Holiday in Changde

About Changde

Changde is located in the northwest of Hunan Province on the banks of the Yuan River and has been known for millennia as the gateway to the Peach Blossom Spring Paradise. The poet Tao Yuanming described in the 5th century a hidden utopia discovered by a fisherman through a tunnel of peach blossoms — this legendary Taohua Yuan (Peach Blossom Spring) is only 34 kilometers southwest of the city and is among the most picturesque landscapes in China. The Taohua Yuan scenic area unfolds its full splendor in March and April when thousands of peach trees bloom in delicate pink, transforming the hills into a sea of blossoms. The park features scenic hiking trails, Taoist temples, bamboo forests, and a recreated ancient fishing scene that connects to the literary heritage of the Peach Blossom Spring. The Changde Poetry Wall (Shi Qiang) along the Yuan River is a unique cultural monument: over 1,500 Chinese poems from three millennia are carved in stone along its 2.9 kilometers — from the Shang Dynasty to the present. Calligraphies of famous poets and scholars adorn the longest poetry wall in the world, which also serves as a flood protection dike. The Liu Yuxi Memorial Hall honors the Tang Dynasty poet Liu Yuxi, who lived in exile in Changde for ten years and wrote some of his most famous works here. The facility, designed in a classical Chinese garden style, is located by the riverside and offers insights into the literary flourishing of the Tang era. Changde played a tragic role in World War II: the Battle of Changde in 1943, where Chinese troops defended the city against a Japanese offensive using biological weapons, is documented in the Changde War Museum. The city was almost completely destroyed and subsequently rebuilt.