Tear off the “influencer” tag and rediscover the city on the old streets and alleys the locals love!

Checking in Hunan TV, feasting on Taiping Street, queuing for a cup of tea… In recent years, Changsha has quickly emerged from the circle as an emerging Internet celebrity city, but this city with a long history is unknown On the other side, there are streets and alleys

Say goodbye to the Internet celebrity check-in place, you can pursue the ancient civilization in the Hunan Museum, follow the footsteps of the locals, pick up a favorite book in the Dingwangtai Book Market, or invite three or five friends to spend a lazy and comfortable time in Hualongchi night.

Changsha, what was it like in the past?

As early as 150,000 to 200,000 years ago, there were human activities in the area where Changsha is located. It is said that the two emperors Yan and Huang came here, and Emperor Yan was buried in the present-day Yanling of Zhuzhou. During the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the ancient Yue people created the Yue culture in the land of Sanmiao, and more than 300 bronze wares unearthed later indicated that there was the introduction of the Central Plains culture here. At the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, the forces of the state of Chu entered Changsha, and after Qin destroyed Chu, Changsha County was established, and the state of Changsha was established in the Western Han Dynasty. The excavation of the Mawangdui Han tomb and the unearthed incorrupt female corpse once caused a stir in the archaeological community. At the end of the Han Dynasty, Changsha was a battleground between Wu and Shu. The slips and slips of Wu, the Sun of the Three Kingdoms, unearthed in Zoomalou are evidence that Wu once ruled Changsha. During the Tang Dynasty, the economy was prosperous, and Du Fu’s writings “the place is prosperous and prosperous, and the thousands of people in Changsha come out” is a portrayal of the prosperous age. During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Changsha entered the era of the Chu Kingdom of Ma Yin.

The Song Dynasty was an important period in the historical development of Changsha, and its status as the center of Hunan was consolidated. The Yuelu Academy was founded, and Zhu Xi and Zhang Shi gave lectures here to promote teaching, and the Huxiang School was well-known and famous. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Zeng Guofan founded the Hunan Army to suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Later, in the Hundred Days Reform and the Revolution of 1911, the people of Hunan played a very important role.

On November 8, 1938, Japanese troops invaded northern Hunan. On the 11th, Yueyang fell and troops approached Changsha. On the same day, Chiang Kai-shek issued a secret order: “If Changsha falls, the whole city will be burned down”, which is the “scorched earth policy” at that time. Zhang Zhizhong, the then chairman of the Hunan Provincial Government, immediately deployed, and the ignition signal was selected at the Tianxin Pavilion, the highest in Changsha City.

At about 2 am on the 13th, a fire broke out somewhere in the South Gate, and there were three more places in less than a quarter of an hour. At this time, the police and fire brigade had already evacuated, and the garrison command, who did not know the truth, took this as a signal and immediately set the whole city on fire. Because the telegram code at that time was “Wen”, the history of the disaster that happened at night was called “Wenxi Fire”.

For five days and five nights, 90% of the city’s streets and buildings were destroyed, and more than 30,000 people died. “People in Changsha who were too late to retreat, those who were looking for their relatives with their hair disheveled, those who beat their chests, those who stared at the fire in a daze, and those who rushed to the fire to rescue property,” Guo Moruo, who experienced the “Wenxi Fire”, recalled. Since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period in Changsha City, almost all the ground cultural relics have been destroyed, and the cultural heritage of the old city has also been interrupted. Changsha thus became one of the most devastated cities in World War II.

It wasn’t until the mid-1990s that the media, catering and service industries took shape. In recent years, Hunan Satellite TV has led the way in the cultural and entertainment industry. In 2017, UNESCO named Changsha as the capital of media art, which added an international business card to the “Star City”.

Today, Changsha can play like this!

Visitors who stay for two or three days for a short period of time can first feast at the dazzling food stalls on Taiping Street, and then go to Yuelu Academy to experience the humanistic feelings of “worrying about the world and daring to be the first”. If you have a little more time, you will have the opportunity to delve into the few old streets and alleys left, visiting historical sites and former residences of famous people all over the city.

