Leisure and Sightseeing, Hunan Explorations (Part 3)
Section 3: Hotels and Star-Rated Models. Hunan's First Hotel After the Founding of New China — Hunan Hotel. Founded in 1959 and officially opened to the public in 1962, Hunan Hotel was the first hotel in Hunan Province to be named as such, enjoying high reputation and recognition. It is a four-star hotel, a garden-style establishment and park-like hotel, located in Hunan...
This article has been compiled from historical materials in the "Zhangjiajie Tour Guide Network" (33519.com · City Overview section). Some administrative divisions, population, socioeconomic data, and policy information may be outdated and are for reference only; for the latest situation, please refer to official releases by the local government and scenic areas.
Section Three
Hotels and Restaurants — Star-Rated Models
Hunan's first hotel after the founding of New China — Hunan Hotel
Hunan Hotel was founded in 1959 and officially opened to the public in 1962. It was the first hotel in Hunan Province to be named as a 'hotel,' with high visibility and reputation. The hotel is 'four-star' rated, a garden-style unit and park-style hotel, located on the east side of Hunan Martyrs' Park. It can accommodate meetings of various sizes and specifications. Among them, the 'Hubin Conference Center' is the largest and most luxuriously decorated conference hall in the province. It also offers supporting services including restaurants, shopping malls, beauty and hairdressing, luggage storage, sauna and massage, bars and coffee, bank exchange, postal and fax services, typing and printing, and broadband internet. Due to its strong reception capabilities, through public bidding, it was designated by the Hunan Provincial Department of Finance as a 'designated reception unit for Type I, II, and III meetings of provincial-level units,' and by the Changsha Municipal Government Procurement Office as a 'designated reception unit for meetings in Changsha.'
Hunan's only platinum five-star hotel — Furong Guohaoting Grand Hotel
Furong Guohaoting Grand Hotel is a platinum five-star hotel invested and built by Hunan Furongguo Enterprise Group, managed by Howard Johnson International Hotel Group, integrating guest rooms, dining, entertainment, leisure, and shopping. It is the only platinum five-star hotel in Hunan Province. The hotel opened in July 2009 and is located at the northwest corner of the intersection of Furong Road and Renmin Road in the CBD core area of Changsha, Hunan Province. The main building has 29 floors and nearly 400 luxurious and comfortable guest rooms. It features non-smoking floors, rooms for disabled guests, executive floors, and executive butler service. The hotel adopts advanced environmentally friendly design concepts and has a 530-square-meter Grand Ballroom; conference rooms capable of accommodating 15 different types of meeting needs; a total of over 2,400 square meters of meeting space, flexibly meeting the needs of various conferences and events; the city's largest open kitchen, lobby bar, and tea bar. Its 'Fu · Chinese Restaurant' consists of 28 luxurious private rooms and an à la carte restaurant, offering top-tier Hunan and Cantonese cuisine.
Central-South China's first five-star ecological hotel — Preess Resort & Spa
Preess Resort & Spa is located in Wangcheng, covering an area of 600 mu. It opened on December 28, 2003, and is Hunan Province's first five-star ecological hotel, China's first publishing culture-themed hotel, and one of China's top ten hot spring hotels. It was awarded the 'Golden Leaf Green Tourist Hotel' by the National Tourism Star-Rated Hotel Evaluation Committee. The hotel is established on culture, with dining featuring specialty Hunan cuisine, and a full range of Cantonese cuisine, Western cuisine, and Tan family cuisine. Its entertainment centers on metasilicic acid hot springs combined with hydrotherapy SPA as its flagship product, making it the leader among Hunan's leisure resort hotels. The hotel has successively hosted a series of major conferences and received a large number of important leaders, becoming a major window for Hunan Province's external image promotion. It has been awarded 'Best Star-Rated Hotel,' 'Outstanding Contribution Award for Tourism Industry Development,' and other honors multiple times. Because of the hotel's prominent brand and fame spreading at home and abroad, the Wangcheng County Party Committee and County Government named the main road in front of the hotel 'Preess Avenue,' which is also the first road in the country named after a hotel.
Hunan's first luxury Continental-style five-star tourist hotel — Changsha Shennong Hotel
Changsha Shennong Hotel was founded in 1997, jointly invested and built by Changsha Tobacco Company and Changsha Cigarette Factory. It is Hunan Province's first luxury Continental-style five-star tourist hotel managed by an international hotel management company. The hotel is located in the prosperous southern district of the ancient city of Changsha, adjacent to Changsha Avenue, with Furong Road running straight through. The location is superior and transportation is very convenient, only 30 minutes from the airport and 15 minutes by car from the railway station. The main building of Shennong Hotel is 26 floors high, with a 13-floor annex, and a building area of approximately 60,000 square meters, making it a landmark building in Changsha.
Hunan's first renowned ultra-luxury five-star hotel — Hunan Huatian Hotel
Hunan Huatian Hotel consists of the VIP Building, Welcome Building, podium building, entertainment city, multi-story garage, and comprehensive building. Huatian Hotel is Hunan Province's first renowned ultra-luxury five-star hotel. It has successively joined the 'International Golden Key Organization' and the 'China Famous Hotel Organization,' and received 'Top 20 Chinese Hotel Industry Groups,' 'Global Top 300 Hotel Industry,' the highest international honor in the service field — the 'Five Star Diamond Award,' and 'Pioneer of Chinese Hotel National Brands.' In 2004, after evaluation by 'The Leading Hotels of the World,' it was accepted into 'The Leading Hotels of the World.' Within the province, it has received the 'Special Contribution Award of Hunan Tourism Hotel Industry,' the Hunan Provincial Tourism Bureau's 'Excellent Brand Award' for star-rated tourist hotels, and recognition as an advanced unit in tourism training and education.
