14 Days in Jingzhou

The Western Han gentleman buried around 167 BC and unearthed in 1975, the 1982 Mashan silk, then the east gate and its barbican for the moat panorama.

1. jingzhou museum
2. jingzhou city wall

The covered pit at Chuantian runs past 130 metres with dozens of chariot burials; the rammed-earth ramparts of Jinan, Chu's seat for some 400 years, complete the day.

1. jingzhou chariot formation
2. jingzhou jinancheng ruins

A full day at the 2021-opened Fanta park — Chu-legend dark rides, live shows and lake-side fireworks on selected nights.

1. jingzhou fantawild

The chief councillor's residence of 1572-1582, then the south-gate Guandi Temple — a working shrine, so visit quietly — and dusk snacks on Jing street.

1. jingzhou zhangjuzheng mansion
2. jingzhou guandi temple

The 1552 seven-storey pagoda sits below the levee crest; the docks quarter keeps its river-gate walls, cotton-market history and Yangtze-side tea houses.

1. jingzhou wanshou pagoda
2. jingzhou shashi old docks

East about 1.5 hours to Honghu lake, near 350 square kilometres — Ming-Qing lanes at Cujiaowan, marsh boat lines and lake-fish lunch in the lanes.

1. jingzhou honghu cujiaowan

South to Tian'ezhou, reserved in the early 1990s — reintroduced milu now number well past a thousand on the oxbow grasslands, with a visitor centre explaining the herd's history.

1. jingzhou shishou milu

The Guishui reservoir begun in 1958 holds its S-shaped earth dam about 43 metres high; island boats, shoreline paths and a slow afternoon among the coves.

1. jingzhou guishui

North-west of the city, the Balingshan ridges carry the tomb of Prince Jian of Liao, a Ming royal buried in the early 1400s amid one of Jingzhou's largest ancient tomb clusters.

1. jingzhou balingshan

A full circuit day on the 11-kilometre wall — the north gate tower, water gate and lesser gates, reading the brick stamps and the moat-side parks at a walker's pace.

1. jingzhou city wall

An honestly labelled neighbouring-city day — at Sandouping the dam runs about 2,309 metres on its axis to a 185-metre crest, finished in 2006, best read from the Tanziling terraces. Coach back to Jingzhou.

1. jingzhou yichang dam

A second honest neighbour day — the Three Families' Gorge country along Xiling's lower reaches, stilted-boardwalk villages, ferry crossings and a hillside cableway on the Yangtze's quieter stretch, overnight back in Jingzhou.

1. jingzhou sanxia renjia

A return pass at the museum for the galleries skipped on day one, then the old-town morning markets — early noodles, fresh-water fish and brick-baked flatbread.

1. jingzhou museum
2. jingzhou old town markets

Dawn light on the east gate, one last wall stretch, luggage from the hotel, and Jingzhou station or the airport coach for the way home.

1. jingzhou city wall