Shaoshan is, in fact, two settlements: a knot of hotels and services that have sprung up around the rail head and long-distance bus depot, and Shaoshan Dong , the village itself, some 6km distant. Patriotic jingles and a large portrait of Mao greet arrivals at the train station, as do minibuses heading up to the village (?1). Unless you're planning to stay overnight or are hungry - in which case there's a cheap hotel (?75-100) and several restaurants ahead and round to the right near the bus depot - you should hop straight on board the first minibus. The first place to disembark is just before the village proper outside Mao's Family Home (free; 8am-5pm), a compound of bare adobe buildings next to a lotus-filled pond, where Mao was born on December 26, 1893. Here he led a thoroughly normal childhood, one of four children in a relatively wealthy peasant household which comfortably survived the terrible famines in Hunan during the first decade of the twentieth century. Though a rebellious youth, it was not until he moved to Changsha in his late teens that he became politicized. The home is neatly preserved, with a few pieces of period furniture, the odd photograph, and wonderfully turgid English explanations completing the spartan furnishings.

Just up the road is the huge village square , where, next to a bronze statue of an elderly Mao and a swarm of souvenir stalls selling fairground-quality trinkets, is the Mao Zedong Exhibition Hall (daily 8am-5pm; ?7). Photos and knick-knacks chart Mao's career, though today there's a great distinction between Mao the revolutionary - still often regarded as a hero - and the character who inflicted the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution on his country. The exhibition reflects this: noticeable omissions include the Little Red Book, and just about any mention of the years between 1957 and his funeral in 1976. A newly opened extension portrays Deng Xiaoping as Mao's natural successor, and ends with the handover of Hong Kong and portrait of a very Statesman-like Zhang Zemin. Next door to the museum is the former Mao Ancestral Temple (?5), now a memorial to the leader's early work amongst the peasants here.

When you've had enough nostalgia, head off into the countryside for a stroll, or catch a minibus up to the elegant pavilion atop of Shaoshan peak for a look at the local landscape - not really typical, given the amount of tourist revenue, but a nice scene of healthy fields and bamboo thickets. Another option is to bus over to Dishui Dong, Dripping Water Cave , where Mao meditated for a few days in 1966 on the harsh works of writer Lu Xun , after a major disagreement had erupted between himself and Lin Biao over the course of the Cultural Revolution. There are also a few restaurants and places to stay in Shaoshan village around the square, including the Shaoshan Binguan in the square itself, with a jumble of indifferent rooms around an ornamental pool (tel 0732/5682309; ?200-300); and the welcoming Shaofeng Binguan (tel 0732/5685073, fax 5685241; dorm beds up to ?30, doubles ?150-200), about 100m up a side-road from the square.