10 Days in Nanchang

The 57.5-metre tower rebuilt in 1989 — the 29th version of a pavilion first raised in 653 — and the Wanshou Palace lanes for the evening.

1. nanchang tengwang pavilion
2. nanchang wanshou gong street

A factual circuit of the 1 August 1927 sites — the former Jiangxi Grand Hotel headquarters, the square, and the 128-metre fountain at dusk.

1. nanchang august1 uprising museum
2. nanchang bayi square
3. nanchang qiushui square

About 45 kilometres north: the tomb of Liu He, dead in 59 BC, gave up more than 5,000 bamboo slips and over 100 kilograms of gold after the 2011 dig; the Qing manor follows.

1. nanchang haihunhou museum
2. nanchang wangshan tuku

The green wall northwest of town tops out at 841 metres, the city's high point — bamboo valleys, tea rows and monastery courtyards.

1. nanchang meiling

Another gate into the same hills: gorge walks, small waterfalls and the ridge pavilions over the Gan plain.

1. nanchang meiling

Where the Gan reaches Poyang, China's largest freshwater lake, the reserve takes wintering geese and swans from November to February; reed boats run the rest of the year.

1. nanchang nanji wetland

The pagoda quarter and the bridge-to-bridge walk — a day at city pace before the excursions.

1. nanchang shengjin tower
2. nanchang ganjiang riverside

An honestly declared neighbouring-city day, about 1.5 hours by rail into Jiujiang: up to Guling, the stone resort town at around 1,100 metres — the mountain keeps its own pages under jiujiang, so this is a first look only.

1. nanchang lushan day

An honestly declared neighbouring-city day: kilns have worked here for a millennium, the town took its name from the Jingde reign era of 1004-1007, and the 2023 high-speed line runs about an hour from Nanchang.

1. nanchang jingdezhen day

A last riverside lap and the fountain finale, then the train or flight — Nanchang's stations run north to Wuhan and east to the coast.

1. nanchang qiushui square