Former Site of the Founding Meeting of the Changsha Xinmin Society

At the foot of Mount Yuelu, near the west bank of the Xiang River, stands a quiet, U-shaped residence at No. 2 Zhoujia Alley. Originally built during the Guangxu reign of the Qing Dynasty by the Liu family of Ningxiang as a tomb-keeping house, this modest structure of small blue clay tiles and woven bamboo walls coated with white lime plaster holds the quiet beginnings of a global shift. Locally known as Zhoujia Taizi, it was rented in 1917 by the revolutionary Cai Hesen, his mother Ge Jianhao, and his sister Cai Chang.

Here, history lived in the physical grit of youth. On Saturday afternoons, Mao Zedong and his classmates swam across the cold currents of the Xiang River, arriving at the cottage with wet hair and exhausted limbs. They slept on the nearby graves, ate wild berries, and exposed their skin to the "three baths" of sun, wind, and rain to harden their resolve. In the spring of 1918, Mao and Cai set out from this threshold with the coarse straw of their sandals, a single umbrella, and a travel bag containing their inkstones to survey the countryside.

Inside the three-bay, chuandou-style timber frame, the air carried the scent of ink and woodsmoke. On April 14, 1918, thirteen young patriots gathered in the central hall to establish the Xinmin Society. They sat around a simple wooden table, initially aiming to reform local customs and cultivate character. This goal soon expanded to a grander mission: transforming China and the world.

The domestic spaces tell stories of deep solidarity. In 1919, Ge Jianhao cared for Mao’s ailing mother in these rooms, a period captured in a rare family photograph taken nearby. The original structure burned to ash during the Wenxi Fire of 1938. The 1984 reconstruction faithfully preserves its 175-square-meter footprint. Today, visitors pass through a rustic bamboo fence and under the wooden plaque reading "Wei Chi Ji Lu" to enter. Calligraphy by Deng Xiaoping and Chen Yun marks the entrance, inviting modern observers to touch the cool plaster walls and hear the echoes of a generation that dared to rewrite the future from a grave-keeper's hut.