China's Best Business Hotel — Tongcheng International Hotel
Tongcheng International Hotel was invested and built by Changsha Tongcheng Holdings Co., Ltd., one of Hunan Province's first listed companies. It is Hunan Province's first luxury hotel built strictly to international five-star standards, honored as the 'Star City Landmark,' 'First Building of Xiangchu,' and 'Hunan's Reception Hall.' The hotel integrates guest rooms, dining, shopping, offices, and entertainment and leisure, and also serves business travel, leisure vacations, and large-scale international conference reception. It has forged Tongcheng's distinctive 'Five Star Diamond' service brand and endowed the hotel with the individual brand traits of 'dignity,' 'elegance,' and 'beauty.' Since opening in 1998, the hotel has undertaken important reception work for the Fifth Cross-Strait Economic, Trade and Culture Forum, the 'Central China Expo,' the Pan-Pearl River Forum, and others. The hotel has been elected 'Hunan's Best Hotel' and 'Hunan's Outstanding Brand Hotel' for consecutive years, and was honored by 'Businessman' magazine as China's Best Business Hotel, becoming the most competitive high-star hotel in the regional market.
Hunan's first international five-star business hotel — Sheraton Changsha Hotel
Sheraton Changsha Hotel is Hunan Province's first international five-star business hotel, located in the core area of Songguiyuan in Changsha. Feast Western Restaurant blends international cuisines from various countries; Xiang Xiang offers authentic Hunan dishes; the international restaurant offers Italian, French, and Japanese cuisine; and Joy Chinese Restaurant offers exquisite traditional Cantonese and Chaozhou cuisine. The Sheraton Ballroom and multiple multi-function meeting rooms can meet meeting needs for ten to eight hundred people. Modern fitness equipment, combined with the most modern hydrotherapy and China's most ancient health preservation methods, allows guests to experience a unique physical and mental experience. The Sheraton Link@Sheraton (Microsoft experience) in the first-floor lobby provides 24-hour high-speed wireless internet service. The hotel has won the Golden Pillow Award's '2009 Best Business Hotel in Central China' and '2009 China Annual Hotel Award Top 10 Business Hotels,' among many other industry honors.
Hunan's first golf club-themed five-star hotel — Changsha Huaya International Hotel
Huaya Huatian International Hotel (Huaya International Hotel) is Hunan's first luxury ecological garden five-star hotel integrating guest rooms, dining, entertainment, business, offices, vacation, and leisure, while also featuring a Jiangnan-style garden and a modern golf course. The main building's shape, viewed from above, forms a taiji diagram. Within Huaya Garden are small bridges over flowing water, magnificent buildings, and towering ancient trees, with over a hundred ancient trees more than 1,600 years old, embodying the ecological theme of harmonious development between humanity and nature. It is one of the few comprehensive ecological garden hotels in the country that integrates Eastern culture with Western art. The hotel has a total building area of over 120,000 square meters and 866 rooms/suites of various types, currently the hotel with the most guest rooms in the province. Dining service facilities are complete, and the multi-function international conference hall covers 1,700 square meters, featuring the largest plasma TV wall in China at present, equipped with a 4+1 simultaneous interpretation system, movable stage, and other advanced conference facilities, making it one of the few multi-function international conference centers in the country.
Hunan's first five-star garden-style leisure resort hotel — Hunan International Film and Television Convention (Center) Hotel
Hunan International Film and Television Exhibition (Center) Hotel is the first five-star garden-style leisure resort hotel in Hunan Province. Its design concept is more modernized and humanized. The entire hall is a column-free structure, equipped with track-type movable partitions, which can be used in an integrated way or partitioned into separate sections, and has the function of hosting large-scale conferences, making it the best among Hunan hotels. The multi-functional conference hall covers an area of 2,700 square meters and can accommodate 2,500 people at the same time, making it the No. 1 hall in Sanxiang. The hall can be divided into three conference halls of equal size, all equipped with high-grade and advanced audio-visual facilities. In addition, the multi-functional hall is also equipped with two VIP lounges of 100 square meters and 50 square meters, ideal places for distinguished guests attending meetings to rest, and can also hold various small and medium-sized meetings. It has a translation system, 2 computer-controlled projection screens and an exotic decorative style. The large entertainment center offers outdoor tennis, squash, disco and other service items, with a beautiful environment and complete equipment.
Hunan Province's first "Golden Leaf-Level Green Tourist Hotel" — Xiangtan Panlong Villa Hotel
Xiangtan Panlong Villa Hotel is the first five-star hotel in Hunan Province outside the provincial capital Changsha. Covering an area of 160 mu, with a building area of 60,000 square meters and a greening rate of 70%, it is a garden-style five-star hotel integrating guest rooms, dining, conferences, business, and leisure and entertainment. The hotel has beautiful scenery and 345 rooms (suites), with 9 room types including deluxe rooms, various suites, and villas. It was fully funded and self-managed by Hunan Panlong Investment Group Co., Ltd., a famous private enterprise in Hunan Province. Construction began in July 2000, it opened on December 26, 2001, and on August 28, 2002, the National Tourism Administration officially awarded it the title of "Five-Star Tourist Hotel"; in June 2004, it joined the "China Famous Hotel Organization"; from 2004 to 2006, it was rated "Hunan Province Best Tourist Star-Rated Hotel" for three consecutive years; in 2007 and 2008, it was awarded the "Hunan Province Tourist Star-Rated Hotel Excellent Brand Award"; in July 2007, it was rated by the National Tourism Administration as Hunan Province's first "Golden Leaf-Level Green Tourist Hotel".
