Early history coffin of lady
Xin Zhui (217–168 BC). Unearthed from Tomb No. 1 at
Mawangdui. Han dynasty, 2nd century BC '', a bronze vessel of the late
Shang dynasty, circa 1000 BC Development started around when Changsha developed with the proliferation of
Longshan culture, although there is no firm evidence of such a link. Evidence exists that people lived and thrived in the area during the
Bronze Age. Numerous examples of pottery and other objects have been discovered. Later
Chinese legends related that the
Flame and
Yellow Emperors visited the area.
Sima Qian's
history states that the Yellow Emperor granted his eldest son
Shaohao the lands of Changsha and its neighbors. During the
Spring and Autumn period (8th5th centuryBC), the
Yue culture spread into the area around Changsha. During the succeeding
Warring States period,
Chu took control of Changsha. Its capital, Qingyang, became an important southern outpost of the kingdom. In 1951–57 archaeologists explored numerous large and medium-sized Chu tombs from the Warring States Era. More than 3,000 tombs have been discovered. Under the
Qin dynasty , Changsha was a staging post for expeditions south into
Guangdong that led to its conquest and the establishment of the
Nanyue kingdom. '',
Warring States period (475-221 BC) Under the
Han Linxiang was the capital of the
principality of
Changsha. At first this was a
client state held by
Liu Bang's
Baiyue ally
Wu Rui that served as a means of controlling the restive Chu people and as a
buffer state against
Nanyue. By Linxiang had
city walls to protect it against uprisings and invasions. The famous
Mawangdui tombs were constructed between 186 and
Lady Xin Zhui was buried in the earliest tomb and, during its excavation in the 1970s, was found to have been very well preserved. More importantly, the tombs included the earliest surviving copies of the
Tao Te Ching and other important literary and historical documents. When Wu Rui's descendant Wu Zhu ) died childless in , the kingdom was granted to a cadet branch of the
imperial family as their fief. The kingdom was abolished under
Wang Mang's short-lived
Xin dynasty and briefly revived by the
Eastern Han. In its prince was demoted and the area administered as and
Changsha Commandery. The
Three Kingdoms state of
Wu ruled Changsha for several decades, a period whose administration is well known because its documents have been excavated. Following the turmoil of the Three Kingdoms, the
Wu Emperor of
Jin granted Changsha to his sixth son
Sima Yi. The local government had over 100 counties at the beginning of the dynasty. Over the course of the dynasty, the local government of Changsha lost control over a few counties, leaving them to local rule. The 6th-century
Sui dynasty renamed the district Xiangzhou to
Tan Prefecture, causing the city to also be known as Tanzhou. It was named after Zhaotan in the year Kaihuang 9 (AD589), and the Tanzhou General Manager was established. During the reign of the Sui emperor
Yang, Tanzhou was abolished and Changsha County, a first-level administrative unit, was established, but the area of its jurisdiction was reduced. Changsha's 3-tier administration was simplified to a 2-tier state and county system, eliminating the middle canton region. Under the
Tang, Changsha prospered as a center of trade between central China and
Southeast Asia but suffered during the
Anshi Rebellion, when it fell to the rebels. In early 10th century, Changsha served as the capital of the
Southern Chu Kingdom established by Ma Yin () in 907, one of the era's Ten Kingdoms. Southern Chu lasted about 50 years before being overthrown by the
Southern Tang in 951. Under the
Song dynasty, the
Yuelu Academy was founded in 976. It was destroyed by war in 1127 and rebuilt in 1165, during which year the celebrated philosopher
Zhu Xi taught there. It was again destroyed by the
Mongols during the establishment of the
Yuan before being restored in the late 15th century under the
Ming. Early 19th-century graduates of the academy formed what one historian called a "network of messianic alumni", including
Zeng Guofan, architect of the
Tongzhi Restoration, and
Cai E, a major leader in the defense of the
Republic of China. In 1903 the academy became Hunan High School. Modern-day
Hunan University is also a descendant of the
Yuelu Academy. Some of its buildings were remodeled from 1981 to 1986 according to their presumed original Song design. During the
Mongol conquest of the
Southern Song, Tanzhou was fiercely defended by the local Song troops. After the city finally fell, the defenders committed mass suicide. Under the
Ming (14th–17th centuries), Tanzhou was again renamed Changsha and made a superior prefecture.