Lost in Changsha Old Street

Experience the urban life

Although many ancient buildings in Changsha were burnt down in the “Wenxi Fire”, and commercial streets and high-rise buildings have also changed the appearance of the city, you can still see traces of history in some old streets and alleys. Some streets and alleys have been renovated and have been lined with shops, and the prosperity of the past has changed a new face; some are not near mainstream business districts or scenic spots. If you are not interested in visiting, you will easily miss these seemingly ordinary historical witnesses.

Before it’s been demolished, take a second look. As one of the few remaining Mashi Streets in Changsha, Chaozong Street east of Huangxing North Road used to be the seat of Changsha County Office in Ming and Qing Dynasties.

After the Republic of China, Xiangya Medical College, Futao Girls’ High School and True Jesus Church were all established here one after another. Now, you can still see the stone monument of the former residence of Qu Hongju, the minister of military aircraft in the late Qing Dynasty. In the alleys of “Ziyuan”, there is still a hotel of the Republic of China hidden in it.

Most of the street names in Changsha have historical meanings. From the street name, you can tell where the street was in the old government office. The front of the ya office is the “main street”, and the back is the “back street”. For example, the three adjacent streets of Your Excellency Tianxin, Duzheng Street, Xianzheng Street and Gaozheng Street are all the county offices of Shanhua County established in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. where. There used to be many famous chefs here, such as Mao Zedong’s chef Shi Yinxiang and Chiang Kai-shek’s chef Peng Changgui. Now, after some restoration and renovation, it has become a popular food street after dark.

If you come during the day, it is quiet and peaceful here, and it still retains a bit of quaint poetry. There is a courtyard “Dongchi” in Duzheng Street, which was originally built by Tang Tanzhou Inspector. Looking over the gate, Liu Zongyuan wrote in “Tanzhou Dongchi Daishitang Ji” the “depressed but overcast, charming but glorious” garden. The beauty can also be imagined. Browsing through the photo wall of blue bricks and gray tiles, the old events in the south of the old city come to mind.

Taiping Street, where Jia Yi’s former residence is located, preserves a relatively complete “fishbone-shaped” street and lane pattern. Due to its close proximity to the Xiangjiang River and its convenient location, merchants have gathered for thousands of years. At the end of 2007, this ancient street completed the reconstruction of antiques, and now it is a commercial street full of tourists.

Mei Foo & Co. has now been transformed into a small museum displaying Hunan culture. The gate of Taiping Granary is closed. It was formerly the famous Qianyisheng Granary in the late Qing Dynasty. The owner, Zhu Changlin, was Zhu Rongji’s great-grandfather and uncle. Going deep into the branch alley, without disturbing the owner’s house, you can observe the architectural style of the old residential buildings in Changsha. Compared with the lively commercial street dozens of meters away, it is obviously closer to the authentic local life for decades.

Visit Yuelu Academy

Counting the famous people in Huxiang

Yuelu Academy is located near the southern gate of Yuelu Mountain. It was founded in the Northern Song Dynasty. It has undergone dynasties and its rise and fall. Now it is not only open as a scenic spot, but also the Sinology Research Center of Hunan University. name. The existing buildings are all relics of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The lecture hall, the Xiangshui School Sutra Hall and the Confucian Temple are all located on the central axis. The fasting houses and the ancestral hall are on both sides, and the gardens and pavilions are dotted in between. It was destroyed in the war, and most of the existing ones have been rebuilt, but the elegant and solemn temperament of the school has not changed. The rich inscriptions and plaques have traces of the Confucianism of the past dynasties. You will also feel this kind of contempt in time and space when you are in it. the power of.

It takes more than a day to take a closer look, and please allow at least two hours for a quick glance. The existing gate was rebuilt during the reign of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty, with the word “Yuelu Academy” given by Song Zhenzong, and the couplets on both sides “Only Chu has talents, Yu Si is prosperous” are from “Zuo Zhuan” and “Analects” respectively.

