Changsha, Hunan, City of My Youthful Wonderment

Changsha Train Station. Chang'an (now Xian), Beijing and Hangzhou have always held me with awe as they had been dynastic capitals of imperial China. Changsha, however, have held me with wonderment in my teen years as the only ruler I knew in my formative years was Mao Zedong, then fondly revered as Chairman Mao and I knew that he was born in Hunan Province. The only place in Hunan I knew then was Changsha, its capital. Therefore in view of this early fascination with Mao and Changsha yours truly made a five-day visit to Changsha in September 2007.
The most popular way to get into Changsha from Guangzhou is by rail. So on one blustery and misty day I found myself taking the N556 Express Train from Guangzhou Railway Station. After experiencing the roar and din in the waiting lounge I was happy to exchange it for claustrophobia to board the train which departed right on the dot at 22:40 hours. The only memorable event in the train was that I had to struggle my way up to my third level berth in order to get to sleep. There were no ladders so I had to cling on tight to the bars and use brute strength to abseil up to my bed! Fortunately yours truly still retain some of his "Tarzan" skills! All night long I was in tranceland, neither awake nor in deep slumber as the train's bull horns roared hauntingly every time we passed a train station or an on-coming train. With one brief stop-over at the major cross-railroad town of Zhuzhou half an hour from our final destination the train slipped sheepishly into Changsha Railway Station at 06.50 hours on timetable schedule. The 780-kilometre journey took eight hours 10 minutes. I whispered: "Changsha, here I come". That's wonderment, I sighed.
The Changsha Railway Station lies at the eastern end of the City's main thoroughfare, Wu Yi Dadao or May First Highway which is a three-kilometre long straight road terminating at the Xiang River at the western end. The majestic Xiangjiang Bridge links the city centre to its quieter west bank suburbs.
Jiezi Dao or Tangerine Island. The City's name, literally "Long Sand" derives from a narrow midstream sand shoal or bar now called "Jiezi Dao" or Tangerine Island. On either side of the bridge there is a slipway road which leads to the island. In addition somewhere near the middle span of the bridge there is a spiral staircase to descend to the island. So yours truly ambled his way to the island past old stones houses prviously occupied by Europeans who had moved into this enclave after the foreign quarter in Changsha was totally razed during the riots over the raising of rice prices in 1910.I stopped short of rows and rows of vegetables and some fruit trees. No prize for guessing correct that tangerines predominate! Big Brother is watching me for any transgression, my mind kept telling me. At the water edge there were a few amateur anglers whiling their time away. Indeed time appeared to stand still in sharp contrast to the milling crowds half a kilometre away around the intersection of Wu Yi Dadao with Huangxing Lu the main shopping drag. Here one would not miss the two landmarks of modernity, Parkson's Superstore and Carrfour Supermarket. Aren't they the new gods or prophets we nowadays worship or pay homage to like Qin Shi-huang in BC times?

Chonglie Gate Pailou. As Changsha was the site of many fierce battles between the Chinese and invading Japanese during the 1937-1945 Sino-Japanese War one of the places where Chinese visitors would visit is the Chonglie Gate Pailou (Pailou means an archway of a memorial) in remembrance of their country-men who had sacrificed their lives fighting the still much detested Japanese.
There are two couplets on the archway. The one in the middle says:-"Smash the invaders and guard our nation." The other one reads:- "Fight for our country. Forget our safety. Devote our lives for the lofty cause."
Tianxin Pavilion. Moving from the world of quiet solemnity into the times of past imperial glory yours truly found himself close by at the site of one of the symbols of ancient Changsha. The Tianxin Pavilion is regarded as one of the four historic sites of Changsha. Here is a remnant of an ancient wall which is 2000 years old. The wall initially made of wood was first built during the Qin and Han dynasties. It was reconstructed into a stone foundation bed and brick wall in 1372 in the early years of the Ming Dynasty. The Tianxin Pavilion which has a history of more than 400 years stands majestically on the ancient wall. The main pavilion which is 14.6 metres high has three storeys and there are two subordinate pavilions that are connected to the main by a corridor. If one were into old Chinese architecture then this would be the place to marvel, gaze and even to eye-ball at the fine intricacies of carvings and handiwork. It is a great therapy to travel in a time machine to the days when the Ming and Qing emperors held sway. But not for too long because we would certainly miss our beloved world of PCs, i-pods, mobile phones, internet surfs, blogs, the "idiot boxes" and not forgetting our perpetual traffic snarls and shopping malls, bistros and the many other "happening places".