Hunan's first environmentally friendly luxury business hotel — Hunan Xindu Hotel
Hunan Xindu Hotel is the province's first environmentally friendly luxury business hotel invested by Hunan Electric Power Comprehensive Utilization Development Corporation and built according to international four-star standards. It is located on Zhonghuan Road in Changsha. The hotel consists of a main building, a podium building and an annex building. The main building is 24 stories high, with a magnificent architectural momentum, gorgeous decoration, advanced facilities and complete functions. It has more than 200 rooms of various types, Chinese and Western restaurants, a coffee shop, a bar, a flavor food street and other outlets serving famous Chinese and foreign dishes. It also has various modern conference rooms and multi-functional halls of different sizes, a gym, a beauty and hairdressing center, a sauna center, a nightclub, KTV rooms, a swimming pool, a shopping mall, a flower shop, a business center, a laundry center, a ticketing center, and an advanced intelligent three-dimensional garage and other comprehensive supporting service facilities.
Hunan's "State Guesthouse" — Shaoshan Hotel
Shaoshan Hotel is an important reception unit established in Shaoshan by the Hunan Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government. Because it has received nearly a hundred Party and state leaders such as Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, and Jiang Zemin, as well as more than 100 foreign heads of state, government heads, and political party leaders such as Ho Chi Minh and Sihanouk, it is known as the "State Guesthouse" and is currently affiliated with the Hunan Provincial Shaoshan Administration Bureau. The hotel is located in Shaoshanchong, Shaoshan City, about 500 meters from Mao Zedong's former residence. Its architecture adopts a garden style, surrounded by green mountains, with a fresh and elegant environment. It is an ideal place for tourism vacations, holding conferences, and business negotiations. The hotel has 5 buildings of medium- and high-grade guest rooms, nearly 400 beds, 12 meeting rooms of various sizes, and 13 dining rooms of various sizes, equipped with central air conditioning, closed-circuit television, and network ports. It can hold meetings of 200 people and receive nearly 800 people for dining at the same time. Surrounding attractions: Mao Zedong's former residence, Mao Zedong Square, Shaoshan Mao Zedong Memorial Hall and Relics Hall.
Hunan's first resort hotel themed on natural island shores — Changsha Country Garden Phoenix Hotel
Changsha Country Garden Phoenix Hotel (formerly Changsha Venice Hotel) is Hunan Province's first luxury business resort hotel themed on natural island shores. The hotel was built with huge investment by Country Garden, a well-known domestic comprehensive real estate development enterprise, and is meticulously managed by the Country Garden Phoenix Hotel Chain Group. The hotel has more than 340 luxury guest rooms and suites, all carefully designed by famous domestic and international designers, elegantly and gorgeously furnished, and full of exotic charm; it has a Chinese restaurant, St. Mark's Western Restaurant, a lobby lounge, the Nice Bar and other venues; it has 11 multi-functional meeting rooms with advanced and complete facilities and equipment, capable of meeting the needs of meetings and banquets of various specifications; it offers dry and wet saunas, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, KTV rooms, chess and card rooms, a gym, tennis, bowling, snooker, table tennis and other leisure venues; it is equipped with a business center, a fleet of vehicles, a laundry room, a shopping mall and other facilities, as well as convenient and fast business secretary and dedicated butler services.
"Hunan's Diaoyutai" — Rongyuan Hotel
Rongyuan Hotel was established on October 1, 1952. It is a garden-style multi-functional ecological hotel under the Hunan Provincial Party Committee Reception Office. Although the hotel is located at a thoroughfare, it has a rare tranquility in the city. It is suitable for leisure and is known as the "cradle of Hunan cuisine" and "Hunan's Diaoyutai." The hotel covers an area of more than 230 mu, with flowers and trees filling the beds, ancient trees reaching the sky, and green shade like a canopy all year round; it is surrounded by water on three sides, with birds singing in all four seasons, a scene of quiet serenity. Facing the window like a waterside pavilion, built like a splendid kiosk, residing within it, one can enjoy beautiful times and scenery and feel relaxed and happy. In the early last century, it was once the private garden of Hunan provincial dignitaries. Since the 1950s, it has become a key hotel for Hunan Province to receive Party and state leaders and foreign heads of state. Comrade Mao Zedong stayed here ten times.
Related Records
Yueyang Tower
Yueyang Tower, together with Tengwang Pavilion in Nanchang, Jiangxi, and Yellow Crane Tower in Wuhan, Hubei, is known as one of the three great towers of Jiangnan. Now, Yueyang Tower, once a famous place for literati and romantic scholars of past dynasties to sightsee and compose poems and prose, is presented before our eyes, and our hearts are filled with indescribable excitement. Under the ancient city wall on the other side, Dongting Lake lies meekly. Under the bright sunlight, it is just as Fan Zhongyan described: "The waves are calm, the sky and water merge above and below, a vast expanse of blue." On the lake surface, green waves ripple and shimmer, giant ten-thousand-ton ships come and go, the vast lake stretches as far as the eye can see, and the small island in the center of the lake appears indistinctly, truly matching Li Bai's inscription: "Water and sky merge in one color, wind and moon boundless."
