Changsha

长沙市 Changsha
Photograph of Changsha
Details
Population	36.25M
State GDP	$3.57
GDP/C	$98
Culture	Xiang

In-Game Description

Humans have inhabited the lands of Changsha for tens of thousands of years, and the city is no stranger to government change. During the late Qing period, Changsha was forcefully opened to the outside world with the Treaty of Shanghai, with first Japan but then later various Western powers. Even after the revolutionary Xinhai Revolution, Changsha remained very commercial in nature and its industry was rather meager. Being the birthplace of Mao Zedong, Changsha was a strong communist stronghold until a Kuomintang purge in 1927 killed thousands of suspected communists and revolutionaries. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese were able to recognize Changsha's strategic importance as the crossroads of southern China. Changsha came under near-constant assault, having 4 campaigns launched against it by the Imperial Japanese Army, eventually capturing the city in 1944. The city was left devastated. After a miscalculated use of scorched earth in 1938 had the city burned to the ground by Chinese forces, and after 4 long and grueling campaigns conducted by the Japanese, Changsha was left unrecognizable.\n\nAfter the Japanese victory in 1947, the city would need decades to recover. The Changsha of the 1960s is a far cry from the Changsha of the 1920s or 30s. Having been tossed around political factions and armies for decades, Changsha has seen for the first time in years a single government ruling over its lands. The end of the war may have brought relative stability, but the scars of the Second Sino-Japanese War can still be seen today.