China News Service, Changsha, November 3. Title: One river and Xiangshui "connect" to the Senna. Inland Changsha expands new space for opening up between China and Europe.
Reporter Fu Yu
A hundred years ago, a group of young people from Hunan Province set out from Changsha to work-study in France, seeking new knowledge on the banks of the Seine River. A hundred years later, a group of middle school students from Changsha went to Mondargis, where Hunan students lived, for exchange and study, and stayed with French student families. The figures of the two generations echo each other across time and space, and the "dialogue" between the Xiangjiang River and the Seine River has lasted for hundreds of years without interruption.
Changsha, an inland city located in central China, has a deeper relationship with Europe than imagined. After Changsha opened as a port in 1904, many European countries set up consulates, foreign banks and customs agencies here. European-style relics such as the Changsha Customs and Taxation Company's Office in Orange Island still quietly bear witness to this early trade exchange. Today, from China-Europe freight trains (Changsha) traveling across Asia and Europe, to "Changsha Intelligent Manufacturing" running in both directions with European companies, Changsha is writing a new chapter of opening up connecting Europe and embracing the world with channels as the vein, industry as the foundation, and humanities as the bridge.
Trains connect Asia and Europe, building a two-way circulation artery
In the morning light, the China-Europe freight train loaded with construction machinery, automobiles, parts and other products slowly departed from the Changsha International Railway Port and headed for Europe thousands of miles away.
If a hundred years ago the youth of Hunan were "study to the sea", today Changsha relies on China-Europe trains to open up a stable land trade channel to Europe. Up to now, the total number of China-Europe freight trains (Changsha) has exceeded 7,400, with a stable daily rate of 2 trains a day and a peak of 3 to 4 trains a day. There are 75 main routes in operation, covering more than 100 cities in 30 countries on the Eurasian continent.
Changsha is a highland for the global construction machinery industry, and the products of local leading companies such as Sany Heavy Industry, Zoomlion, and Sunward Intelligent are widely distributed in the European infrastructure market; BYD, Geely and other car companies have also exported their complete vehicles and parts to Europe in batches on block trains. In 2025, there will be a total of 188 customized special trains of the China-Europe Railway Express (Changsha). Construction machinery, complete sets of automobile parts, electronic instruments, home appliances, Hunan tea, etc. will be steadily transported to Europe with the help of the train.
In May this year, the first China-Europe freight train (Changsha) cross-border e-commerce train departed from Changsha North Railway Station. 50 standard containers were loaded with daily necessities such as luggage, shoes and clothing, home textiles, etc., and sailed to Malaszewicz, Poland through the Horgos Port, where they were quickly cleared through customs under the 9610 cross-border e-commerce model. As the core transshipment hub of the EU, Marasevich can quickly distribute goods to Germany, France, the Netherlands and other places. This route makes up for the shortcomings of cross-border e-commerce land logistics in the central inland area.
As the first return timber train arrives in Changsha in 2019, the two-way cargo flow channel of the China-Europe train (Changsha) is gradually taking shape. Wang Jianhua, a second-level researcher at the Logistics Port Office of the Changsha Municipal Government, said that at present, the return goods of the trains are mainly European timber and Central Asian grain materials, and Changsha has also grown into an important domestic timber and grain import port. The next step will be to rely on overseas gathering centers in Minsk and Moscow to collect goods in advance, continue to introduce European agricultural and food products such as grains, oils, dairy products, red wine, and meat, and expand the import of high-end equipment parts, auto parts, chemical raw materials, pulp and other industrial intermediate products.
Wang Jianhua said that the China-Europe Railway Express (Changsha) will continue to improve the channel level, optimize the Changsha-Poznan timetable, stabilize the main lines in Minsk and Moscow, and rely on the construction of the national assembly center to expand more European distribution nodes; the return cargo source is based on wood and grain, and will continue to expand the import scale of European agriculture, food, auto parts, and industrial products.
Industries "go in both directions" to deepen economic, trade and investment cooperation
In the Zoomlion Zhongke Yungu Embodied Intelligent Training Field, dozens of humanoid robots repeatedly practice grasping and sorting; in the Changsha Youlong Robot Testing Workshop not far away, R&D personnel wear self-developed exoskeleton equipment to debug its assistive performance.
Two local technological innovation companies have unanimously set their sights on the European market. In April this year, Zhongke Yungu's embodied intelligent operating system made its global debut at the Hannover Industrial Show in Germany, and the Z01 humanoid robot subsequently appeared at the Istanbul Industrial Show. Youlong Robot has set Europe as its first overseas destination, and more than 2,000 sets of "Youlong" flexible exoskeleton robots have been shipped to France, Italy, the United Kingdom and other countries since October.
