Exploring Shaoshan-South China

The village of Shaoshan is situated in a valley surrounded by grin- clad hills. The road to the village from Changsha is paved, passing through the town of Xiang Tan, before crossing the paddy fields to enter the hill country where the plantations and orange groves abound

The road finally ends at a square in front of the hotel built to provide accommodation for the people who make the pilgrimage to the site. The path leads off to the fight to the white schoolhouse Mao attended, past the farm pond where he used to bathe, to the house where he was born in 1893.
According to Mao, his father was a poor peasant who joined the army in order to pay off some heavy debts he had incurred. Through frugal living the father managed to save enough money to buy back his land and, in time, became what is known in China as a "middle peasant,” the family owning about 15 mou, or two and one-half acres, of land.

Mao recounts how he began to help his father oh the farm at the age of six, At eight he entered primary school, and at age 13 he began long hours of manual labor on the farm, doing the accounts in the evening.
The farmhouse is typical of the Hunan area and is built on the slope of a hill overlooking the pond. On the other side of the pond stands a neighbor's house. Visitors pass into a courtyard, and the front door leads into a room which was once the family's altar to the ancestors, Behind there is a wash-house equipped with a stove and in the floor an open drain, then a kitchen with a large stove. The kitchen connects with the dining room, and from there the visitor passes into the bed- room of Mao's parents: this opens into Mao's room From here you pass into the interior courtyard, around which are various sheds: tool shed, rice-storage room, cow shed, wood shed, and pigsty, Thee is also a guest room off the courtyard. Entering the house again, the visitor passes into a corridor; to the left is the bedroom of Mao's eider brother.
There are no organized excursions available but, if you are slaying overnight, you will have time to walk along the narrow roads in the countryside surrounding the hamlet and trek into the hills. The site of a Taoist temples is to be found on the highest hill.