Changsha


Changsha is the capital and most populous city of Hunan Province in the south central part of the People's Republic of China. It covers and is bordered by Yueyang and Yiyang to the north, Loudi to the west, Xiangtan and Zhuzhou to the south, Yichun and Pingxiang of Jiangxi province to the east. According to the 2010 census, Changsha has 7,044,118 residents, constituting 10.72% of the province's population. It is part of the Chang-Zhu-Tan city cluster or megalopolis.
Changsha is in the Xiang River valley plain, bordering the Luoxiao Mountains on the east, Wuling Mountains on the west, edging in Dongting Lake on the north and bounded on the south by the Hengshan Mountains. It has a monsoonal humid subtropical climate, with an average annual air temperature of and an annual rainfall of.
Changsha has a history of more than 3,000 years. Changsha was the capital of Changsha Kingdom in the Han Dynasty, and the capital of the Chu State in the Ten Kingdoms period. The lacquerware and Silk Texts recovered from Mawangdui there are an indication of the richness of local craft traditions. In 1904 Changsha was opened to foreign trade, and large numbers of Europeans and Americans settled there. Changsha was the site of Mao Zedong's conversion to communism. It was also the scene of major battles in the Sino-Japanese War and was briefly occupied by the Japanese. Changsha is now an important commercial, manufacturing and transportation centre. In 2017, Changsha was designated as a Creative City by UNESCO, in media arts. Changsha is classified as a Beta- city together with Manchester, Geneva and Seattle by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network.

Names

Chángshā is the pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of the Chinese name or, meaning "long sandy ". The name's origin is unknown. It is attested as early as the 11th, when a vassal lord of the area sent King Cheng of Zhou a gift described as a "Changsha softshell turtle". In the 2nd century AD, historian Ying Shao wrote that the Qin use of the name "Changsha" for the area was a continuance of its old name. The name originally described the area. The Chu metropolis was known as Qingyang. The capital of the Kingdom of Changshawithin the present-day city of Changshawas known as Linxiang, meaning " Overlooking the Xiang River".

History

Early history

Development started around when Changsha developed with the proliferation of Longshan culture, although there is no firm evidence of such a link. Evidence exists that people lived and thrived in the area during the Bronze Age. Numerous examples of pottery and other objects have been discovered.
Later Chinese legends related that the Flame and Yellow Emperors visited the area. Sima Qian's history states that the Yellow Emperor granted his eldest son Shaohao the lands of Changsha and its neighbors. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the Yue culture spread into the area around Changsha. During the succeeding Warring States Period, Chu took control of Changsha. Its capital, Qingyang, became an important southern outpost of the kingdom. In 1951–57 archaeologists explored numerous large and medium-sized Chu tombs from the Warring States Era. More than 3,000 tombs have been discovered. Under the Qin Changsha was a staging post for expeditions south into Guangdong that led to its conquest and the establishment of the Nanyue kingdom.
|right|thumb|180px
Under the Han Linxiang was the capital of the kingdom of Changsha. At first this was a client state held by Liu Bang's Baiyue ally Wu Rui that served as a means of controlling the restive Chu people and as a buffer state against Nanyue. By Linxiang had city walls to protect it against uprisings and invasions. The famous Mawangdui tombs were constructed between 186 and Lady Xin Zhui was buried in the earliest tomb and, during its excavation in the 1970s, was found to have been very well preserved. More importantly, the tombs included the earliest surviving copies of the Tao Te Ching and other important literary and historical documents.
When Wu Rui's descendant Wu Zhu Wú Zhù) died childless in, the kingdom was granted to a cadet branch of the imperial family as their fief. The kingdom was abolished under Wang Mang's short-lived Xin dynasty and briefly revived by the Eastern Han. In its prince was demoted and the area administered as and Changsha Commandery. Following the turmoil of the Three Kingdoms, Emperor Wu of Jin granted Changsha to the sixth son of a general of the imperial family named Sima Yi. The local government had over 100 counties at the beginning of the dynasty. Over the course of the dynasty, the local government of Changsha lost control over a few counties, leaving them to local rule. Following the turmoil of the Northern and Southern dynasties, the Sui renamed Changsha Tan Prefecture or Tanzhou. Changsha's 3-tier administration was simplified to a 2-tier state and county system, eliminating the middle canton region.
Under the Tang, Changsha prospered as a center of trade between central China and Southeast Asia but suffered during the Anshi Rebellion, when it fell to the rebels. Under the Song dynasty, the Yuelu Academy was founded in 976. It was destroyed by war in 1127 and rebuilt in 1165, during which year the celebrated philosopher Zhu Xi taught there. It was again destroyed by the Mongols during the establishment of the Yuan before being restored in the late 15th century under the Ming. Early 19th-century graduates of the academy formed what one historian called a "network of messianic alumni", including Zeng Guofan, architect of the Tongzhi Restoration, and Cai E, a major leader in the defense of the Republic of China. In 1903 the academy became Hunan High School. Modern-day Hunan University is also a descendant of the academy. Some of its buildings were remodeled from 1981 to 1986 according to their presumed original Song design.
During the Mongol conquest of the Southern Song, Tanzhou was fiercely defended by the local Song troops. After the city finally fell, the defenders committed mass suicide. Under the Ming, Tanzhou was again renamed Changsha and made a superior prefecture.

