Travel China by Train- Changsha

One other train trip in China was a trip to Changsha. Changsha is in the Hunan Province and is where Mao Zedong began his political career. For that reason it draws a lot of Chinese tourists. On my way to Zhangjiajie I made a stop in Changsha and spent 2 days.

From Guangzhou there is a high speed train that will take you to Changsha. The trip is under 3 hours. It’s amazing how fast these trains go. They are modern, clean and efficient. Also, the train ride takes you into the mountainous regions and the scenery is beautiful.

Of course there is the food. Changsha is in the Hunan Province and if you like spicy food Hunan is defintely the place to be.

Once in Changsha I wasn’t there very long but I was able to see a few sites. One of these was the Provincial Museum. The museum has many interesting artifacts including a 2000 year old mummified body of a woman. The museum is worth seeing.  

 

One other site was the ancient city of Changsha that is walled in. The history of this site is tied to the Battle of Red Cliff which is an important part of Chinese history. It is fairly small but still worth the visit.

 

 

 

However, the most interesting site to me was the Helong Stadium at night. The Helong Stadium seats 55,000 people but that is not the interesting thing. To me it was walking around the outside of the stadium at night and watching the people. There is a lot of open space and there I saw different activities. In one area I saw people learning ballroom dancing. In another I saw and heard karaoke and in another I saw people practicing martial arts. There is also a giant ferris wheel if you want to ride. I always find it interesting to see what the local people do in their spare time.

All in all Changsha was an interesting city but not one that I would go out of my way to see. If you are on your way to other destinations like Zhangjiajie then I would plan on stopping there for a few days.