Changsha medical device company Sannuo Biotechnology is deeply involved in Europe with cross-border e-commerce, building independent sites in German, French and Spanish, and deploying overseas warehouses in multiple countries to achieve localized logistics. "The demand for blood glucose monitoring products in Europe is stable, and we rely on 'cross-border e-commerce + brand + overseas warehouse' to continue to improve our service capabilities." Li Qingyan, international sales director of Sannuo Biotech, said that the company has more than 25 million users worldwide, and its blood glucose monitoring products are firmly ranked among similar products on mainstream e-commerce platforms in Europe and Southeast Asia.
As an important central city in the urban agglomeration on the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, Changsha is accelerating the construction of a China-EU international cooperation demonstration zone. The German Small and Medium Enterprises Headquarters Cluster (Hunan) is located in Changsha, supporting platforms such as the China-Europe Joint Innovation Center and the Sino-German Intelligent Manufacturing Innovation Center. Leading European companies such as Germany's Schaeffler and Continental, France's Saint-Gobain, Faurecia, and Schneider Electric have all set foot in Changsha, focusing on high-end manufacturing, auto parts, intelligent equipment and other fields. At present, 30 German-funded companies have settled in Changsha, and German companies such as Bosch Automotive and Soenger have successively set up foreign-funded R&D centers, forming a situation of leading enterprises as demonstrations and leaders, R&D platforms gathering and empowering, and supporting industries synergistically improving.
According to data from the Changsha Municipal Commerce Bureau, in the first eight months of this year, Changsha’s import and export to Europe was 33.33 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15.8%. Channels, industries, investment, and trade are closely linked, and the two-way interaction between the Xiangjiang River and the Seine River is moving from "the smooth flow of goods" to "the common prosperity of industries."
The Xiangjiang River “Dialogues” with the Seine River, Mutual Learning among Civilizations Goes Deeper and More Practical
If economic and trade exchanges are the solid "skeleton", then cultural exchanges inject warmth into Changsha, the "world capital of media arts."
The good relationship between Changsha County and the French city of Mondargis is the continuation of the century-old work-study tradition. This small French town retains the Mondal Memorial Hall of the Diligent Work-Study Students in France. In 2023, it became a friendly memorial hall with the former residence of Li Weihan in Changsha County. In the spring of 2025, the first batch of students from Changsha County No. 1 Middle School went to Mondalji Forest Middle School for exchanges and stayed with local families; in April of the same year, students from the Mondalji Chinese Bridge Project returned to Changsha to experience bamboo weaving, calligraphy and Tai Chi. In February 2026, the two schools formally signed a sister school agreement and agreed to renew it every three years.
“It was only when I stayed in the home of French classmates that I truly understood what ‘civilizations blend through exchanges.’” said a teacher who once led a team to France. The children felt the oriental charm in bamboo weaving and Tai Chi, while the French students learned about China in the fireworks of Changsha. The seeds of friendship took root among the teenagers.
A larger stage for communication continues to open. In November 2025, the 7th Sino-French Cultural Forum was held in Changsha, with 15 activities covering the fields of cultural tourism, artificial intelligence cultural creation, and young artist dialogue. 78 French guests, including former French Prime Minister Raffarin, attended the forum; brand activities such as Sino-French Cultural Spring and Sino-French Environment Month have been held in Changsha all year round, and Hunan embroidery, Hunan opera and other Hunan intangible cultural heritage have appeared on the European stage many times.
"We insist on going out to promote and invite in for inspections, continue to deepen pragmatic cooperation with Owen Tourism, and continue to expand the international cultural tourism circle of friends." Wang Hongting, deputy director of the Promotion, Communication and Exchange Cooperation Department of Changsha Municipal Bureau of Culture, Tourism, Radio, Film and Television, said that in recent years, Changsha has gone to the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Croatia, and Finland to promote cultural tourism, held special events in Bristol, and invited the West of England Tourism Bureau and nearly a hundred European travel agents to open up channels for European tourists.
Market feedback intuitively confirms the effectiveness of communication. Ctrip data shows that in 2025, the United Kingdom, Russia, Germany, and France will enter Changsha's top twenty source countries of inbound tourists; in the first half of 2026, Italy and Spain will be added to the list, and Changsha's European tourist source map will continue to expand.
The Xiangshui River flows to the north, and the Seine River flows to the west. The dialogue between the two rivers has never stopped. Changsha is continuously consolidating the foundation of China-Europe two-way interaction, mutual benefit and win-win cooperation through the triple link of channels, industries and people-to-people exchanges.
