Ganzhou

About Ganzhou

Two rivers, the Zhang and the Gong, meet at the tip of old Ganzhou to form the Gan, and the city has been guarding that confluence for well over a thousand years. Southern Jiangxi's largest city still keeps long stretches of Song-dynasty wall, a floating bridge of boats and a drainage network from the 11th century that continues to protect the old town from floods.

Ganzhou was a frontier town between central China and the south, and the hills around it became a heartland of Hakka culture. Writers left their mark too: Su Dongpo praised the Eight Scenes of the region, and Xin Qiji's verses made Yugu Terrace famous. In the 1940s a young Chiang Ching-kuo governed southern Jiangxi from here, and his former residence is a popular stop.

Come for slow walks along the walls at sunset, Buddhist carvings at Tongtianyan, and Hakka dishes in the lanes. In winter the region's navel oranges, among China's best-known, fill every market stall.