Old City Walls & Tianxin Pavilion

Changsha


The old city walls, which once stretched for 9km around ancient Changsha, were built of rammed earth in 202 BC, reinforced with stone in AD 1372 (during the Ming dynasty), damaged by the Taiping in 1852 and finally demolished in 1928, save for this imposing 251m-long section. You can enter Tianxin Park for free and wander around the old wall, but you have to pay to climb up on top of it, and to visit the attractive Tianxin Pavilion atop it.

The extant section was restored in 1983.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Changsha attractions

2. Changsha Municipal Museum

1.14 MILES

A colossal aluminium/magnesium alloy statue of Mao Zedong, cast in Heilongjiang, affably greets you at the entrance. This is the first clue that, despite…

3. Tangerine Isle

1.4 MILES

The most famous of the city’s parks is a 5km-long sliver of an island smack bang in the middle of the Xiang River. A reflective 32-year-old Mao…

4. Lieshi Park

1.55 MILES

Tree-shaded and dotted with lakes, leafy – and incredibly huge – Lieshi Park is very popular in the mornings for singing, dancing and taichi.

5. Yuelu Mountain

2.01 MILES

This large park on the slopes of Yuelu Mountain makes a pleasant city break. You can climb to the top in less than an hour, or else go up on the chair…

6. Hunan Provincial Museum

2.07 MILES

Changsha's main attraction is this modern museum. There's a special focus on the Mawangdui Tombs, which were excavated nearby in the early 1970s,…

7. Yuelu Academy

2.58 MILES

Students have been cramming for exams at the base of Yuelu Mountain west of the river since AD 976, when the academy was established as one of China’s…

8. Kaifu Temple

2.78 MILES

This large and active temple in the north of town dates originally to the Five Dynasties period, with many additions during later dynasties. The imposing…