Modern history

Under the Qing, Changsha was the capital of Hunan and prospered as one of China's chief rice markets. During the Taiping Rebellion, the city was besieged by the rebels in 1852 or 1854 for three months but never fell. The rebels moved on to Wuhan, but Changsha then became the principal base for the government's suppression of the rebellion.
The 1903 Treaty of Shanghai between the Qing and Japanese empires opened the city to foreign trade effective 1904. Most favored nation clauses in other unequal treaties extended the Japanese gains to the Western powers as well. Consequently, international capital entered the town and factories, churches, and schools were built. A college was started by Yale alumni, which later became a medical centre named Xiangya and a secondary school named the Yali School.
Following the Xinhai Revolution, further development followed the opening of the railway to Hankou in Hubei province in 1918, which was later extended to Guangzhou in Guangdong Province in 1936. Although Changsha's population grew, the city remained primarily commercial in character. Before 1937, it had little industry apart from some small cotton-textile, glass, and nonferrous-metal plants and handicraft enterprises.
Mao Zedong, the founder of the People's Republic of China, began his political career in Changsha. He was a student at the Hunan Number 1 Teachers' Training School from 1913 to 1918. He later returned as a teacher and principal from 1920 to 1922. The school was destroyed during the Chinese Civil War but has since been restored. The former office of the Hunan Communist Party Central Committee where Mao Zedong once lived is now a museum that includes Mao's living quarters, photographs and other historical items from the 1920s.
Until May 1927, communist support remained strong in Changsha before the massacre carried out by the right-wing faction of the KMT troops. The faction owed its allegiance to Chiang Kai-shek during its offensive against the KMT's left-wing faction under Wang Jingwei, who was then allied closely with the Communists. The purge of communists and suspected communists was part of Chiang's plans for consolidating his hold over the KMT, weakening Wang's control, and thereby over the entire China. In a period of twenty days, Chiang's forces killed more than ten thousand people in Changsha and its outskirts.
During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Changsha's strategic location made it the focus of four campaigns by the Imperial Japanese Army to capture it from the Nationalist Army: these campaigns were the 1st Changsha, the 2nd Changsha, the 3rd Changsha, and the 4th Changsha. The city was able to repulse the first three attacks thanks to Xue Yue's leadership, but ultimately fell into Japanese hands in 1944 for a year until the Japanese were defeated in a counterattack and forced to surrender. Before these Japanese campaigns, the city was already virtually destroyed by the 1938 Changsha Fire, a deliberate fire ordered by Kuomintang commanders who mistakenly feared the city was about to fall to the Japanese; Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek had suggested that the city be burned so that the Japanese force would gain nothing after entering it.
Following the Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War, Changsha slowly recovered from its former damage. Since Deng Xiaoping's Reform and Opening Up Policy, Changsha has rapidly developed since the 1990s, becoming one of the important cities in the central and western regions. At the end of 2007, Changsha, Zhuzhou, and Xiangtan received approval from the State Council for the "Chang-Zhu-Tan Resource-Saving and Environment-Friendly Society Comprehensive Reform Pilot Area", an important engine in the rise of central China. In 2015, Xiangjiang New Area was approved as a national new area.