The plaques of the second gate were written by the mountain chief (ie the president of the academy) in the Qing Dynasty, and they are also very interesting. The lecture hall in the middle is the core of the academy, and the “loyalty, filial piety, honesty, and festival” written by Zhu Xi on Dashishang is the academy’s motto. Looking up, you can see three plaques: “Seek truth from facts” was written by Bin Bucheng, the principal of Hunan Technical College who moved into the academy in the early Republic of China; “Daonan Zhengmai” is an original gift from Qianlong, which means that the Huxiang School of Zhu and Zhang is the orthodoxy after the spread of Neo-Confucianism to the south. The Yushu Building in the depths is hidden behind the green trees and has a collection of more than 50,000 books. It is now the ancient book library of Hunan University, which is not open to the public. On the south side of the back garden, there is a stele of Lushan Temple written by Li Yong himself in the Tang Dynasty. There is also the Confucian Temple. On the birthday of Confucius in 2013, the ceremony of worshiping Confucius, which had been interrupted for a century, was restarted. The Chinese Academy Museum on the left side of the entrance is the only special museum in China that displays the history of Chinese academies. The exterior of the building is in a minimalist modern style, while the interior displays follow the winding style of the ancient academy. It is divided into 5 themes according to the academy’s history, education, academia, sacrifice, collection and engraving. The exhibits are rich and worth seeing.

Go to Hunan Museum

Encounter the imprints of ancient civilizations

Hunan Museum is composed of two exhibition halls: history and culture and Mawangdui Han Tomb, with rich collections and exquisite exhibitions. The museum has a free explanation every half an hour (except 11:00-13:30). In the exhibition hall of “Hunan People – History and Culture of Sanxiang” located on the second floor, you can learn more about the history of Hunan from the beginning of the bronze civilization of Yin and Shang, to the history of Chu people entering Hunan, Jiangxi filling Huguang and “Hunan is familiar with the world”. History, as well as the cultural customs of Miao, Tujia, Dong, Yao and other ethnic minorities.

The bronze wares on display here are extremely exquisite. Pay attention to several wine containers from the Shang Dynasty: the bronze swastika with phoenix and bird pattern “Ge” (read “yǒu”), the only boar statue in the shape of a wild boar, and the only one found in China. The square tripods decorated with human faces are all treasures in the museum’s collection, and the largest square “Derquan” (read “léi”) unearthed so far represents the museum’s selection as a “national treasure”.

The third floor is the Changsha Mawangdui Han Tomb Exhibition Hall. Mawangdui is the most important historical heritage in Hunan Province. The exhibition hall displays a large number of funerary objects unearthed from the tomb of Xinzui, which restores the present life of the ancients and the afterlife they longed for. The design of the display is also very thoughtful. The painted civet cats on the lacquerware move, the heaven and the world in the T-shaped silk painting are decomposed in detail, and you can also learn to do a set of Han Dynasty health exercises with multimedia interaction. Mrs. Xin Zhui’s “new home” was designed as a gorgeous underground palace, with a four-minute 3D video scrolling on the four walls, showing the world depicted on the four-layer coffin. Going down the pedestrian elevator to the bottom of the underground palace on the first floor, Mrs. Xin Zhui “slept peacefully” in a special showcase. The outer coffin of Xin Zhui’s tomb is the largest and most complete well-preserved object of the Han Dynasty so far; from Hunan Museum

The current special exhibition Hearing and Seeing Huxiang – Hunan Music Cultural Relics and Stories Exhibition brings together 170 music collections in Hunan Province, adopts the structure of modern music chapters, tells the development process of Hunan music culture, and combines the physical and various music cultural relics The combination of digital display technology brings together cultural relics, music, characters, literature, history, and images related to Hunan music, surpassing the traditional exhibition form, creating an active text and audio-visual feast of music civilization, making the audience a lake. The perceiver, witness, inheritor and creator of Hunan music.

