Shaoshan

Shaoshan

Endowed with clean air, crystal water and grand mountains, Shaoshan absorbs natural anima to rear great persons. It was named as Shaoshan because the Emperor Shun traveled to south for inspection and arrived here and played the Shao Music. Moreover, it is famous around the world for Mao Zedong, a great man who grew up here. The cultural and natural landscapes in the scenic zone are supplementing each other. Shaoshan is one of the four memorial places for revolution in China, a national key scenic spot, one of the first excellent tourism cities in China, and one of children & youth educational bases on revolutionary tradition and patriotism. In recent years, the red tourism of Shaoshan has been developing rapidly. Tourism revenue rises continuously, which has occupied more than 30% of the whole city’s GDP. Therefore, tourism has become the pillar industry to drive the economic growth and social development of the city. Since 2003, the number of visitors came to Shaoshan has increased year by year, from 3,050,000 visitors in 2005 to 6,500,000 in 2010.

Shaoshan Scenic Zone has 82 scenic spots in 7 scenic regions. At present, four scenic regions including Former Residence, Dishui Cave, Shao Peak and Qingxi have been developed. Former Residence and Dishui Cave have become National 4A Scenic Spots. To be precise, the most popular scenic spots are, the Former Residence of Mao Zedong, Mao Zedong Square, the Dishui Cave—“the mysterious West Cave” described as “such waters and mountains have fostered great persons”, Comrade Mao Zedong Memorial Museum—one of the 100 national excellent bases for patriotism education, Mao Zedong Relic Museum—a museum to show the great man' s spirits, and carry out patriotism education and revolutionary traditions education, Research Center of Mao Zedong Thought, a professional library with memorial value—Mao Zedong Library, Stele cluster of Mao Zedong' s poems “integrated with Mao Zedong' s artistic essence and presented Mao Zedong' s insights into literature”, Shao Peak—enjoys the reputation of “comparing with mountains around the world, it is the greatest mountain on the south of the Yangtze River” , Mao Zedong Memorial Garden—a place to integrate history and represent the great man' s footprints. A large number of new and old outstanding scenic spots attract visitors with their own unique styles and rich cultural legacy, thus Shaoshan becomes a sacred place of red tourism.

Hotline for taxi services within the city: 0731-55684222; 0731-55684777
Hotline for tourism complaint: 0731-55666111

Former Residence Scenic Spots (Former Residence of Mao Zedong, Mao Zedong Square, Mao Zedong Memorial Park)
Former Residence of Mao Zedong

Located at Shangwuchang, Tudichong, Shaoshan Village, Shaoshan Town, Shaoshan City, the Former Residence of Mao Zedong is positioned toward the south and faces the north with the total building area of 472.92 square meters. It is built like the Chinese character “凹” with clod and wood. The east of the building is Mao Zedong’s home and the west is his neighbor’s house, while the central room is shared by these two families. Mao Zedong was born here on December 26, 1893. Passing the central room, Mao Zedong’ s whole family photo, household utensils and various farm tools can be seen amid the east room, bed room, veranda and duiwu (a room for milling food). The shoulder pole, pail, hoe etc. used by Mao Zedong in his teenage are displayed.  

