Today, we will go and visit Shaoshan, the hometown of Chairman Mao. Shaoshan is a small mountain village about 100km southwest of Changsha, the capital of Hunan province, with some fairly beautiful scenery and a once typically Hunan village atmosphere, Shaoshan has been irreparably changed by history. On the 26th December 1893, a baby was born in a little house in this village, to a relatively wealthy peasant couple. The child was to grow up to become China"s Great Helmsman, Chairman Mao Zedong, and it was in this region that he spent his childhood and youth, attending school and helping his father with his work.
As the hometown of the great man of the generation, now Shaoshan is one of the important tourist zones in Hunan province. The major tourist sites including the Former residence of Chairman Mao, Memorial Hall of Mao Zedong, Water-dripping Cave and Steles Forest of Mao"s Poems，and so on.
The former residence of Chairman Mao is the most interesting site. Entered through a courtyard, the house is of a sunny yellow, mud brick walls, with a nicely thatched roof, and is found on a wooded hillside, above some lush paddy fields. There are 13 and one half rooms in the Former residence, which include one and half central room, a kitchen, a dining room, three family bedrooms and a guest room. Within the rooms are various personal effects of Mao and his parents, as well as photos from Mao"s life.
This is the central room, it was used by two families: Mao’s family and their neighbor. So we said that there is only one half of the central room belongs to Mao’s family. And this is there kitchen, where Chairman Mao often helped his mother doing some housework in his childhood. Go through the kitchen was Chairman Mao’s parent"s bedroom, there are two photos of Chairman Mao’s parents on the inner wall, and it was in this room where Chairman Mao was born.
The Dripping Water Cave, about 3 km northwest of the village, is a very popular destination, possibly because of the fact that Mao allegedly spent 11 days here in the early days of the Cultural Revolution Years (1966-76), contemplating the unknown.
