Changsha, the provincial capital of Hunan, has an identity that China's tourism bureaus have spent decades trying to pin down — and the city keeps escaping the frame. It is Mao Zedong's city above all else: he studied here at Hunan First Normal University from 1913 to 1918, converted to communism on these streets, and a colossal sculpture of his young face dominates Orange Island in the middle of the Xiang River. The Qingshui Tang complex preserves both his former residence and the first offices of the Hunan Communist Party. Visitors make the pilgrimage even when they have no particular interest in the Chairman; the giant stone face alone is one of China's more arresting public monuments.
The Hunan Provincial Museum is worth two or three hours of careful attention. The centrepiece is the intact body of Lady Dai — formally Xin Zhui, the Marquise of Dai — who died around 160 BC and was buried under conditions so ideal that when the tomb was opened in 1972 her skin was still pliable and pathologists could determine her cause of death (heart disease, brought on by obesity and a rich diet). The grave goods surrounding her are extraordinary: lacquerware still showing its colours, painted silk, a complete set of musical instruments, and a silk map of the Han empire. The museum's collection makes most provincial museums in China look thin.
The city is also a serious place to eat. Changsha's Hunanese cooking — built on dried chillies, fermented black beans, and a willingness to apply heat far past the point where other cuisines tap out — centres on a few legendary institutions. Huo Gong Dian (Fire Palace) has been feeding the city since the Qing dynasty and still serves the stinky tofu that Changsha insists foreigners must try; the fermented smell is genuinely alarming but the flavour rewards courage. Pozi Street and Taiping Street gather vendors selling everything from beef rice-flour noodles to grilled skewers under restored traditional facades.
Yuelu Mountain, just west of the river, provides a reasonable escape from the city. The mountain is threaded with trails past Lushan Temple (founded 267 AD) and the Autumn-Admiring Pavilion, and the cable car up costs a few dozen yuan. Yuelu Academy, established in 976 AD on the mountain's lower slopes, was one of the four great centres of Confucian learning in Song-dynasty China and remains a working institution within Hunan University's campus. Changsha is 30 minutes by high-speed train from Yueyang to the north and a short ride from Shaoshan to the southwest.