Much of
Changsha is functional, with
little to absorb between the sights, but
it's a clean, well-ordered city and
people are noticeably friendly - don't
be surprised if you acquire a guide
while walking around. For unknown
reasons, tropical
betel nut (the
areca palm's stimulating seed pod) is a
popular pick-me-up in Changsha, sold
either boiled and sliced for chewing, or
powdered in cigarettes.
Qingshui Tang (Clearwater
Pool), Mao's former home in Changsha and
the site of the first local Communist
Party offices, is on Bayi Lu (daily
8.30am-5pm; ¥5; bus #1 stops outside).
A white marble statue of Mao greets you
at the gate, and the garden walls are
covered with stone tablets carved with
his epigrams. Near the pool itself is a
scruffy vegetable patch and the
reconstructed room in which Mao and his
second wife, Yang Kaihui
(daughter of Mao's stoical and
influential teacher, Yang Chang Qi),
lived after moving here from Beijing
following their marriage in 1921.
There's also a display of peasant tools
- a grindstone, thresher, carrypole and
baskets - and a short history of Chinese
agriculture. A few minutes' walk farther
on is the monumental Local Museum
, brightly tiled in red and containing a
low-key but interesting collection of
historical artefacts, including clay
tomb figurines - look for the bearded
horseman - and a cannon used for
defending the city against Taiping
incursions in 1852. These pieces lead
through to a depressing photographic
record of Guomindang atrocities and
eulogies to Mao, Zhou Enlai, and others.
The three red flags here are those of
the Party, the PLA and the nation.
