Changsha 长沙

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A long, narrow isle in the Xiang River stretching about 5 km, known as "China's First Isle", famed through Mao Zedong's poem "Qinyuanchun · Changsha"—"Standing alone in the cold autumn, the Xiang River flows north, at Orange Isle Head"

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Yuelu Academy, founded in 976 (the ninth year of the Kaibao era of the Northern Song), is the only one of China's four great academies that has continued teaching to this day, with a thousand years of unbroken learning

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A university that evolved from the thousand-year teaching tradition of Yuelu Academy; its open, wall-free campus blends into the scenic area, and its unique identity as a “millennium academy, century-old famous school” makes the campus itself an attraction

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A gate tower built on a surviving stretch of the Ming-Qing Changsha city wall, occupying the highest ground of the old city and long praised as “an ancient pavilion of Xiaoxiang, a famous city of Qin and Han”

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The best-preserved old street in Changsha's ancient city; its street pattern took shape in the Han dynasty and has not shifted in over two thousand years

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The block that is home to Huogongdian (Fire God Palace), the grand emporium of Changsha snacks

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The commercial heart of Changsha; the bronze statue of Huang Xing at the street entrance is a memory landmark of old Changsha

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A huge dining space inside Hisense Plaza recreating 1980s old-Changsha neighborhood scenes — tube apartment blocks, video halls, barbershops and old bus-stop signs stacked level upon level, as if a whole old community had been moved into the mall

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A major provincial museum famed for its Mawangdui Han tombs exhibition

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China's first museum dedicated to bamboo and wooden slips; its core collection is the 100,000-plus Eastern Wu slips of the Three Kingdoms period excavated in 1996 from the Zoumalou ancient well—household registers, tax and judicial documents—hailed as 'one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the 20th century'

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Personal art museum donated by Chinese-American painter Li Zijian, among the world's largest private art museums by floor area

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Photography art museum beside Yanghu Wetland; its stark bare-concrete lines mirrored in the water make it an internet-famous venue for photographers

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Theme park of miniature world landscapes, gathering replicas of continental landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower, with rides and themed performances

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Ocean-themed park on the banks of the Liuyang River with three linked halls (Aquarium, Polar Hall and Science Education Hall); the undersea tunnel and diver-and-shark dance show are most popular—warm indoors in winter, a rainy-day option for family outings

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A Fantawild Group theme park themed on Chinese mythology, where giant-screen immersive attractions such as 'Jiuzhou Shenyun' (Glamor of the Nine Provinces) and 'Nüwa Mends the Sky' tell Chinese myths; the park is nicknamed the 'Hunan Red Lantern' for its landmark red-lantern-shaped building

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A mega-scale live-action outdoor drama at the Runze Dongfang Theater in Shaoshan, tracing Mao Zedong's life story and staged on the mountainside with sound, light and effects and a thousand-plus performers; the finale in which the crowd lifts a giant statue aloft is stunningly powerful

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A Western Zhou-themed ancient city built by Songcheng Performing Arts, its theme inspired by the Four-Ram Square Zun unearthed at the Tanheri site in Ningxiang; the park recreates Western Zhou street markets and sacrificial scenes, and its flagship show 'The Romance of Tanhe' draws on legends of the Zhou Dynasty — great for families and fans of live performances

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The Former Residence of Mao Zedong is the earthen-brick farmhouse where he was born in 1893, furnished as it originally was with hearth and farm tools

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Home to the Former Residence of Liu Shaoqi and its memorial hall; the earthen-brick house at Tanzichong is preserved in its original state, and the memorial hall presents his life and theoretical contributions — a national patriotic education base

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A water town on the west bank of the Xiang River in Wangcheng, guarding the key point where the Xiang River enters Dongting Lake; its former crowds of merchant ships earned it the name 'Little Hankou'

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Changsha Tongguan Kiln was a famous Tang dynasty export porcelain kiln; the 1998 salvage of the 'Black Stone' (Belitung) shipwreck yielded tens of thousands of Changsha kiln ceramics, hard evidence of the flourishing maritime trade of a thousand years ago; the ancient town is the original home of the kiln site

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The highest peak in eastern Hunan (1607.9 m) and the source of the Liuyang River

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A leisure belt on a bend of the Liuyang River, where wedding-themed gardens complement river views and floral displays are refreshed through the seasons