Modern history made an attack on Changsha Under the
Qing (17th–20th centuries), Changsha was the capital of Hunan and prospered as one of China's chief rice markets. During the
Taiping Rebellion, the city was besieged by the rebels in 1852 or 1854 for three months but never fell. The rebels moved on to
Wuhan, but Changsha then became the principal base for the government's suppression of the rebellion. The 1903
Treaty of Shanghai between the Qing and
Japanese empires opened the city to foreign trade effective 1904.
Most favored nation clauses in other
unequal treaties extended the Japanese gains to the Western powers as well. Consequently, international capital entered the town and factories, churches, and schools were built. A college was started by
Yale alumni, which later became a medical centre named Xiangya and a secondary school named the
Yali School. Following the
Xinhai Revolution, further development followed the opening of the railway to
Hankou in
Hubei province in 1918, which was later extended to
Guangzhou in
Guangdong Province in 1936. Although Changsha's population grew, the city remained primarily commercial in character. Before 1937, it had little industry apart from some small
cotton-
textile, glass, and
nonferrous-metal plants and
handicraft enterprises.
Mao Zedong, the founder of the
People's Republic of China, began his political career in Changsha. He was a student at the Hunan Number 1 Teachers' Training School from 1913 to 1918. He later returned as a teacher and principal from 1920 to 1922. The school was destroyed during the
Chinese Civil War but has since been restored. The former office of the Hunan
Communist Party Central Committee where Mao Zedong once lived is now a museum that includes Mao's living quarters, photographs and other historical items from the 1920s. Until May 1927, communist support remained strong in Changsha before the massacre carried out by the
right-wing faction of the
KMT troops. The faction owed its allegiance to
Chiang Kai-shek during its offensive against the KMT's
left-wing faction under
Wang Jingwei, who was then allied closely with the
Communists. The purge of communists and suspected communists was part of Chiang's plans for consolidating his hold over the KMT, weakening Wang's control, and thereby over the entire China. In a period of twenty days, Chiang's forces killed more than ten thousand people in Changsha and its outskirts. During the
Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–45), Changsha's strategic location made it the focus of four campaigns by the
Imperial Japanese Army to capture it from the
Nationalist Army: these campaigns were the
1st Changsha, the
2nd Changsha, the
3rd Changsha, and the
4th Changsha. The city was able to repulse the first three attacks thanks to
Xue Yue's leadership, but ultimately fell into Japanese hands in 1944 for a year until the Japanese were defeated in a counterattack and forced to surrender. Before these Japanese campaigns, the city was already virtually destroyed by the
1938 Changsha Fire, a deliberate fire ordered by Kuomintang commanders who mistakenly feared the city was about to fall to the Japanese; Generalissimo
Chiang Kai-shek had suggested that the city be burned so that the Japanese force would gain nothing after entering it. Following the
Communist victory in the
Chinese Civil War, Changsha slowly recovered from its former damage. Since
Deng Xiaoping's
Reform and Opening Up Policy, Changsha has rapidly developed since the 1990s, becoming one of the important cities in the central and western regions. At the end of 2007, Changsha, Zhuzhou, and Xiangtan received approval from the State Council for the "
Chang-Zhu-Tan (Greater Changsha) Resource-Saving and Environment-Friendly Society Comprehensive Reform Pilot Area", an important engine in the
Rise of Central China plan. In 2015,
Xiangjiang New Area was approved as a national
new area. == Geography ==