In 1929, the Former Residence was confiscated and destroyed by the government of Chinese Nationalist Party. And then in 1950, it was repaired according to the original appearance. Part of the original items and photos are exhibited in the room which Mao Zedong was born in, study room and the room of his parents. In 1964, Shaoshan Mao Zedong Former Residence Exhibition Hall was built to display the photos and materials about revolutionary activities joined in by Mao Zedong. In 1878, his great-grandfather Mao Sirui bought five and a half thatched cottages in Shangwuchang. The first son of his great-grandfather Mao Dechen was living there at first. Ten years later, Mao Sirui's two sons began to live independently, so the younger son Mao Yichen got the house in Shangwuchang. Along with his son Mao Shunsheng and wife Wen, Mao Yichen moved from Maocaotang and settled here. Mao Zedong was born here on December 26, 1893 and spent his early years in Shaoshan. Around 1918, Mao Shunsheng developed these thatched cottages into thirteen and a half tile-roofed houses. In 1910, Mao Zedong went out to go to school with a strong will to save the country and people. In the spring of 1921, Mao Zedong returned to persuade relatives to participate in revolution. In 1925, he returned again for Peasant Movement, organized small-scale meetings and established the Shaoshan branch of Communist Party here. In the New Year’s Holiday of 1927, Mao Zedong held investigation meetings here during his inspection over the Peasant Movement of Hunan. For the purpose of hometown inspection, he visited here again in June 1959. On March 4, 1961, the State Council declared that the Former Residence of Mao Zedong in Shaoshan as a precious cultural relic under state protection.

Mao Zedong Square

Comrade Mao Zedong Bronze Statue Square was built in 1993, the year of Mao Zedong’s 100th birthday. It is the center of primary scenic spots in Shaoshan, the main place for tourists at home and abroad to commemorate Mao Zedong, the site for various large-scale activities, and the distributing place for tourists in Shaoshan. Since it was completed, four million overseas and domestic visitors have been received per year. It plays an irreplaceable role of promoting Mao Zedong Thought, as well as conducting patriotism education and revolutionary traditions education.

In 2008, Mao Zedong’s 115th birthday, the square was renovated and expanded. It was the key program of "No. 1 Projects in Shaoshan". With the approval of the Central Committee of Communist Party, the new Mao Zedong Square adopted the scheme of “small-scale movement, small-scale turning” on the basis of the original bronze statue square. Now it has a total area of more than 100,000 square meters after renovation and expansion. Mao Zedong Bronze Statue, together with the base, is 10.1 meters high. It is leaning on the Shao Peak and facing the Former Residence. People can feel the marvelous spirits of the great man in a magnificent and solemn atmosphere.

Mao Zedong Memorial Garden

Shaoshan Mao Zedong Memorial Garden, situated at the hill 500 meters away from Comrade Mao Zedong's Former Residence, is a comprehensive garden for commemoration, education and entertainment. Main revolutionary scenic spots where Mao Zedong and his companions  worked and fought together, together with memorial facilities, are built against the hill, such as: well pavilion of Hunan Provincial First Normal School (now is Hunan First Normal University), Nanhu Yacht, Changsha Qingshui Pool, Wuhan Training Institute for Peasant Movement, Maoping Octagon, Huangyangjie Monument, Shazhouba Well, Site of the Zunyi Conference, Luding Bridge, Zaoyuan Cave Dwelling, Yan'an Pagoda, Xibaipo Former Residence and Shaoshan Mao Zedong Memorial Hall etc. It is a children & youth educational base on revolutionary tradition and patriotism, which is praised as the window of history and window of culture for Chinese revolution. It has been successively entitled as “Best Park in Hunan Province”, “Best Scenic Spot in Hunan Province” and “Model Establishment of Hunan Province for Civilization and Health”.

Shaoshan Mingyuan Park is close to Mao Zedong Memorial Garden. Its major scenic spots include Great Man Park, Memorial Pavilion, Tomb of Six Family Members of Mao Zedong, Ciyan Hall, Shaoshan Folk Custom Museum, Schooling Exhibition of Young Mao Zedong, and Longyuan Cave etc. The magnificent park with unusual design represents the folk culture as well as local conditions and customs. It is one of the touring and memorial sites with great originality in Shaoshan.

Dishui Cave

Dishui Cave is situated at the narrow gorge about 4 kilometers away from Mao Zedong Bronze Statue. In the cave, the natural scenery is with peerless elegance. There are green peaks and hills, lush forest and tall bamboo, wild flowers and grass, flying butterflies and singing birds. “Family Tree of Mao” praised “such waters and mountains have fostered great persons; it is with great charm, but people don’t realize it because the stone bridge is like a lock forming several barriers for visitors.”

