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Changde City
Total area: 18,189.9 km2
Population: 5.169 million (2024)
Major industrial products: Cigarettes, textiles, electrolytic aluminum, and machinery
Major agricultural products: Grain, cotton, oil plants, tea, and aquatic products
Major mines: Gypsum ore, arsenic disulfide ore, and shale
Airport: Taohuayuan Airport
Main railway stations: Changde Railway Station
GDP: 453.27 billion CNY (2024)
Sum of exports: 7.58 billion CNY (2024)
Sum of imports: 7.36 billion CNY (2024)
Per capita disposable income of urban residents: 43,842 CNY (2024)
Forest coverage: 37.4% (2024)
Changde City is a transport hub, an energy-production base, and cultural center in the northwest of the province. By the end of 2021, the population of permanent residents in Changde reached 5.238 million. Its large enterprises include the Changde Tobacco Plant and the Jinjian Rice Processing Plant. Aquatic products from Dongting Lake are of economic importance in the city.
With good infrastructure facilities, Changde has a complete transportation network consisting of railways, expressway, airport, and waterways. There are more than 300 places of tourism atrraction. The Peach Blossom Source is said to be the Chinese Shangri la or the ideal paradise of the ancient people in China. The Chengtoushan ruins in Lixian County dates back to 8,000 years. Jiashan Temple at Shimen is a 1,000-year-old Buddhist center and said to be the source of the Japanese tea ceremony. The tomb of Monk Fentianyu next to the temple has been ascertained by scholars of the history of the Ming Dynasty as the tomb of Li Zicheng, a leader of a peasant uprising. The 2,500 m long wall of poems in Changde set a Guinness record as the world’s longest tablet inscribed with poems. The UN Natural Wetland Protection Zone of west Dongting Lake and the Mount Huping National Nature Reserve both have natural charms.
With good infrastructure facilities, Changde has a complete transportation network consisting of railways, expressway, airport, and waterways. There are more than 300 places of tourism atrraction. The Peach Blossom Source is said to be the Chinese Shangri la or the ideal paradise of the ancient people in China. The Chengtoushan ruins in Lixian County dates back to 8,000 years. Jiashan Temple at Shimen is a 1,000-year-old Buddhist center and said to be the source of the Japanese tea ceremony. The tomb of Monk Fentianyu next to the temple has been ascertained by scholars of the history of the Ming Dynasty as the tomb of Li Zicheng, a leader of a peasant uprising. The 2,500 m long wall of poems in Changde set a Guinness record as the world’s longest tablet inscribed with poems. The UN Natural Wetland Protection Zone of west Dongting Lake and the Mount Huping National Nature Reserve both have natural charms.
International friendship cities:
• Higashiomishi, Japan
• Ipswich City, Australia
• Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka
Updated in June 2025