Changsha

Changsha City (east longitude111°53'～114°15', north latitude 27°51'～28°41'), is the capital city of Hunan Province. It is the political, economic, scientific, educational, cultural and business center of the province. It is located in the western margin of the Chang-Liu Basin and downstream of the Xiangjiang River.

To the east, Changsha's neighbors are Yichun and Pingxiang in Jiangxi Province. To its south sit Zhuzhou and Xiangtan, with Loudi and Yiyang in the west and Yueyang and Yiyang in the north. The length of the city from east to west is about 230 km, and the width from south to north is about 88 km. It covers an area of 11,819.5 square kilometers, of which the urban area occupies 948.23 square kilometers. The downtown area comprises 242.78 square kilometers.
Changsha has a good industrial and economic base, rather reasonable industrial structure, and is one of the areas with the most industrial and economic development potential in Central-South China. As for its agriculture, Changsha City has good agricultural ecologic environment, and was the first of "4-largest rice markets" in China in its history, and now is an important commodity food production and research base. As for its tertiary industry, for a long history, Changsha City has been an important business town in the south of Changjiang River. Changsha has deep trade tradition, first-class facility, prosperous market, and is the most important business city in Central-South China and one of the first excellent tourism cities in China.
Changsha has been honored as the National Advanced City for Technological Progress for six successive years and has become the National Model City for Technological Progress. Changsha, a city with abundant resources and technology talents, has over 420,000 personnel with all kind of specialized skills, 270,000 staff engaged in research and development, 330,000 college undergraduates, 47 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Science and Chinese Academy of Engineering, and more than 10,000 technology talents with academic ranks of sub-senior or even higher.
The first prize of National Technical Invention was received by Academician Huang Boyun. Yuan Longping, the Father of Hybrid Rice in the world, has won the highest prize for science and technology in China. A group of excellent scientists, such as Liu Jun, Xia Jiahui, and Lu Guangxiu, enjoys the fame both in China and abroad. Besides that, many scientific research institutions have located in Changsha, including 55 universities and colleges (4 key universities of the “211” Projects for higher education), 44 state key disciplines, 106 key labs and engineering technical centers at national and provincial levels, 89 research academies and institutions of all kinds, 71 scientific and technological centers for post-doctoral studies, 34 work stations for post-doctors, 136 doctoral programs and 376 postgraduate programs.