The Tongguan Kiln in Changsha during the Tang dynasty produced the world's earliest underglaze porcelain, which was exported to Western Asia, Africa and Europe.

In Changsha, Tan Sitong established the School of Current Affairs, Huang Xing founded the China Arise Society with the slogan "Expel the Tatar barbarians and revive Zhonghua" (驱除鞑虏，复兴中华), and Mao Zedong also carried out his early political movements here.

[24][25] Since the 1990s, Changsha has begun to accelerate economic development, and then achieved the highest growth rate among China's major cities during the 2000s.

[39][40] Chángshā is the pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of the Chinese name 長沙 or 长沙, meaning "long sandy place".

It is attested as early as the 11th century BC, when a vassal lord of the area sent King Cheng of Zhou a gift described as a "Changsha softshell turtle" (长沙鳖; 長沙鼈; Chángshā biē).

Sima Qian's history states that the Yellow Emperor granted his eldest son Shaohao the lands of Changsha and its neighbors.

Under the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC), Changsha was a staging post for expeditions south into Guangdong that led to its conquest and the establishment of the Nanyue kingdom.

It was named after Zhaotan in the ninth year of Emperor Kaihuang (589 A.D.) of the Sui dynasty, and the Tanzhou General Manager was established.

During the reign of Emperor Yang of the Sui dynasty, Tanzhou was abolished, and Changsha County, a first-level administrative unit, was established, but the jurisdiction area was reduced.

[clarification needed] Under the Tang, Changsha prospered as a center of trade between central China and Southeast Asia but suffered during the Anshi Rebellion, when it fell to the rebels.

Nanchu, lasted about 50 years, was the only independent state in the history that has ever been built in Hunan with Changsha as the capital, being eventually overthrown by Nantang (南唐) in 951.

Early 19th-century graduates of the academy formed what one historian called a "network of messianic alumni", including Zeng Guofan, architect of the Tongzhi Restoration,[45] and Cai E, a major leader in the defense of the Republic of China.

[clarification needed] Under the Qing (17th–20th centuries), Changsha was the capital of Hunan and prospered as one of China's chief rice markets.

Since Deng Xiaoping's Reform and Opening Up Policy, Changsha has rapidly developed since the 1990s, becoming one of the important cities in the central and western regions.

Changsha is in northeast Hunan Province, the lower reaches of the Xiang River and the western part of the Changliu Basin.

The strata of each geological and historical period are exposed in Changsha City, and the oldest stratum was formed about one billion years ago.

Later, seawater gradually withdrew from the east and west, and most of Liuyang, Changsha, and Wangcheng rose out of the sea and became the northwestern edge of the ancient land of Jiangnan.

About 3.5 million years ago, the third ice age occurred on the earth, and Liuyang retained the remains of glacier landforms.

[54] Changsha has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa), with annual average temperature being at 17.8 °C (64.0 °F), with a mean of 5.3 °C (41.5 °F) in January and 29.4 °C (84.9 °F) in July.

With a monthly possible-sunshine percentage ranging from 20% in January to 53% in July, the city receives 1,532.8 hours of bright sunshine annually.

Winter is chilly and overcast with lighter rainfall more likely than downpours; cold snaps occur with temperatures occasionally dropping below freezing.

[24][25] Since the 1990s, Changsha has begun to accelerate economic development, and then achieved the highest growth rate among China's major cities during the 2000s.

During the Warring States period, Qu Yuan, a great patriotic poet, recorded many dishes in Hunan in his famous poem "The Soul"(招魂).

[92] Current plans include a pavilion replicating one in Changsha, while in return St. Paul will send the city five statues of the Peanuts characters.

As of June 2023, Changsha hosts 59 institutions of higher education (excluding adult colleges), ranking 8th nationwide and 4th among all cities in the South Central China region after Guangzhou, Wuhan and Zhengzhou.

[33][107] This concentration of highly ranked universities further solidifies Changsha's status as a prominent hub for higher education within the province.

Changsha is well connected by roads, river, rail, and air transportation modes, and is a regional hub for industrial, tourist, and service sectors.

Changsha is surrounded by major rivers, including the Xiang (湘江) and its tributaries such as the Liuyang, Jin, Wei, Longwanggang and Laodao.

The airport has daily flights to major cities in China, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, as well as Hong Kong and Macau.

5The claimed province of Taiwan no longer have any internal division announced by Ministry of Civil Affairs of PRC, due to lack of actual jurisdiction.