At the entrance of Yueyang Tower Park, the plaque reading "Magnificent Scenery of Baling" on the pavilion with upturned eaves on four corners is particularly eye-catching. It is said that the earliest prototype of Yueyang Tower should be traced back to the late Eastern Han Dynasty during the Three Kingdoms period, when Lu Su, a senior general under Sun Quan, was ordered to guard Baqiu, train the navy, and built the ancient city of Baqiu at the strategic section where Dongting Lake meets the Yangtze River. Lu Su built the Military Review Tower on Baling Mountain to train and command the naval forces. The Military Review Tower stood by the shore, and climbing it allowed one to view the entire panorama of Dongting Lake, with every sail and every wave on the lake fully visible, with extraordinary momentum. This Military Review Tower was the predecessor of Yueyang Tower.
Today's Yueyang Tower was rebuilt in 1986. It is a three-story pure wooden structure pavilion. Entering Yueyang Tower, one sees wooden pillars supporting the top, and in the very center is the carved screen of "Record of Yueyang Tower" written by the Qing calligrapher Zhang Zhao. The carved screen is made of 12 huge pieces of red sandalwood joined together. The article, calligraphy, carving work, and wood material are all treasures, and it can be called the "Four Excellences." Every word of "Record of Yueyang Tower" is a gem, with broad content, while the calligraphy by the famous master is full and rounded, neat and grand, flowing like clouds and water, truly admirable! Inside the tower there are also many woodcut plaques and couplets, long and short, all famous sayings and aphorisms by famous ancient and modern masters praising Yueyang Tower, dazzling to the eye. Being in such a place inevitably gives one a touch of literary refinement, but few people can record them all. Some couplets are more than a hundred characters long, while the shortest couplet has only eight characters: "Water and sky merge in one color, wind and moon boundless," signed "Written by Li Bai of Changgeng." Climbing the tower one level at a time, the field of vision becomes broader and broader, and the higher one stands, the farther one sees. Gazing at the lake and mountain scenery of Dongting Lake, one feels relaxed and happy, while looking back at the rise of the new Yueyang city, modernity and classicism complement each other and add charm to each other.
Ascending to the third floor, on the front wall hangs Chairman Mao's handwritten version of Du Fu's poem "Climbing Yueyang Tower": "Long have I heard of Dongting's waters; now I ascend Yueyang Tower. Wu and Chu split southeastward; heaven and earth float day and night. Of relatives and friends, not one word; old and sick, I have only a lone boat. North of the passes, war horses roam; leaning on the railing, tears stream down." The golden large characters are vigorous and powerful, completed in one breath, and shining brilliantly. This poem was written by Du Fu in his later years when he climbed Yueyang Tower and was moved by the scene. From the joy of first seeing Dongting Lake and climbing Yueyang Tower, to his own sorrow and the nation's troubles, the feelings of joy and sorrow emerge vividly. Then thinking of Teng Zijing and Fan Zhongyan, both demoted officials, with aspirations they could not realize, unrecognized for their talents, wandering to the ends of the earth, yet still possessing the sentiment of "being first in worrying about the world's troubles and last in enjoying its pleasures" — how broad their minds were! Moreover, it is said that Fan Zhongyan never visited Dongting Lake, much less climbed Yueyang Tower, yet was able to write this timeless masterpiece. One cannot help but feel sincere admiration. Is Yueyang Tower itself a place for literati who are frustrated and unsuccessful, a place of sorrow and reflection? One's mood cannot help but grow heavy along with it. The concern for joy and sorrow of Fan Zhongyan and other ancients was a lofty spirit of sharing worries for the country and the people and establishing peace for the nation, a profound understanding of life. As the saying goes, "Do not be pleased by external gains, do not be saddened by personal losses." Among contemporary people, how many can have such a realm of thought and such lofty sentiments?
The Origin of Paifang Architecture
Paifang are structures erected in feudal society to commend meritorious deeds, imperial examination success, virtuous governance, and loyalty, filial piety, chastity, and righteousness. Some palaces, temples, and monasteries also use paifang as mountain gates, and some are used to indicate place names. Also known as pailou, they are gate-opening commemorative structures that promote feudal ethics and advertise merit and virtue. Paifang are also auxiliary structures of ancestral halls, displaying the noble virtues and great achievements of family ancestors, and also serving the function of ancestor worship.
Paifang evolved from the lingxing gate and were initially used for worshipping heaven and Confucius. Lingxing was originally written as lingxing, and lingxing referred to the heavenly field star. To pray for a good harvest, Emperor Gaozu of Han stipulated that heaven worship should first include worship of the lingxing. In the Song Dynasty, the rituals for worshipping heaven were used to honor Confucius, and later lingxing was changed to lingxing. Paifang originated from Han Dynasty que towers, matured in the Tang and Song dynasties, and reached their peak in the Ming and Qing dynasties. They also evolved from practical use into a kind of monumental architecture and were widely used to commend merit and advertise glory. They were not only placed at suburban altars and Confucian temples, but also used in front of palaces, temples, tombs, ancestral halls, government offices, and gardens, as well as at the starting points of main streets, intersections, bridges, and other places. They also had strong landscape value, producing effects such as highlighting themes, framing views, and borrowing scenery.
