Since about 150,000-200,000 years ago, there has been human being in Changsha. The New Stone Age entered into the Longshan Culture Stage in about 2500 BC. It is said that the primogenitors called Yan emperor and Yellow emperor once came to Changsha.
Changsha was charged by the ancient country named Sanmiao in Xia Dynasty. In the end of Spring and Autumn periods of China, the force of the country named Chu(Jingchu) entered into Changsha. In the mid-term of Warring States periods of China, the country Chu carried out political reform so it was very powerful, doing large-scale military action to south of itself and the whole land of Hunan province being contained in the map of Chu, Changsha became an important military state in the south of Chu which built cities in Changsha.
The county Qing destroyed Chu completely and set up?°Changsha Shire??in the south of the original Chu, which was one of the 36 shires in Qing Dynasty. Changsha began to become the political field for the unity of China. In 202BC, Wu Rui, the founding father of the Western Han Dynasty, was conferred as the King of Changsha. He built Changsha country upon the base of Changsha Shire of the original Qing Dynasty, and changed the name
Liu Xing, the son of Liu Shun who was the king of Changsha in the end of the Western Han Dynasty, was conferred as the king of Changsha by the throne named Liu Xiu of the eastern Han Dynasty. Liu Xiu rebuilt Changsha country to control the situation in south of Dongting. In the periods of Three Kingdoms, Sun Quan captured Changsha in 219AD and built Wu. In 219AD, West Jin destroyed Wu completely when Changsha belonged to the political field of Sun Wu. In 257, the east of Changsha was called Heng Dong Shire( the town of Zi Suofan, it is the city Heng Yan now). In 265,?? An Cheng shire?? was made up of the town of An Cheng( belongs to Jiangxi province now) of Changsha shire and several towns of Yu Zhang shire and Lu Ling shire, so the field directly under the jurisdiction of Changsha shire was less. In 280(the tenth of Tai Kang), the emperor Wudi of Jin dynasty confer his 6th son named Si Ma as the king of Changsha. At the beginning of the Western Jin, Changsha shire still belonged to Jingzhou. In 589( the 3rd year of Chen Zhenming and the first month of the ninth lunar year of Sui Dynasty), the army of Sui Dynasty went across the Yangtze River and captured Jiangkan.
In the periods of the Five Dynasties with ten countries, a Country named Chu was built by Ma Yan in the area of Hu Xiang. In 963, the Song Dynasty occupied Changsha. At the beginning of the Southern Song Dynasty(the first month of the fourth lunar year of Jianyan), the army of Jin captured Changsha and massacred all the residents of Changsha, then they went away. In the mid and end of the Southern Song Dynasty, the situation was relatively stable in Changsha, the high-ranking officials with heavy responsibility and the great generals, such as Liu Gao, Zhang Xiaoxiang, Xin Qiji, Zhou Bida, Zhen Dexiu, Wei Liaowen, Xiang Shibi, Wang Lixin, Wen Tianxiang, Li Fu and so on held posts in Changsha. The general named He Tengjiao of the Ming Dynasty was in charge of the military affairs in Huguang, Sichuan and Yungui. He sent officials to be stationed in Changsha so that he can collect the army of Hunan with his to beat the army of Qing Dynasty coming toward the south. Then the army of He Tengjiao were captured, and he refused to haul down his colors in stern words, fasting for seven days and being killed at last. Changsha had not been part of the Qing Dynasty until the 4th year of the emperor Shunzhi of the Qing Dynasty. then Li Jing and Li Laiheng etc. leaded their army to move to Sichuan to go on beating against the Qing Dynasty.
In the second year of the emperor called Xian Feng(in 1852),the leaders of the Peace army such as Hong Xiuchuan.
Tan Sitong and Pi Xirui were the chairmen of this association, they set up the head quarter in Changsha and set up its branches every town. It disappeared after the Reform Movement of 1898. On October of 1897, the School of Current Affairs was established by Tan Sitong, the teaching content contained Confucian classics??history??and the works written by the exponents of the various schools of thought during the period from pre-Qin times to the early years of the Han Dynasty and the western politics and law?? science. The school was renamed as Seeking after Truth College after the Reform Movement of 1898.
On February 15, 1904, Huaxing Association was established in Changsha. Huang Xing was the chairmen of this association, and Song Jiaoren and Liu Kuiyi were the vice-chairmen. After the Wuchang Uprising, the members of Hunan revolution party were the first to respond.
On August 5, 1949, the Kuomintang high-ranking generals, Cheng Qian and Chen Mingren revolted who garrisoned in CHangsha, and Changsha got peaceful liberation. The People Government of Changsha was established then.