Geography

Changsha is in northeast Hunan Province, the lower reaches of the Xiang River and the western part of the Changliu Basin. It lies between 111°53' to 114°15' east longitude and 27°51' to 28°41' north latitude. The city borders Yichun and Pingxiang of Jiangxi Province in the east, Zhuzhou and Xiangtan in the south, Loudi and Yiyang in the west, and Yueyang and Yiyang in the north. It is about 230 kilometres from east to west and about 88 kilometres from north to south. Changsha covers an area of, of which the urban area of, the urban built-up area is. Changsha's highest point is Mount Qixing in Daweishan Town,. The lowest point is Zhanhu in Qiaokou Town,.
The Xiang is the main river in the city, running northward through the territory. 15 tributaries flow into the Xiang, of which Liuyang, Laodao, Jinjiang and Wei are the four largest. The Xiang divides the city into two parts. The eastern part is mainly commercial and the west is mainly cultural and educational. On 10 October 2001, the seat of Changsha City was transferred from Fanzheng Street to Guanshaling. Since then, the economy of both sides of the Xiang River has achieved a balanced development.

Hydrology

Most of the rivers in Changsha belong to the Xiang River system. In addition to the Xiangjiang River, 15 tributaries flow into the Xiang, mainly including Liuyang River, Laodao River, Minjiang River, and Qinshui River. 302 tributaries are more than five kilometers long, including 289 in the Xiang River Basin. According to the tributary grading there are 24 primary tributaries, 128 secondary tributaries, 118 third tributaries, and 32 tributaries; and 13 are Zijiang water systems; a fairly complete water system is formed, and the river network is densely distributed. Hydrological characteristics of Changsha: the water system is complete, the river network dense; the water volume greater, the water energy resources abundant; the winter not frozen, and the sediment content small.

Geological characteristics

The geological features of Changsha City are: the formation is fully exposed, the granite body is widely distributed, and the geological structure is complex. The strata of each geological and historical period are exposed in Changsha City, and the oldest stratum was formed about one billion years ago. About 600 million years ago, Changsha was a sea, but the sea was not deep. Later, seawater gradually withdrew from the east and west, and most of Liuyang, Changsha, and Wangcheng rose out of the sea and became the northwestern edge of the ancient land of Jiangnan. About 140 million years ago, the sea leaching in the Changsha area ended and it became a land. Due to the influence of crustal movement and geological structure, a long-shaped mountain depression basin, the Chang Ping Basin, was formed. Beginning of the new generation, the entire Changping Basin has risen to land. About 3.5 million years ago, the third ice age occurred on the earth, and Liuyang retained the remains of glacier landforms.

Climate

Changsha has a humid subtropical climate, with annual average temperature being at, with a mean of in January and in July. Average annual precipitation is, with a 275-day frost-free period. With a monthly possible-sunshine percentage ranging from 19% in March to 57% in August, the city receives 1,545 hours of bright sunshine annually. The four seasons are distinct. The summers are long and very hot, with heavy rainfall, and autumn is comfortable and is the driest season. Winter is chilly and overcast with lighter rainfall more likely than downpours; cold snaps occur with temperatures occasionally dropping below freezing. Spring is especially rainy and humid with the sun shining less than 30% of the time. The minimum temperature ever recorded since 1951 at the current Wangchengpo Weather Observing Station was, recorded on 9 February 1972. The maximum was on 13 August 1953 and 2 August 2003 .