After separating from hometown for 32 years, Mao Zedong came back in June 1959. While he was swimming in Shaoshan reservoir in the mouth of Dishui Cave, he felt excited and said to Zhou Xiaozhou, the former secretary of Hunan provincial party committee, “Xiaozhou, how about building several thatched cottages in the ravine? I can live here when I'm old. And some small meetings of central south bureau…” Then the Dishuidong Villa was thus built.

The villa started construction in 1960. Its architectural style reminds visitors of the houses of Zhongnanhai in Beijing. In June 1966, Mao Zedong made an inspection tour toward south and arrived at Shaoshan. He stayed for 11 days in No.1 building. He called it as “a cave in the west” in his letter on July 8, 1966. The heroic troop led by Ouyang Hai built a 100-meter-long air-raid shelter behind the villa in 1970. On one side of the shelter, there are a shock-proof room, commanding room and other military installations. On each side of the cave there is a heavy automatically-controlled iron gate, which is several meters thick and with the weight of several tons. Even if atomic bomb bursts out of the cave, the safety of in-house commanding system and personnel won't be affected.  

The confidentiality management of “West Cave” is extremely strict. Once it was so mysterious that few people knew it. In the autumn of 1986, with the approval of CPC Hunan Provincial Committee and Hunan Provincial Government, it was open to public. Three major parts of Dishui Cave Scenic Spot are: villas series represented by No. 1 building; Huxieping scenery series including Mao Zedong’s ancestral graves, tiger crave, tiger pavilion, Dishui qingyin (drip’s clear sound) in the west; and Longtou Mountain scenery series containing Mao Zedong’s great-grandparents’ graves, Longquansandie(a waterfall’s name), Benlongquanchi(a pond with spring), Guanyinyuantiao(a Guanyin-shape rock looking at the distant place) in the east.

The sceneries of Dishui Cave integrate with the amazement of nature and great cultural events. It is famous at home and abroad and attracts a large number of tourists. Party leaders and state leaders including Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao were once happily touring here. Considered as “the pearl of mountain and water” in Hunan, the “West Cave” has received 15 million home and foreign visitors since it was open to the public 20 years ago. Feng Wenbin, a famous expert in CPC history, praised the beautiful Dishui Cave as "a place with intelligence and beautiful scenery in Hunan, it is a different world.”

Shao Peak Scenic Spot (Shao Peak, Forest of Poetry Steles)
Shao Peak

In ancient times, it was called Fairy Peak or Xiandingling Peak. With a precipitous and beautiful landscape, it is one of the 72 peaks of Hengshan Mountain and the tallest peak of Shaoshan Mountain. It is said that once the Emperor Shun made an inspection tour toward south and arrived at Shao Peak, he played Shaoyue (a type of music in China), thus people began to call it Shao Peak.

Shao Peak Scenic Spot locates at the west of Mao Zedong’s Former Residence and is 2 kilometers away from it. The major scenic spots of Shao Peak are steles for Mao Zedong's Poems, Shao Peak Ropeway, and Shaofeng Temple etc. Natural landscapes here are complementing each other. Following are eight scenic spots of Shao Peak: Shao Peak (a place growing with lush trees and with a wonderful view of sunrise and sunset glow), fairy thatched cottages (built for E’huang and Nvying, two wives of Emperor Shun), Yanzhi well (an ancient well used by E’huang and Nvying for washing and making up), Fengyi Pavilion (a place for Emperor Shun played Shao Music during his southward inspection tour), Talingqingxia (tower-shape mountain and sunglow), Shiwuqingfeng (stone house with cool wind blows), Dunshichengmen (a historic site of a legend. Once a man named Mengsheng wanted to find his parents, so he cried here and met his mother, the stones suddenly bombed and became the shape of gate.), flowing spring water on the cliff (it was said a woman named Yulong dug the stone to find spring in order to save people). Moreover, there are four amazements in Shao Peak. They are Liuchao pine (a pine tree with the age of thousand years), Solid bamboo (this kind of bamboo is not hollow), Baishi spring, Feilaichuan (a boat-shape rock). The natural sceneries including Wulongchaosheng (five dragon-shape gorges seem to worship toward Shao Peak), Shuanglongxizhu, Kunpengzhanchi, Jinguijishui are beautiful wonders of Shao Peak.

