1938 Changsha Fire

The Changsha fire of 1938 (Chinese: 长沙大火), also known as Wenxi fire (Chinese: 文夕大火), was the greatest human-caused city-wide fire in Chinese history. Kuomintang officials ordered the city be set on fire in 1938 during the Second Sino-Japanese War to keep its wealth from the Japanese. The result of this fire made Changsha one of the most damaged cities during World War II, alongside Stalingrad, Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

On October 25, 1938, the city of Wuhan fell to the Empire of Japan. Soon after, a great number of refugees and injured soldiers, in addition to government institutions and factories, were relocated to Changsha. This caused a population boom in the city, and the number of residents jumped from 300,000 to more than 500,000. Though the city did prepare for this type of scenario for a long time, due to the limited transport capacity of Changsha, it still could not hold this amount of goods and people.

On November 8, the Imperial Japanese Army entered northern Hunan. On the 11th, Yueyang fell. Soon, Chinese and Japanese armies faced off along the Xinqiang River just outside Changsha. The situation in the city became increasingly tense.

Because of a lack of confidence in holding the city, Chiang Kai-shek suggested that the city should be burned to the ground, so that Japan would gain nothing even if it chose to forcefully enter it. On November 10 (some say the 12th), the chairman of the Hunan government, Zhang Zhizhong, passed Chiang's idea to his subordinates in a meeting. An arson team was immediately organized. The team was dispatched to every corner of the city and was ordered to set the fire once a signal fire was set off on the top of Tianxin Building in the southwest of Changsha.

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