7 Days in Jiujiang

Land in the old port quarter: the 1989-rebuilt Xunyang Tower, the 1580s pagoda on the Yangtze dike, and the pavilion for Bai Juyi's 816 poem set the scene.

1. jiujiang xunyang tower
2. jiujiang suojiang tower
3. jiujiang pipa pavilion

Climb to Guling at 1,164 metres for Flower Path and the Jinxiu Valley boardwalk to Immortal Cave; the 1903 Meilu Villa is a short walk back through town.

1. jiujiang lushan
2. jiujiang flower path
3. jiujiang jinxiu valley

Sunrise at Hanpokou looks over the Poyang plain; then the ridgeline under Hanyang's 1,474-metre summit and the 155-metre drop of Sandiequan in the afternoon.

1. jiujiang hanpokou
2. jiujiang five old men peaks
3. jiujiang sandiequan waterfall

Descend past the academy founded in 940 and rebuilt by Zhu Xi in 1179 to the 1934 botanical garden; sleep at the mountain foot and send the big bags ahead.

1. jiujiang white deer academy
2. jiujiang lushan botanical garden

Xiufeng's cliffs and waterfall pool, the scene of Li Bai's celebrated quatrain of about 725, plus the single-arch stone bridge of 1014 in the same valley.

1. jiujiang xiufeng
2. jiujiang guanyin bridge

Donglin of 386, Xilin where Su Shi's 1084 wall poem was written, and the 48-metre bronze Buddha completed in 2013 on the mountain's south side; keep to visitor hours.

1. jiujiang donglin temple
2. jiujiang xilin temple
3. jiujiang donglin great buddha

A morning bus to Hukou for Shizhong Mountain, subject of Su Shi's 1084 essay, and the mouth of Poyang, China's largest freshwater lake; back to Jiujiang for the HSR.

1. jiujiang shizhongshan
2. jiujiang poyang lake