Wender·Vista
Changsha
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tilePeople's Republic of China
on the Xiang River, central Hunan

Changsha

— — a city the orange sandbar still holds.

— Where it lives

Not only on a wall.

A small tile on the nightstand catching the morning. A larger one above the fire. Yours, wherever you spend the slow hours.
— On the nightstand, a 6-inch on a walnut stand
— Among the books, a 6-inch leaning into the spines
— Beside the kettle, a 12-inch propped
— Down a quiet hall, an 18-inch floating off the wall
— Above the fire, the 24-inch in a walnut surround
— a note from the studio

“Changsha sits on the east bank of the Xiang in central Hunan, a city of roughly ten million with a long thin sandbar called Orange Isle running down the middle of the river. Yuelu Academy on the west bank has been teaching since the year 976. The Mawangdui tombs across town held a woman buried two thousand years ago who came out almost intact. The river runs north toward the Yangtze.

from the studio
Changsha
— bring it home

Changsha, on ceramic.

Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.

What kind of piece?
One tile — square or rectangle.
How big?
the popular one — counter, shelf, nightstand
6 × 6 in · 15 cm · 1.6 lb
Surface finish
A clear glossy finish — the artwork reads as if under resin. Ideal for show-pieces and framed wall art.
How it sits
A hidden cleat — sits ¼″ proud of the wall.
$58
Hand-finished and shipped from our studio at the foot of the Smokies. On your wall in about ten days.
— size
6 × 6 in
15 cm
— weighs
1.6 lb
solid in the hand
— surface
ceramic, hand-finished
art rests beneath a thin glossy finish
— from
Knoxville, TN
our family studio, at the foot of the Smokies
— start a Coaster Set

Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.

— about Changsha

The place, in three passes.

A little of what's known, in case you fall down the rabbit hole — or want to go see it yourself.
— the place

Changsha is the capital of Hunan Province in south-central China, on the lower reaches of the Xiang River about 350 kilometres south of the Yangtze. The metropolitan area holds roughly ten million people across the east bank, the west bank, and the long midstream sandbar of Juzizhou, or Orange Isle. The Xiang flows north into Dongting Lake and from there to the Yangtze at Yueyang. Yuelu Mountain rises on the west bank to about 300 metres, its slopes covered in maple, bamboo, and camphor.

— the stone

Yuelu Academy, founded in 976 during the Northern Song dynasty, sits at the foot of Yuelu Mountain and is one of the four great academies of imperial China. Its grey-tile halls and inscribed steles have taught Confucian and later Neo-Confucian scholars for over a thousand years. Across the river and east, the Mawangdui tombs, excavated in 1972, held the body of Lady Dai, wife of the Marquis of Dai, sealed in 168 BCE in four nested coffins and recovered with skin still soft. Her finds rest at the Hunan Museum.

— the water

The Xiang River runs roughly 856 kilometres from Guangxi to Dongting Lake, and at Changsha it widens around Juzizhou, a sandbar about five kilometres long. Mao Zedong, who studied at the Hunan First Normal School from 1913 to 1918, set his 1925 poem Changsha at the head of the isle, looking north across the water. A granite likeness of the young Mao, completed in 2009, now stands at that point, thirty-two metres high and visible from both banks.

— where
People's Republic of China · Changsha, Hunan
— elevation
63 m · 207 ft
— position
28.2278° N · 112.9388° E
— the neighborhood

What's nearby.

A handful of named places within an hour's walk or short drive. Some we've already painted; some we will.
2 km W
Orange Isle (Juzizhou)
river sandbar
5 km W
Yuelu Academy
Song-dynasty academy
4 km E
Mawangdui Han Tombs
Han-era tomb site
150 km N
Dongting Lake
great lake
N
Changsha
Orange Isle (Juzizhou)
Yuelu Academy
Mawangdui Han Tombs
Dongting Lake
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Changsha — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

Changsha is the capital of Hunan Province in south-central China, on the east bank of the Xiang River about 350 kilometres south of the Yangtze. The metropolitan area holds roughly ten million people.

The Mawangdui tombs, excavated in 1972 in eastern Changsha, contained the burial of Lady Dai, wife of the Han-era Marquis of Dai, sealed in 168 BCE. Her body was recovered remarkably intact and now rests at the Hunan Museum.

Yuelu Academy, founded in 976 during the Northern Song dynasty, is one of the four great academies of imperial China. It sits at the foot of Yuelu Mountain on the west bank of the Xiang and operates today as part of Hunan University.

Juzizhou, or Orange Isle, is a sandbar about five kilometres long in the middle of the Xiang River at Changsha. Mao Zedong set his 1925 poem at its northern head; a thirty-two-metre granite statue of the young Mao stands there now.

Mao Zedong studied at the Hunan First Normal School in Changsha from 1913 to 1918 and lived in the city through much of the 1920s. The Xiang River and Orange Isle appear repeatedly in his poetry.

Hunan, or Xiang, cuisine is one of China's eight great culinary traditions, known for chilli heat, fermented black beans, smoked pork, and pickled vegetables. Changsha's stinky tofu and red-braised pork are the city's signature dishes.

— about the piece in your home

We have sent the Changsha tile to customers with family in the city, to Hunan University alumni, and to readers of Mao's poetry. A Small or Medium with a handwritten note from the studio carries well.

The river-green, ink-grey, and persimmon-orange palette reads well against Chinese-modern interiors, scholar-study rooms with dark wood, and quieter Japandi spaces. It also lands on a plain cream wall above a long low console.

The tile fits the East-Asian-modern and quiet-scholar categories that have grown across recent design seasons. It sits well alongside celadon ceramics, ink-on-paper prints, and the muted greens of Song-dynasty palettes.

A single Large is the usual answer above a sofa or long console. A four-tile Mural lets the river spread north; a nine-tile Mural carries a great-room wall or a stairwell landing.

Yes. Choose the Dura Satin or Matte finish for a backsplash, a shower wall, or a humid bath. The colour is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure and does not lift with steam.

A soft microfibre cloth and warm water are enough. Skip abrasive pads and bleach-based sprays, which dull the finish over time. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.

Yes. Every WenderVista place is painted in our studio in Knoxville, Tennessee. There is no licensing, no stock art. Reid Wender curates the atlas and chooses every place that enters it.

— if this one stayed with you

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