湘潭市
Birthplace of Mao Zedong's early career, and a scholarly town
Why this place
Xiangtan is where Mao Zedong came from — his birthplace village at Shaoshan is in this prefecture and is a major site of pilgrimage in China. The city itself was an old trading and scholarly town on the Xiang River.
What to see
- Mao Zedong's birthplace at Shaoshan, with the family house and the memorial museum
- The Xiang River and the old wharf district
- Qishan and the temples of the surrounding hills
What to eat
- Hunan cooking at its most chilli-forward
- Xiangtan is known for its 'Dengxinchang' soy sauce and its cured meats
Best time
March–May and October–November
This browser has no speech synthesis, so the ▶ buttons stay silent. Everything else works — Chrome, Edge and Safari can read the sounds aloud.