Administration

The municipality of Changsha exercises jurisdiction over six districts, one county and two county-level cities:

Government

The current CPC Party Secretary of Changsha is Hu Henghua and the current Mayor is Hu Zhongxiong.

Economy

Changsha's population nearly tripled between the start of its rebuilding in 1949 and the early 1980s. The city is now a major port, handling rice, cotton, timber, and livestock, and is also a collection and distribution point on the railway from Hankou to Guangzhou. It is a centre of rice milling and also has oil-extraction, tea and tobacco production, and meat-processing plants. Its textile industry produces cotton yarn and fabrics and engages in dyeing and printing. Agricultural chemicals and fertilizers, farm implements, and pumping machinery are also produced.
Changsha has a large thermal generating station linked by a power grid with the nearby industrial centres of Zhuzhou and Xiangtan; the three cities were designated in the 1970s as the nucleus of a major industrial complex. In the 1960s there was some development of heavy industry. The manufacture of machinery, especially machine tools and precision tools, became important, and Changsha became a center of China's aluminum industry. The city also has cement, rubber, ceramic, and papermaking plants and is a centre for many types of traditional handicrafts, producing Xiang embroidery, leather goods, umbrellas, and buttons. Coal is mined in the vicinity.
In 2008, Changsha's nominal GDP was ¥300.1 billion, a year-on-year growth of 15.1% from the previous year. Its per capita GDP was ¥45,765. Its GDP grew at an average of 14% per year from 2001 to 2005, compared to the national average of 9% in the period., the service sector generated roughly around 49% of Changsha's GDP, up 112% from 2001 figures, leading to a disposable income for urban residents of 12,343 RMB annually. This growth is expected to continue driving the city's economic growth. The manufacturing and construction sectors have grown relatively steadily, growing 116% during 2001–2005. The primary sector, including agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and fishery, has grown slightly over this same period. In addition, the consumer market has grown dramatically along with income levels, with the minimum salary level at 600 RMB per month in comparison to Beijing's at 640 RMB or Shanghai's at 750 RMB per month. Urban residents in 2005 had an average income of about US$1,500, 15% higher than the national average and up 10% from 2001 figures.
Changsha is one of China's 15 most "developed and economically advanced" cities with its GDP per capita is over $20,000 in 2018, which is considered as a high-income status by the World Bank and a primary developed city according to the international standard. In 2017, Changsha made its way into the 1-trillion-yuan GDP club, becoming the 13th city in China with a GDP of one trillion yuan. Moreover, the financial news portal Yicai.com released its 2017 ranking of China’s new first-tier cities, and Changsha is a newcomer. Many significant breakthroughs in China were born in Changsha including the Tianhe 1 supercomputer as well as the hybrid rice.
Changsha has attracted a substantial level of foreign investment. In 2005, for example, nearly US$1 billion worth of foreign direct investment poured into the city, mainly in hi-tech, manufacturing, food production, and services. This figure is up 40% from 2001. 59% of the total FDI has come from Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, and Japan; 28% has come from the Americas and 9% from Europe. By the end of 2008 more than 500 foreign companies had made over US$10 million worth of investments in Changsha. Changsha had total retail sales of 74 RMB billion in 2006.
But rapid economic growth has made environmental pollution a serious problem in Changsha, caused by rapidly increasing numbers of private cars, widespread construction sites, and numerous industrial facilities on the outskirts of the city.