Shaofeng Temple, situated at the top of Shao Peak, was built during Zhenguan Regime in Tang Dynasty. It has a long history and wonderful legends. In Mao Zedong’s teenage, he often climbed up Shao Peak to watch sunrise and sunset, as well as to express his great aspiration. The ropeway in Shao Peak is the “air bus” for carrying tourists to Shao Peak. Tourists visit Shao Peak and arrive at its summit by ropeway. It is so amazing that they can look down upon the ribbon-shape rivers and get a command view over all beautiful sceneries.

Steles for Mao Zedong's Poems

Steles for Mao Zedong's Poems are a project with permanent memorial significance for grandly commemorating comrade Mao Zedong’s 100th birthday. There are 50 steles in the park, and one poem by Mao Zedong is craved on each stele. The steles are shaped according to the poems' artistic conception, while the poems are craved on the steles for reading. "Mao Zedong’s poems art exhibition", “Chairman Mao and his six relatives' statues exhibition”, “Mao Zedong’s family letters exhibition” are held indoor, which is the best place for carrying out patriotism education and revolutionary tradition education for children & youth.

Mao Zedong Memorial Garden
Shaoshan Mao Zedong Memorial Garden, situated at the hill 500 meters away from Comrade Mao Zedong's Former Residence, is a comprehensive garden for commemoration, education and entertainment. Main revolutionary scenic spots where Mao Zedong and his companions worked and fought together, together with memorial facilities, are built against the hill, such as: well pavilion of Hunan Provincial First Normal School (now is Hunan First Normal University), Nanhu Yacht, Changsha Qingshui Pool, Wuhan Training Institute for Peasant Movement, Maoping Octagon, Huangyangjie Monument, Shazhouba Well, Site of the Zunyi Conference, Luding Bridge, Zaoyuan Cave Dwelling, Yan'an Pagoda, Xibaipo Former Residence and Shaoshan Mao Zedong Memorial Hall etc. It is a children & youth educational base on revolutionary tradition and patriotism, which is praised as the window of history and window of culture for Chinese revolution. It has been successively entitled as “Best Park in Hunan Province”, “Best Scenic Spot in Hunan Province” and “Model Establishment of Hunan Province for Civilization and Health”.

Shaoshan Mingyuan Park is close to Mao Zedong Memorial Garden. The major scenic spots are: Great Man Park, Memorial Pavilion, Tomb of Six Family Members of Mao Zedong, Ciyan Hall, Shaoshan Folk Custom Museum, Schooling Exhibition of Young Mao Zedong, and Longyuan Cave etc. The magnificent park with unusual design represents the folk culture as well as local conditions and customs. It is one of the touring and memorial sites with great originality in Shaoshan.

Qingxi Scenic Zone (Shaoshan Martyr Cemetery Park, Shaoshan Railway Station, Mao Zedong's Literary and Art Museum, Statue of Young Mao Zedong)
Shaoshan Martyr Cemetery Park

For Mao Zedong’s 100th birthday, people of Shaoshan built the magnificent Shaoshan Martyr Cemetery Park as permanent commemoration of bravely sacrificed martyrs of Shaoshan and to remember history in reality. The government of Shaoshan City is located at Qingxi Town. The newly developed boulevard named “Hero Road” is 40 meters wide and 1020 meters long. It connects with young Mao Zedong Bronze Statue Square on the north, while on the south is Tian’e Mountain, the location of Shaoshan Martyr Cemetery Park. It is a cemetery park without coffins. As some of the martyrs sacrificed outside and some of them had been buried, people don’t want to bother their “souls”, so they have to express their grand commemoration through architectural styles that integrate with ancient and modern architectural arts, such as tower, booth, memorial hall, pavilion, and sculpture. The major sites of the park are gate building, national flag platform, martyr tower, bronze statues of Mao Zedong’s six relatives, wujie pavilion, baijie pavilion etc.

