(1)外文名称: Changsha City (Hunan)
    (2)中文名称: 长沙市
    (3)内容:
                      Changsha City (Hunan Province)

    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.