In terms of construction intent, paifang can be divided into four categories: first, merit paifang, to record someone's achievements and virtues. For example, the "Four Generations of Palace Guardians" paifang in Xincheng Town, Huantai County, Shandong Province, was built by the Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty for Wang Xiangqian, a native of Xincheng and then Minister of War. Wang Xiangqian was versed in both civil and military affairs and renowned across the nine border regions. He was promoted in rank to Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent, and his great-grandfather, grandfather, and father were posthumously granted the titles of Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent and Minister of War, hence the inscription "Four Generations of Palace Guardians." Second, chastity and morality paifang, mostly commending chaste women and virtuous widows. There are many such paifang in She County, Anhui. In Heijing Town, Chuxiong, Yunnan, there is a general chastity and filial piety paifang, ordered to be built in the late Qing Dynasty by Empress Dowager Cixi to commend local chaste and virtuous women. Third, those marking imperial examination achievements, mostly family paifang, used to bring glory to the ancestors. The fourth category is marker paifang, mostly erected at village and town entrances and on streets, serving to divide spatial sections.
The paifang itself does not convey meaning; it is merely an abstract symbol. Although there are differences due to materials, such as wooden paifang, stone paifang, and brick (glazed tile) paifang (built in the form of a triumphal arch with bricks, then decorated on the exterior with glazed tiles to form columns, beams, bracket sets, eaves, and other components in the shape of a pailou), and although they are divided by size into two-pillar, four-pillar, and six-pillar types, and by form into those with upper stories (with eaves), those without upper stories (without eaves), those with soaring pillars (pillars like huabiao, rising above the eaves), or without soaring pillars, and so on, their construction still follows certain patterns and can be calculated according to certain rules, such as the dimensions of each component and the proportional relationships among them. Therefore, when paifang are mentioned, one can roughly picture their shape. Unlike Western monuments, which pursue their own individual personalities, through pailou we can see the convergence of Chinese culture and recognize the differences between Chinese and Western cultures.
The Southern Song Ancient City of Chaling
There is an ancient famous Hunan proverb: "The city wall of Chaling, the city god of Anren." Today, "the city god of Anren" no longer exists, while "the city wall of Chaling" refers to the Southern Song Ancient City of Chaling, which is still basically well preserved. Here, on the south, east, and north sides, the Mishui River flows around, and in the western suburbs stands the towering Yunyang Mountain. In 2001, the ancient city was listed by the Hunan Provincial People's Government as a provincial-level protected cultural relic.
The Southern Song Ancient City of Chaling was completed in the fifth year of Shaoding in the Southern Song Dynasty (1232). After repairs and expansions through multiple dynasties, by the Qing Dynasty the city wall's circumference had expanded to more than 353 meters, with a height of 6 meters, more than 1,200 battlements, 6 city gates and 6 gate towers, 4 corner towers, 22 watchtowers, 1 scenic tower, and more than 723 meters of city-protecting embankment. Towers and pavilions faced one another, battlements were linked, and the momentum was magnificent.
According to records, during the Southern Song Dynasty a peasant uprising broke out in southern Hunan, and the rebel army pressed toward Chaling. Hunan pacification commissioner Yu Rong and Chaling county magistrate and military commissioner Liu Zimai were at a loss. Therefore, Yu Rong ordered Liu Zimai to build city walls. In order to make the city wall impregnable, Liu Zimai took great pains. Along the Mishui River he "deepened the foundation and built up the rear ramparts," cushioning with pine wood and piling huge stones as the foundation to build a stone-protecting embankment. West of the city, he dug a moat beside the city, leading in the Mishui River from the south and letting it flow north to rejoin the Mishui. He also "cast an iron rhinoceros and placed it on the riverbank to reduce the force of the water," forming a military defense system with mountains as screens, the river as natural danger, the moat as a trench, and the city as a stronghold for defense. At the same time, it formed an embankment system in which the embankment protected the city, the city prevented floods, the moat discharged floods, and the rhinoceros served as a warning.
This ancient city is a masterpiece perfectly combining military defense and flood prevention, vividly embodying the humanistic thought of "favorable timing, geographical advantage, and harmony among people" and the feudal officials' concept of "guarding the territory and bringing peace to the people." Standing on the ancient city and looking into the distance, the clear blue Mishui River winds like a ribbon, the towering Yunyang Mountain has layered green peaks, the surrounding green mountains are like dark eyebrows, and the fields spread out in green, forming a harmonious grand garden pattern. People cannot help but marvel at the brilliance of the ancients' conception and cannot help reciting the Ming Dynasty Jiangnan talent Xie Jin's poem "Passing Through Chaling": "A clear river bends, playing in the bright sunshine; tree colors and mountain light dye the clothes green. Just right for fishing and seeking drinking companions; once I leave office I'll buy a fishing boat and return." Entering the ancient city's Ziwei Gate, following in the footsteps of historical celebrities such as Huang Tingjian and Xu Xiake, strolling along the ancient streets, exploring the remains of the Southern Song academy, the "Shrine of the Four Great Scholars," and the Qingxia Temple, one of the three great Taoist temples in the country during the Yuan Dynasty, people seem to walk into history and feel a rich historical and cultural atmosphere.
