long hot summer and
short cold winter, with the annual average temperature of 17.5 degree
centigrade and the yearly average precipitation of 1,378 mm.
Economy
Changsha served as a
major trading center for more than 2,000 years. Prior to the 20th
century, most commercial activity stemmed from agriculture. Hunan has
traditionally been a food producer, annually furnishing about 15
percent of China's total rice crop.
An early boost to development occurred
when Changsha was linked by rail to Hankou (now a part of Wuhan) and
Beijing in 1908, providing an impetus for the growth of the modern
light industry, particularly textiles and food processing. Today, the
city's economy has been diversified to include machine
tool,
chemical, and electronics industries. A new railway terminus was
completed in 1977.
River
transportation plays a significant role in Changsha's economy. Changsha
remains the busiest port on the Xiangjiang River. Grain, building
materials, coal, and timber account for about 70 percent of the freight
handled. Shipments arrive in cargo boats or in barges.
Culture
Changsha is noted for
its marionette and shadow-puppet theater. A recent attraction is the
important Western Han (206 BC-24 AD) tomb discovered at Mawangdui in
1972. The site contained some outstanding and superbly preserved
artifacts which are now on display in Changsha's Hunan Provincial
Museum.
The
city's major
educational centers are located on the west bank of the river at the
base of Yuelu Hill. These include Hunan University, Hunan Teachers'
College, the Central-South Institute of Metallurgy, National Defense
Science and Technology University, Central-South China Engineering
University, and Hunan Medical Sciences University. Changsha also has 13
hospitals and an institute of Chinese Traditional Medicine.
Transportation
Changsha, the hub of transportation of Hunan Province, is one of the
major stops along the Beijing-Guangzhou railway, and crisscrossed by
the Beijing-Shenzhen National Highway No.107 and Xiamen-Chongqing
National Highway No.319. In addition, the highway system offers very
convenient access to every part of the landlocked province. The
Xiangjiang River is open to traffic service that could reach Xiangtan,
Yueyang, etc. Its Huanghua International Airport operates both domestic
and international air routes.
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