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About Changsha

Changsha is the largest city and capital of Hunan Province located in the middle southern China. It is a famous historic and cultural city.

The city first came into being as a small town, over 3000 years ago, when it was known as Qinyang, and was initially established for its excellent location. Lying on the banks of the Xiang River (Xiang jiang), a tributary of China's "snaking dragon", the Yangtse (Chang jiang), and surrounded by the most fertile of the Hunan plains, the town was to flourish through river trade and the production of bountiful crops. By the Warring States Period (475-221 BC), the city had grown enough to become the southern, and main, capital of the Chu Kingdom, when the city was renamed Chu. Infractions and rebellions were rife in this period (the fiery Hunanese again) and it was not until the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC), swept through here, that the city returned to any form of stability. The Qin were to name the city Changsha, literally Long Sands, after the Island of Oranges (Juzi zhou), a long sandy spit that dominates the river in this section.

For much of the rest of its ancient history the city was to remain fairly unstable, although prosperous. It became known as an educational center, most notably after the famous Song Dynasty (960-1279) Yuelu Academy was established. This academy, that produced such famous figures as the great Chinese thinker Zhu Xi, who was a founding father of the then modern Imperial examinations, was to become the leading school for Imperial scholars. This site can still be visited. In 1664, the city was named provincial capital.

Nowadays, the most famous of the fiery Hunanese, is the both beloved and reviled leader of the revolution, Chairman Mao Zedong. The chairman spent time in the city during a periodbetween 1911, at thefall of the Qing empire, and 1923, when he was driven from the city for his political associations. The Chairman still dominates the sights of this capital, a city (population around 6 million), that is now somewhat tidier and radically changed from its past. Bisected unevenly by the slow-flowing Xiang River, with the center of the city, the railway station, bus station and most of the sights to the east, modern day Changsha is still worth spending a day or so in, if you are at all interested in the new communist era. The fiery Hunanese are surprisingly friendly when you get to know them, and the chance to wander in Chairman Mao's footsteps has to be somewhat tempting.

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The RISSP'2003 is the first international conference on robotics and intelligent systems held in China, and a special session will be held at Zhangjiajie. Our goal is to make it a very high quality technical conference and at the same time allow participants to experience  the unique and exotic cultures at Changsha.