Huaminglou, Liu Shaoqi's Hometown

Huaminglou is the hometown of Liu Shaoqi, who is the former chairman, proletarian revolutionist and one of the founding fathers of the People's Republic of China, located 32 kilometers (20 miles) west of downtown Changsha. The main scenic spots include Liu Shaoqi's Bronze Statue Square, his memorial hall, former residence, Huaminglou Building, Wande Ding, and an airplane that Liu had flown in.
 What first greets you is the gate of Huaminglou, which is 12.4 meters (41 feet) high and 15 meters (49 feet) wide. Walking northeastward, Liu's Bronze Statue Square comes into view. Right in the front of the square, a few small pines cluster around a platform, on which Liu's bronze statue stands imperially. “Liu Shaoqi” sometimes seems to be smiling and sometimes pondering. He looks towards the horizon with worn face and looks strapping with his wind coat.
 The Memorial Hall is a traditional Chinese style building with one lobby and eight exhibition rooms. Seven of the rooms present Liu' s life stories and achievements, and the last one is a video room playing recordings about him.
 The building is set in a courtyard with mud walls, gray tiles and over 20 rooms. There are almost two hundred exhibits displayed in the residence. Through them you can see a typical farmyard of Hunan and scenes of Liu's life.
 Walking westwards, you will enter Huaming Park. Huaminglou Building stands to the northwest of the entrance. It has five floors and is about 33 meters (110 feet) high. You can see the entire Huaminglou scenic area from it. The fresco named “Eight Scenes of Ningxiang”, bronzes unearthed in Ningxiang, woodblocks of Hunan celebrities, and a bronze statue of “Young Liu Shaoqi” in Huaminglou Building all show the beautiful scenery and the culture of Hunan.
 Wande Ding is located at the center of a square in front of the Huaminglou Building. Ding is an ancient cooking vessel with two loop handles and three or four legs. Wande Ding is in a square shape with the height of 3.9 meters (12.8 feet). It is made of sixteen square granite blocks, and engraved with ten thousand De (“德”) which means virtue. The biggest four “De” are engraved according to China's four great leaders' writings, and the rest are in accordance with those celebrities'. Nine pillars rear around the square. Each of them is 4 meters (13 feet) high with totems of vivid dragons on it. Besides, the square is surrounded by Yiye Lake over which there are bridges, pavilions and rockeries.
 Liu Shaoqi had flown in this airplane, which is 36.9 meters (121 feet) long and 37.4 meters (123 feet) at its wingtips. This airplane is the only remaining of five planes that China had first bought from the Soviet Union in 1959. Seats and military beds in the plane are both original. Liu had visited many countries in Southeast Asia using this plane.
 Take a bus from Changsha West Bus Station to Huaminglou directly. It takes about 1h and costs CNY 15/20.
 

Entrance Fee	Free; CNY 15 for the battery car inside.
Opening Hours	9:00 - 17:00