  
Shaoshan Railway Station

Built in 1967, the station is situated in Qingxi Town, at the heart of Shaoshan City. It is 50 meters away from the front of the statue of young Mao Zedong, and 21 kilometers away from Xiangshao Station. As a third-grade station, it is managed by Guangzhou Railway (Group) Corp. Changsha Railway General Corporation. There are 2 trains passing by and 3 railway stations can be directly arrived through Shaoshan station.

Mao Zedong's Literary and Art Museum

Shaoshan Mao Zedong's Literary and Art Museum was built with the donation from Changsha City in 2008, the year of comrade Mao Zedong’s 115th birthday. It is an important base for researching culture and art created by Mao Zedong, gathering together Mao Zedong’s discussions, works, literary works, and calligraphies about literature and art, as well as some original photos etc. of his revolutionary course.

Located at the north of Shaoshan Martyr Cemetery Park, the museum covers 45 mu (1 mu is about 667 square meters) with the total building area of 4,800 square meters approximately. It is designed like a beautiful pyramid, because “Mao Zedong's thought about literary and art has become the guiding lamp for many literary and art workers.”

The exhibition includes five parts: 1) break through the bind of feudalism; 2) hold high the banner of Chinese advanced culture—to show the theoretical process for Mao Zedong to combine the general principles of Marxism with Chinese excellent traditional culture during “Jinggangshan Period” (1927 to 1930 when Mao Zedong stayed at Jinggangshan Mountain); 3) Yan'an symposium on literature and art—to show the generating process of “Mao Zedong’s speech at Yan'an Symposium on Literature and Art” (a speech containing the essence of Mao Zedong’s literary and art thought) and its profound effect; 4) develop and boost socialist literature and art—to show Mao Zedong’s literary and art thought and activities during the period of socialism development; 5) collect valuable contents and designated subjects—mainly contain the communication between Mao Zedong and foreign and domestic literati and artists, Mao Zedong’s poems and calligraphy, letters and other works by Mao Zedong, his comments on classical poems, Mao Zedong’s appreciation about operas and songs and dances, Mao Zedong led sons and daughters to read Chinese classic literary works, and Mao Zedong’s smart words about literature and art etc.

Statue of Young Mao ZedongStatue of young Mao Zedong, built in December 1967, is located at the hummock, 200 meters away from the front of Shaoshan Railway Station. In order to remember Mao Zedong’s birthday (December 26) forever, the overall height of the statue is set at 12.26 meters, among which, the height of the statue body is 6 meters, and the height of the base is 6.26 meters.

The statue, wearing a long gown, is facing the southeast. “His” left hand puts on the waist, while the right hand powerfully points to the front. Meanwhile, his right foot is stepping forward. Vigorous expression is on “his” face, full of magnificent and mighty manner. The statue is a rare plastic artistic gem, which vividly presents young Mao Zedong’s great aspiration of “giving comments on the national affairs with strong words, and considering past mighty as no more than muck”, as well as his heroic spirit of “comparing height with the sky”.

The statue has a reinforced concrete structure. The body of the statue is decorated by artificial stone with textures cut with an axe to copy the effect of granite; the outer walls of the base are attached with thin slices of granite, the upper part is “Baihu Ravine”, while the lower part is “Nankou Red”; marbles are laid on the platform and the edges are decorated with mashi (a kind of granite) .

Far away from the statue is towering green mountains, and eight flags under the blue sky are waving with the wind under in the vicinity; camphor trees, maple trees, white pine trees, camellia, honey orange are growing along forests and lines on slopes around the statue. They are planted in a radial pattern with clear lines. Here is a good place for tourists.