During the Agrarian Revolutionary Struggle period, the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army (Workers' and Peasants' Red Army) captured Chaling city nine times. According to Comrade Mao Zedong's instructions, the first county-level red regime in the Jinggangshan Revolutionary Base Area — the Chaling County Workers, Peasants and Soldiers Government — was established, creating a brilliant model for armed establishment of political power. Mao Zedong once told the famous American writer Edgar Snow: this was "China's first red political power." Therefore, he had deep feelings for Chaling city. Fifty-eight years later, on May 21, 1965, he "traveled a thousand li to seek the old place" and stayed overnight in Chaling city. This was his only overnight stay in a county town after the founding of New China.
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, Chaling successively produced four great scholars: Liu Sanwu, Li Dongyang, Zhang Zhi, and Peng Weixin. Therefore, it has the reputation of "one prefecture's strategic beauty surpassing the three Chu regions, four prime ministers' writings crowning two dynasties." Among them, the "Chaling Poetry School" founded by Li Dongyang opened the poetic style of the Ming Dynasty and is recorded in the history of Chinese literature. In Chaling, successive dynasties produced 122 jinshi, including two zhuangyuan, two bangyan, and two huiyuan. Here, you will feel the freshness and tranquility after the smoke of gunpowder has faded, and experience the lingering fragrance of brush and ink.
Xiangxi Stilted Houses
A Chinese saying goes, "A tall building rises from the ground," but sometimes there are exceptions. The stilted houses scattered across Xiangxi, Hunan, are just such an exception. The Xiangxi area has many mountains and rivers, and all the activities of the Tujia, Dong, and other ethnic groups who have lived together on this land for generations are inseparable from these mountains and waters. The stilted houses of Xiangxi are almost all unique buildings standing above mountains and waters. Although such buildings are only two or three stories high, they "hang" over the water surface and mountainsides like castles in the air, and are not easy to build.
The "feet" of a stilted house are actually several thick wooden posts that support the building. For stilted houses built by the water, two long front "feet" extend out and are planted deep in the river, working together with the wall foundation on the riverbank side to hold up each building. On hillsides, the two front "feet" of the stilted house rest firmly on the lower ground, balancing the building together with the wall foundation on the other side. Some stilted houses are built on flat ground, supported above the surface by several wooden posts of equal length. According to Hunan local records, this kind of construction was originally intended to guard against poisonous snakes and wild beasts.
Huangtu Township, where the Dong people live in concentrated communities, has 20 villages and more than 5,000 people. One village is called Xinzhai Village, a typical Dong village. It sits on a slope, with a stream below in the valley. A large wooden bridge spans the stream, and its deck forms a long, semi-enclosed corridor. No matter the weather, crossing the bridge is safe from sun and rain, so people call it a "wind-and-rain bridge." After crossing the bridge, by the roadside stands an ornately carved and painted pavilion called a "drum tower." This is where the whole village elects village elders, holds discussions, socializes, and stages performances. Past the drum tower, upon entering the village gate, one sees stilted houses all built of wood. The village has thirty in total, about half old and half new.
In the Tujia inhabited areas of northwestern Hunan, the Tujia people live scattered on the mountains and by the water, dwelling in the same kind of stilted houses. Yet the stilted houses standing by the river and over the water, together with everything around them that is inseparable from them, create an atmosphere utterly different from that of the mountain areas.
The small riverside town of Fenghuang can be considered a representative example. The Tuo River flowing past the town is only a small stream, yet it was the main channel connecting to the outside world. On the riverbank, a small dock was built, and right next to the dock stands a striking row of stilted houses. Between them, a long, narrow, winding old street paved with bluestone slabs links the riverbank with the town proper, forming a bustling commercial district of Fenghuang. The mottled wooden walls and lusterless doors of the stilted houses, and the bluestone road worn smooth by the feet of peddlers carrying shoulder poles, all tell people of their great age. In those days, the stilted houses by the river were lodging places for traveling merchants, boatmen, and passengers, and also places where prostitutes made a living. Whenever night fell and the moon hung high, the lights of the stilted houses detained the boats passing on the Tuo River, and the riverside in the lamplight and oar-sound naturally became a favorite late-night haunt for the people of Fenghuang...
Time passes like flowing water, and today's Fenghuang has seen much development. The commercial district of those years is no longer so prominent, and the stilted houses still lined up along the river seem ever more old-fashioned and out of date. Young people dressed in trendy clothes and humming pop songs pay them no heed, while their elders feel a deep attachment to them, and this indescribable feeling has gradually spread, quietly infecting those visitors from afar. Regardless of the barriers of countless mountains and the fatigue of travel, they come to visit again and again. A Swedish scholar not only came many times himself but also organized tour groups abroad to come and visit.
Changsha's urban architecture takes red-orange tones as its main theme
Changsha has designated red-orange tones as the city's main color. This color scheme is in harmony with the cultural heritage of a famous historical and cultural city and echoes the Changsha spirit of "bearing the world's worries and daring to be first." From now on, Changsha has its own urban "color spokesperson."