Development Zones

The Changsha ETZ was founded in 1992. It is located in Xingsha, the eastern Changsha. The total planned area is and the current area is. Near the zone are National Highways 319 and 107 as well as the G4 Beijing–Hong Kong–Macau Expressway. The zone is also very close to Changsha's downtown area and the railway station, while the distance between the zone and the city's airport is a mere. The major industries in the zone include the high-tech industry, the biology project technology industry, and the new material industry.
The Liuyang ETZ is a national biological industry base created on 10 January 1998, located in Dongyang Town. Its pillar industry comprises biological pharmacy, Information technology and Health food., It has more than 700 registered enterprises. The total industrial output value of the zone hits 85.6 billion yuan and its business income is 100.2 billion yuan. Its builtup area covers.

Population and demographics

Changsha has an urban population of 7,044,118. A total of 12,966,836 reside in the metropolitan area. The majority of people living in Changsha are Han Chinese. A sizeable population of ethnic minority groups also live in Changsha. The three largest are the Hui, Tujia, and Miao peoples. The 2000 census showed that 48,564 members of ethnic minorities live in Changsha, 0.7% of the population. The other minorities make up a significantly smaller part of the population. Twenty ethnic minorities have fewer than 1,000 members living in the city.

Culture

Media

is China's largest television after China Central Television. Its headquarters is in Changsha and produces some of the most popular programs in China, including Super Girl. These programs have also brought a new entertainment industry into the city, which includes singing bars, dance clubs, theater shows, as well as related businesses including hair salons, fashion stores, and shops for hot spicy snacks at night. While Changsha has developed into an entertainment hub, the city has also become increasingly westernized and has attracted a growing number of foreigners.

Cuisine

There are various types of cuisine found in Changsha, yet Hunan cuisine remains to be the most popular genre. Hot and spicy food is typical of the region.
The city has its own Siu yeh culture.
In May 2008, the BBC broadcast, as part of its Storyville documentary series, the four-part The Biggest Chinese Restaurant in the World, which explored the inner workings of the 5,000-seating-capacity West Lake Restaurant in Changsha.
During the Warring States period, Qu Yuan, a great patriotic poet, recorded many dishes in Hunan in his famous poem "The Soul". During the Western Han Dynasty, there were 109 varieties of dishes in Hunan, and there were nine categories of cooking methods. After the Six Dynasties, Hunan's food culture was rich and active. The Ming and Qing dynasties are the golden age for the development of Hunan cuisine. The unique style of Hunan cuisine is basically a foregone conclusion. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, there were two kinds of Hunan cuisine restaurants in Changsha. In the early years of the Republic of China, the famous Dai School, Sheng School, Xiao School, and Zuyu School appeared in various genres, which laid the historical status of Hunan cuisine. Since the founding of New China, especially since the reform and opening up, it has been better developed. Changsha snacks mainly include taste shrimp, Changsha stinky tofu, sugar oil glutinous rice, yellow duck called, Deyuan buns, spicy chicken, Yang Yuxing and so on.

Sports

Changsha has one of China's largest multi-purpose sports stadiums—Helong Stadium, with 55,000 seats. The stadium was named after the Communist military leader He Long. It is the home ground of local football team Hunan Billows F.C., which plays in China League Two. The more modest 6,000-seat Hunan Provincial People's Stadium, also located in Changsha, is used by the team for their smaller games.

Historical culture

Changsha hosts the Hunan Provincial Museum. 180,000 historical significant artifacts ranging from the Zhou dynasty to the recent Qing Dynasty are hosted in the 51,000 acres of space in the museum.
Mawangdui is a well-known tomb located 22 kilometers east of Changsha. It was discovered with numerous artifacts from the Han dynasty. Numerous Silk Funeral banners surround the tomb, along with a wealth of classical texts. The tomb of Lady Dai lies in Mawangdui is well known due to its well-preserved state: scientists were able to detect blood, conduct an autopsy and determined that she died of heart disease due to a poor diet.
Changsha is a sister city with St. Paul, Minnesota. St. Paul is developing a China garden at Phalen Park, based on the design of architects from Changsha. Current plans include a pavilion replicating one in Changsha, while in return St. Paul will send the city five statues of the Peanuts characters. They will be placed in Phalen's sister park, Yanghu Wetlands.

