Nanchang

About Nanchang

In 675 the young poet Wang Bo climbed the Pavilion of Prince Teng above the Gan River and wrote a preface that is still widely memorised in China, and Nanchang has been proud of that view ever since. The capital of Jiangxi province is a big, busy river city that most travellers pass through, yet it rewards a stop with history that runs from Han dynasty gold to the twentieth century.

Nanchang's modern fame dates from 1 August 1927, when the Nanchang Uprising took place here, and the city's main square and memorial hall recall it. Much older treasures came to light in 2011, when archaeologists began excavating the tomb of the Marquis of Haihun, a deposed Han emperor, filled with gold and bronze. The Ming prince turned painter Bada Shanren is honoured in a quiet Taoist temple garden south of the centre, and in winter the wetlands of Poyang Lake on the city's edge fill with migrating cranes and geese.

Nanchang West station has high-speed trains to Shanghai, Changsha and Fuzhou, and Changbei International Airport has domestic routes.