In recent years, Changsha's urban appearance has changed with each passing day, and a large number of buildings with unique shapes and vivid colors have appeared. However, the facades of some buildings are rather dark in color and look somewhat dull, quite out of keeping with Changsha's vibrant image as a city of mountains, rivers, and islets. A few units have painted their building facades in large areas of high-purity colors such as red, yellow, and blue. Although this emphasizes individuality, it is extremely inharmonious with the surrounding environment and has caused serious "color noise" pollution.
Rectifying the city's "color disease" has been put on the agenda. The Changsha Municipal Planning Administration investigated and urged the rectification of a number of projects with problems in building color. Entrusted by Changsha's planning department, Beijing Ximan Color Culture Development Co., Ltd. undertook the work of recommending a main color for Changsha. After a four-month in-depth investigation, Ximan suggested that Changsha adopt red-orange tones as its main urban color. Yu Ximan, the company's chairwoman, told reporters that red-orange tones are not just the single color "red-orange" but include a whole series of colors. Designating red-orange tones as Changsha's main color means that in the future Changsha will develop more "red, orange, and yellow" and less "cyan, blue, and purple"—it absolutely does not mean painting all the city's buildings one color.
After expert appraisal, public discussion, and online publicity, Vice Mayor Wang Kouzhu announced at yesterday's meeting that red-orange tones would be adopted as Changsha's main urban color. At present, the Changsha color plan organized and compiled by the Municipal Planning Bureau has basically taken shape.
It is also learned that the "Changsha Building Color Management Regulations" have been officially issued. Starting from May 1 this year, the municipal planning department will, in strict accordance with the requirements of the building color management regulations, strengthen urban color management, prevent color pollution, and maintain the harmony and unity of Changsha's urban color. Construction projects must be built according to the building colors determined in the approved building application drawings or the approved landscape environment design documents; otherwise they will not pass the completion acceptance inspection of the construction project.
The historical brand of Hunan Provincial China International Travel Service
Hunan Provincial China International Travel Service is a member of the China International Travel Service Group and is the large tourism enterprise in Hunan Province with the longest history, the largest scale, and the strongest professional capabilities in operating international tourism business. Under it are the Europe and America Center, Asia Center, Japan Center, Outbound Travel Center, Hong Kong and Macao Travel Center, Domestic Travel Center, and International and Domestic Ticketing Center, specializing in international tourism, domestic tourism, outbound travel, air ticketing, and tourism investment. It is also the first international travel agency in the province licensed to organize Chinese citizens to travel to Hong Kong and Macao, to travel abroad, to make business inspections, to handle visas for going abroad, and to purchase domestic and international air tickets on behalf of clients, and it has rich experience in organizing tours and receiving visitors.
Hunan Provincial China International Travel Service is an old brand. Its headquarters was established in Beijing in the 1960s, and it was the first travel agency in Hunan Province and also the sole travel agency in the 1960s. At that time, the travel agency was established mainly for important receptions—for example, when international friends and political dignitaries came to China, special personnel were needed to explain China's history, culture, and various scenic spots and historical sites to them—so the travel service was then of a reception-oriented nature.
Its tourism business covers most countries and regions at home and abroad. Hunan Provincial China International Travel Service is staffed with multilingual tour guides, providing visitors with many conveniences. The number of outbound travel destinations offered by the travel service has increased from just over ten at the beginning to more than 140, and there are already 104 to which one can directly travel after completing the procedures, such as the United States and France, with very simple formalities. The travel service has grown from the single agency at its founding to more than 600 branch offices today, and its tourism business has also developed from the initially foreign-related tourism to a full range of tourism business methods today.
In the public voting for the first Hunan Tourism Most Popular Selection, Hunan Provincial China International Travel Service came out on top, firmly ranking first among all candidate travel agencies.
There are many reasons for Hunan Provincial China International Travel Service's victory. First, it is a well-known brand at home and abroad with high credibility; second, its service work has very high requirements and must satisfy customers; and finally, its many years of accumulation and word-of-mouth effect. With the development of the tourism industry, Hunan Provincial China International Travel Service has done a great deal of promotional work at home and abroad, not only publicizing the brand of the travel service but, more importantly, promoting Chinese culture and tourism resources.
Changsha Jasmine International Hotel
Jasmine International Hotel is located in the middle section of Jinxing Avenue, Yuelu District, Changsha, adjacent to the Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government to the north, the "University Town" to the south, and the "Lugu" High-tech Development Zone to the west. It is about a 10-minute drive from the city center, about a 20-minute drive from the railway station, and about a 30-minute drive from Huanghua Airport. It is Hunan's first membership-based international business hotel. The hotel has a total area of 38,000 square meters, a building height of 16 floors, and a total investment of 150 million yuan. The hotel has 261 stylish, luxurious, and spacious guest rooms/suites, including superior rooms, business rooms, president suites, and Jasmine president suites, as well as a variety of special room types such as ladies' rooms and fantasy-color rooms, and it has also opened a foreign-related floor especially for foreign guests. In addition, the hotel also has a Jasmine Business Club, Red Bar, international conference hall, large Chinese restaurant, gym, chess and card room, KTV private rooms, beauty and spa, foot massage, and other facilities, while the uniquely created street-side garden lets you relax both body and mind while strolling through it and also enjoy a distinctive Australian flavor. Jasmine International Hotel is planned with the forward-looking concept of international high-grade hotel standards, and international interior design masters were invited to participate in the design. With design and humanistic concepts in step with international standards, it presents the standard of a high-grade international business hotel. Adhering to the concept that "guests are our friends," it offers tender, warm, cozy, and delicate service, making business life as pleasant and comfortable as home.
