Travel Guide Changsha 长沙

The Hunan capital will not keep the visitor long. Without great tourist interest, because ugly by rapid development, Changsha still has the advantage of bringing together the best typical restaurant specimens in the province, whose kitchen, known as cai cai (湘菜), is famous by China for its very spicy side!Crossed by the Xiang River, one of the major tributaries of the Yangtze River, Changsha remains known in Chinese contemporary history for being the first major city to resist the Japanese invasion during World war II. The province of Hunan, the birthplace of Mao Zedong, is regarded as the bastion of communism, and therefore of resistance to the Japanese invader.According to legend, the Xiang River is protected by two goddesses, the name of Ehuang and Nüying, wives of the mythical emperor Shun. When he died his two companions, shattered by grief, would have ended their days by entering Xiang waters. Since then, the bamboo bushes on the banks of the river all bear round marks on their stems: it would be the tears paid by the two wives.