Current special exhibition

Infinite Beauty——Literature and Female Image in Figure Paintings of Ming and Qing Dynasties

The exhibition is divided into four units: the first unit expresses the contribution of ancient women to the family, the second unit shows the realization of the social value of ancient women, the third unit conveys the influence of women’s spiritual power on the world, and the fourth unit explains the awakening of women’s self-awareness . The exhibition focuses on expounding the multiple social roles played by ancient women, their self-cultivation, and their sense of family and country, showing the literature and female images in figure paintings of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Go shopping at Pozi Street

Having feast in the old brand

“a little each time but many times” is particularly practical in Changsha for no other reason – if you eat without reservation during dinner time, then the variety of snack streets will definitely make you regret it. These snack streets generally reach their climax at midnight and close at three or four in the morning. The overall taste is heavy and hygiene is not guaranteed. Don’t overeating late at night, and remember to cherish the stomach when satisfying the desire of the tongue. The most famous snack street is Pozi Street. This old street has a hundred years of history and is the birthplace of Changsha’s commercial civilization. In the period of the Republic of China, there were many shops. Now, in the T-shaped area formed by it and Sanwang Street, there are many time-honored brands familiar to Changsha: Yang Yuxing with noodles as the signboard, Xiang Qun Dumplings with large meat, Shuangyan Tower, which mainly plays wonton, and of course, the Hot Palace, the snack distribution center. Taiping Old Street, not far from Pozi Street, is more popular among young people. When it comes to weekends or holidays, it is bound to jostle with each other. Try to see the difference between old Changsha sausage and Dongguashan sausage. Then go to Wenhe Youlao Changsha Fry Club and Hutchison Fry to compete with each other. At 10 o’clock in the evening, after the shop closes, here is another scene – all kinds of small carts are lined up in the street, which can be called a late night snack fair. It is also necessary to mention the Donggua Mountain and Wenmiaoping, which are well known to the local people. The former has a local restaurant legend – Dongguashan sausage (the original shop), which made a fortune by setting up stalls, and Dandan hot brine (a freely combined hot dish), which is the brand name, and Mengzhong barbecue, which focuses on small strings in western Hunan, is worth a try; The latter focuses on a variety of refreshing and low calorie cold dishes, a dozen of which are optional. It is close to Changjun Middle School. Let’s go back to seventeen years old in the snack street at the school gate with the Student Party. If you want to eat something different, don’t miss the Halal Market at the entrance of the mosque next to Helong Stadium every Friday. From 11am to 3pm to 4pm, there are a variety of northwest specialty snacks in the short lane. Needless to say, roast beef and mutton kebabs are also very attractive. Local minorities like to come here to taste the local flavor.

Have a vodka martini

Shake well without stirring

If the handsome men and women at the gate of Qingba Street in Hualong Pool and the “folk songs” in the bar do not conform to your positioning of Qingba, and the high card seat consumption and deafening sound in Jiefang West Road Bar Street also make you shy away, it is not necessary to judge that Changsha’s nightlife is out of your league. Cocktail bars and whisky bars with a more private and emotional environment are hidden everywhere in the urban area, and the quality is basically comparable to the price of first-line cities. A glass of wine starts at 50 yuan, which is worth exploring at night. The Ho&Wong Spirit (No. 10 Jiefang West Road) in Dingwangtai has no wine list. Talk to the boss and his wife about your preferences and acceptance of alcohol, and then wait for a surprise.

Whether you are a fan of classic style or a curious baby who is willing to try special style, these bars can always guarantee the quality of products, sip, listen to the music looming in the background, and have more lazy and comfortable nights than this?

Wangtai Book Market

Turn over the corners of those micro volumes

For Changsha people born before the millennium, Dingwangtai Book Market (No. 15, Jiefang West Road) is an indispensable growth memory in their students’ lives – they buy teaching aids and stationery here at the beginning of school, and read novels and cartoons in the corner of the bookstore on weekends and holidays. This cultural landmark has been greatly impacted in today’s e-commerce era, and the prosperity and chaos of more than 260 booksellers, large and small, have long disappeared. The Minsheng Bookstore next door (No. 64, Jiefang West Road) has a variety of booklists and impressive discounts.

Hongdao Culture (at the gate of the book market, No. 13, Jiefang West Road) still retains the style of the old comprehensive bookstore, and can imagine the grand occasion of being crowded by students in the corridor in the wall full of tips to guard against pickpockets.

Almost every one can place an order and send it to other places, which can save effort and help physical bookstores survive. Jia Boss’s WeChat access to the latest book information can also be regarded as a source of reading inspiration beyond the best seller list on the Internet.

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