Tianxia Fenghuang Grand Hotel
Tianxia Fenghuang Grand Hotel is located within the territory of Fenghuang Ancient City, a national historical and cultural city in Hunan. It was invested in and built by Mr. Chen Changsong, a well-known Hunan entrepreneur, and is a star-rated hotel managed by Hong Kong Tianxing Hotel (Property) Management Co., Ltd. A high-star hotel with a building area of about 20,000 square meters, built according to international luxury standards, is currently in the planning, design, and preparation stage.
Tianxia Fenghuang Grand Hotel currently has a building area of nearly 10,000 square meters and has been renovated to three-star standards. It is a comprehensive tourism and business hotel integrating accommodation, dining, entertainment, and tourism business services. The hotel now has 110 guest rooms/suites, including the Premier Suite (named after Xiong Xiling, the first Premier of the Republic of China, whose ancestral home is Fenghuang), family suites, deluxe rooms, and standard rooms of various types. The guest rooms are fully equipped and provide personalized amenities, letting guests experience the thoughtfulness and comfort of ultimate service in the smallest details.
The hotel lobby is equipped with a front desk, concierge desk, business center, ticketing center, boutique, and lobby bar and other supporting service facilities, all complete, and additional service facilities will be added as the market expands.
The hotel has a luxurious hall that can seat 280 people dining at the same time and nine independent private rooms of different styles. It specializes in local flavors and signature dishes, with the theme of varied tastes, fine preparation, and healthy nutrition, attracting diners of all kinds to linger and enjoy the attentive and meticulous service.
The hotel's fitness and recreation center has complete recreational facilities and provides thoughtful supporting services for guests. It also has a comprehensive hall that can accommodate 300 people for meetings and can also be used as a song-and-dance hall or banquet hall.
Tianxia Fenghuang Grand Hotel adopts a modern human-centered design concept in its decoration and introduces a star-rated hotel image recognition system, standing out uniquely among star-rated hotels of its kind. Adhering to the management philosophy of "people first," the hotel strives to provide high-quality service to guests and society while also creating an ideal "home" for the enterprise and its employees.
The wonder of egrets guarding the Yanling Mausoleum
The mausoleum of Emperor Yan, the Divine Farmer, has been guarded by tens of thousands of egrets for thousands of years, from ancient times to the present. Whenever the setting sun shines and the sky is filled with rosy clouds, flocks of egrets fly toward the Yanling Mausoleum from all directions and alight on the towering ancient trees. Seen from afar, amid the dense layers of green pines and cypresses and red maples and yellow poplars, they dot the scene like little flashing white flowers, appearing extraordinarily solemn and reverent, truly like a great flower basket meticulously crafted by some divine artisan and offered before the mausoleum in memory of the ancestor of the Chinese nation who has slept here for thousands of years—Emperor Yan, the Divine Farmer.
Legend has it that after the death of Emperor Yan, the Divine Farmer, not only was there sorrow everywhere in the human world, but even the birds and beasts grieved for him. When the Roc of the bird kingdom heard the sad news, it immediately summoned all the birds to discuss how to repay the great kindness of Emperor Yan, the Divine Farmer. Since the birth of humankind, people had mainly fed on birds and beasts, especially after the time of Fuxi, when people twisted ropes and made nets and hunted everywhere. At that time, all the birds and beasts had a hard time, living in constant fear; whenever they encountered human crowds, even the immensely powerful lion and tiger could hardly escape with their lives. After the Divine Farmer became the leader of the people, he saw that birds and beasts were limited while the population was numerous, and that once the birds and beasts were eaten up, the people would have no means of livelihood. So the Divine Farmer made plows and digging tools, planted the five grains, and created medicine, enabling humankind to evolve from a hunting life to a farming life. From then on, birds and beasts were able to recuperate and multiply, each living in its own realm. Drinking water and remembering its source, they decided to send representatives to offer condolences. Whom should they send? The owl thought it best to send white cranes and wild geese, because they already enjoyed people's goodwill and could also fly long distances. The Roc found this reasonable and sent a team of white cranes and a group of wild geese as special envoys of the bird kingdom to attend Emperor Yan's funeral.
After receiving their orders, the white cranes and wild geese put on white mourning garments, chanted words of mourning, and traveled day and night without stopping, flying toward the place of the funeral. Because the sky was high and the land vast and the journey long, they flew and flew, and no one knew how long they had flown before they reached Bailuyuan. By then, Emperor Yan's coffin had long since been buried. They blamed themselves for not having arrived in time for the funeral, and each was deeply grieved, so they cried mourning before the Yanling Mausoleum every day. They cried and cried until their voices went hoarse, and no one could recognize the white cranes and wild geese anymore. Their devout sincerity moved the Jade Emperor in heaven, who issued a decree naming them "egrets" and ordering them to serve as angels guarding the Yanling Mausoleum. From then on, these egrets looked for a little food nearby during the day to stave off hunger and all flew back before dusk to guard the Yanling Mausoleum. From father to son and from son to grandson, they consciously shouldered this sacred mission generation after generation. Later generations, seeing this wonder, once wrote a poem in praise. The poem goes: The Divine Farmer's merits equal heaven and earth; Bailuyuan was fortunate to bury Emperor Yan. A wonder through the ages is told to this day: egrets devoutly pass by Yanling.