1938 Changsha Fire The Changsha Fire of 1938 ( ) , also known as Wenxi Fire ( ) , was the greatest human - caused city - wide fire that ever besieged China . It happened in 1938 during the Second Sino - Japanese War . The result of this fire made Changsha one of the most damaged cities during World War II , alongside Stalingrad , Hiroshima and Nagasaki . Background . 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 October 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 of Changsha . The situation in the city became increasingly tense . Because of a lack of confidence in holding the city , Chiang Kai - shek decided to burn the entire city . It was reasoned that with the city burned to the ground , 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 . Events . At around 2 o ' clock in the morning of November 13 , 1938 , there was a fire in a military hospital just outside of the South Gate ( to this day , it remains a mystery whether the fire was a signal or an accident ) . The arson team took it as a signal and started to set the fire . The burning lasted for five days , also destroying several 2 , 500 - years old historical antiques . City residents tried their best to escape , resulting in a severe boat accident at a river ford on the Xiang River . Damage . More than 3 , 000 people lost their lives during the fire . Over 90 % , or 56 , 000 , of the city ' s buildings were burned . The fire also disabled commercial trading , academic institution and government organization within the city . The fire cost a total economic loss of $ 1 billion , which accounted for 43 % of the total output of the city . Government institutions that were destroyed include the provincial government headquarter , buildings housing the bureaus of civil affairs , construction , police , army mobilizations , security , telegraph , telephone , post as well as the courts , Kuomintang branches , chamber of commerce , central news agency , central radio station and several newspaper offices . More than 31 schools , including the University of Hunan , were also burned down . Banks destroyed include the Bank of Hunan , Bank of Shanghai , Jiaotong Bank and Bank of China . More than 40 factories were burned . The one that suffered the most was the First Textiles Factory of Hunan . The damage to this factory include $ 270 , 000 loss due to burned workshops ; $ 960 , 000 to raw materials ; $ 600 , 000 to machinery . Of the city ' s 190 rice mills and storage buildings , only 12 survived the fire . More than $ 2 million , or about 80 % of the total , were lost in the silk industry . Forty Hunan embroidery factories were completely destroyed . Except for the Xiangya Hospital , every hospital in Changsha was burned to ground . Later Chinese leaders such as Zhou Enlai and Ye Jianying were also present during the fire . A verbal description of the fire was written by Guo Moruo , who also happened to be in Changsha during the fire . Aftermath . In Chinese , the character for ' wen ' in the term ' Wenxi Fire ' refers to the telegraph abbreviation code for the day of the month , whereas ' xi ' ( meaning ' night ' ) refers to the time of the fire . On November 18 , Chiang Kai - shek ordered the executions of three accused in the case . Zhang Zhizhong , the chairman of the Hunan government , also subsequently resigned . On November 19 , on the ruins of Changsha , food markets returned . But this time , there were 5 people selling meat and vegetables . The Bell Tower and the Xiangya Hospital survived the fire . Chiang ' s fear proved wrong . The city repulsed three separate attacks against Japanese in 1939 , 1941 and 1942 . The city did not fall until 1944 to the Japanese in the fourth battle of Changsha although by that time the city no longer held strategic importance . In July 2005 , the first memorial commemorating the event in Changsha , a memorial wall on an old lamp company site , was built . The memorial wall is located on the bank of the Xiang River . In the same year , there was also erected a huge alarm clock carving as a tribute to the fire . Lost history . Prior to the fire , Changsha was China ' s only major city that had not shifted its location over a 2 , 000 year period . The fire , however , annihilated all the cultural accumulations that the city retained since the Spring and Autumn period .