Education

Colleges and universities

Changsha is the seat of many ancient schools and academies. It is the site of the Hunan Medical University and has several colleges and institutes of higher learning. A number of prestigious universities entering the world university rankings are located in Changsha, including Hunan University, Central South University and National University of Defense Technology, selected as "985 universities" by the Chinese government in order to build world-class universities.
National
Public
Note: Institutions without full-time bachelor programs are not listed.

International schools

Changsha is well connected by roads, river, rail, and air transportation modes, and is a regional hub for industrial, tourist, and service sectors.
The city's public transportation system consists of an extensive bus network with over 100 lines. Changsha Metro is planning a 6-line network. Metro Line 2 opened on 29 April 2014 and 20 stations for Line 2 opened on 28 June 2016. A further four lines are planned for construction by 2025. Line 3 will run southwest–northeast and will be long, Line 4 northwest-southeast and long. A maglev link running between Changsha South station and Changsha airport opened in April 2016, with a construction cost of €400m. Connecting Changsha with Zhuzhou and Xiangtan, Changzhutan Intercity Rail opened on 26 December 2016.
The G4, G4E, G4W2, G5513 and G0401 of National Expressways, G107, G106 and G319 of National Highways, S20, S21, S40, S41, S50, S60 and S71 of Hunan provincial Expressways, connect the Changsha metro area nationally. There are three main bus terminals in Changsha: the South Station, East Station and West Station, dispatching long- and short-haul trips to cities within and outside the province of Hunan. Changsha is surrounded by major rivers, including the Xiang and its tributaries such as the Liuyang, Jin, Wei, Longwanggang and Laodao. Ships mainly transport goods from Xianing port in North Changsha domestically and internationally.
Changsha Railway Station is in the city center and provides express and regular services to most Chinese cities via the Beijing–Guangzhou and Shimen–Changsha Railways. The Changsha South Railway Station is a new high-speed railway station in Yuhua district on the Beijing–Guangzhou High-Speed Railway. The station, with eight platforms, opened on 26 December 2009. Since then passenger volume has increased greatly. The Hangzhou-Changsha-Huaihua sector of the Shanghai-Changsha-Kunming high-speed railway entered service in 2014.
Changsha Huanghua International Airport is a regional hub for China Southern Airlines. The airport has daily flights to major cities in China, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, as well as Hong Kong, Macau and Taipei. Other major airlines also provide daily service between Changsha and other domestic and international destinations. The airport provides direct flights to 45 major international cities, including Los Angeles, Singapore, Seoul, Pusan, Osaka, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, London, Frankfurt and Sydney. the airport handled 70,011 people daily.

City Honors and Rankings

  1. 67th globally in the "top 100 cluster cities" rankings 2019 by "publishing and patent performance" released by the Global Innovation Index 2019
  2. 67th worldwide in the Global Cities Outlook rankings of the 2018 Global Cities Report released by AT Kearney
  3. 68th worldwide in terms of "Urban Economic Competitiveness" in 2019 jointly released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the United Nations Programme for Human Settlements
  4. 38th in the world by numbers of 150m+completed buildings
  5. Changsha IFS Tower T1 ranks as the 16th tallest completed building in the world
  6. The first Chinese city to be recognized as a " World Creative City in Media Arts" by UNESCO
  7. Changsha is classified as a Beta- city together with Manchester, Geneva and Seattle by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network.
  8. China's Top 10 Most Influential Cities of Nighttime Economy
  9. Top 10 "China's Happiest Cities"
  10. One of the China’s new first-tier cities in 2017
  11. The 10 fastest growing cities in the world

    Notable people

Greater Changsha Metropolitan Region is the birthplace of:
Changsha is represented by the star Zeta Corvi in a Chinese constellation.