Changsha, China

Changsha, located in the central part of China, is the capital city of Hunan province. Covering an area of 11.8 thousand square kilometers, it has jurisdiction over six urban districts, three county-level cities with a total population of about 8.4 million. In 2019, its gross regional production reached nearly RMB 1.2 trillion (around USD 170 billion), an increase of 8.1% over the previous year, while its economic aggregate ranked the 6th  among provincial capital cities in central China.

I. A profound culture

Changsha is a famous cultural city with a long-standing history of more than 3,000 years. It boasts abundant famous historical and cultural sites and relics, such as Mawangdui Han Tomb and millennium Yuelu Academy, etc. Changsha has nurtured a number of well-known people, such as Chairman Mao Zedong, the founding father of People’s Republic of China and Mr. Yuan Longping, the world’s “father of hybrid rice”.  

II. A beautiful city landscape

Changsha enjoys unique beauty of harmonious integration of Yuelu Mountain, Xiang River, Orange Island and the city. Its good air quality rate remains above 90% and greenery coverage rate reaches 53.3%. It is rated as the “China’s Excellent Tourism City”, “National Forest City”, “National Garden City”, and “Green City” of the Global Human Settlements Awards.

III. A strong momentum in development

Changsha has a series of national-level strategic platforms, such as National Pilot Reform Zone for Resource Conservation and Environmental Protection, National Demonstration Zone for Independent Innovation, Pilot Demonstration City for “Made in China 2025”, National Airport Economy Demonstration Zone, and Pilot City for Cross-border E-commerce. There are 5 national development zones and 9 provincial industrial parks here, cultivating seven industrial clusters each with over RMB 100 billion annual output: new materials, engineering machinery, electronic information, food, automobile manufacturing, culture creativity and tourism.

IV. A favorable geographic advantage

Changsha enjoys important position as a comprehensive transportation and logistics hub. As one of the top 100 airports in the world, Changsha Huanghua International Airport handles more than 25 million passengers annually, and has nonstop flights to over 90 cities at home and abroad, among which 33 are international regular flights. Changsha is also the high-speed railway hub city in China. High-speed railways of Beijing to Guangzhou, Shanghai to Kunming and Chongqing to Xiamen intersect in Changsha, extending in all directions. 20 provincial capital cities and municipalities can be reached.

V. A passionate place for science and innovation

Changsha boasts 58 universities and colleges such as National University of Defense Technology, Central South University and Hunan University etc. It also has 96 independent scientific research institutions, 62 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering. It has cultivated over 600,000 college students and 420,000 professionals. A series of world-class scientific fruits have been achieved here, such as super hybrid rice and supercomputer etc.

In recent years, Changsha has been actively getting involved in the “Belt and Road” Initiative proposed by President Xi Jinping and speeding up to carry out the “innovation-led, opening up and rising up strategy” of Hunan, dedicating to making itself a new highland of reform and opening-up in central China. With friendly relationships or friendly economic and trade partnerships established with 52 cities in 31 countries, Changsha has also been honored as “Chinese City with the Greatest Soft Power”, one of the “Top 10 Chinese Cities with Innovative Flair”, “Chinese City (Mainland) with the Best International Image” and one of the “Best Commercial Cities on the Chinese mainland” by Forbes, etc. In 2017, Changsha was selected as “Culture City of East Asia” and successfully joined the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, becoming the first city in China to be awarded as City of Media Arts.