Shaoshan Travel Guide

Shaoshan is some 90 km from Changsa the capital of Hunan. Shaoshan is small, but worldfamous as the birthplace of Mao Zedong. It is some sort of a pilgrimage site for commies, but it is also popular with Chinese tourists.

There are a few hotels and services around the rail head and long-distance bus depot, the village itself is some 6km from here. Minibuses are frequent.

Sights include Mao's Family Home (free; 8am-5pm), a compound of bare adobe buildings next to a lotus-filled pond, a bronze statue of an elderly Mao and the Mao Zedong Exhibition Hall (daily 8am-5pm; ¥7). Next door to the museum is the former Mao Ancestral Temple (¥5), now a memorial to the leader's early work amongst the peasants here.