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Jiujiang -- A Historic Military Stronghold
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This two thousand-year-old city in northern Jaingxi Province is on the south bank of the Yangtze River in its middle reaches. A noted town in ancient China, for years it served as a communication center along the middle reaches of the Yangtze and a town of strategic importance. During the period of the Three Kingdoms (220-280), Jiujiang, then called Chaisong, was a military stronghold of the Kingdom of Wu. Jiujiang lies on the roads leading to Mount Lushan and Poyang Lake. Tourists can proceed to visit White Deer Cave (Bailudong) Academy and the Xingzi Hot Spring in Xingzi County. Traveling to the east along the Yangtze River, they can visit the scenic spots of Stone Bell Hills (Shizhongshan), Xiaogu Hill, and Dragon King's Palace Cave (Longgongdong) in Pengze County.
Gantang Lake
This is the most attractive place among the numerous scenic spots and historical sites in the city. The Misty Water Pavilion (Yanshuiting) in the lake is said to have served as the command post for Zhou Yu, a celebrated general of the period of the Three Kingdoms (220-280), when he was training naval forces here. The pavilion is linked with land by an arch bridge with nine bends.
South Gate Lake (Nanmenhu)
This scenic lake is separated from Gantang Lake by a causeway that was built by li Bo, a governor of Jiujiang in the Tang Dynasty. Still standing on the causeway is a bridge named Remembering the Man of Virtue (Sixianqiao), which was put up by the local people to cherish Li Bo's memory.
Stone Bell Hills (Shizhongshan)
Rising at the mouth of Poyang Lake in Pengze County where the lake and the Yangtze River meet, these hills are shaped like two huge bells. The water lapping against the rocks in the caves at the bottom of the cliffs also gives out the sound of bells. A legend says that when the Jade Emperor had his palace built, he sent Elephant God to fetch some jade bells. Elephant God carelessly dropped the bells here, and they turned into hills. The numerous historical sites on the hills draw many sightseers.
Small Solitary Hill (Xiaogushan)
Small Solitary Hill is in the middle of the Yangtze River in Pengze County twenty kilometers east of the city if Jiujiang. The hundred-meter-high hill resembles a large junk floating on the waves of the river. Amidst the green trees are zigzagging stone steps, pavilions and towers, and ancient temples.
Dragon King's Palace Cave (Longgongdong)
Situated in the Black Dragon Hill (Wulongshan) tourist area in Pengze County east of Jiujiang, this natural cave under a hill is very much like the "Dragon King's Palace in the East Sea" described in Chinese fairy tales. It is said that a yellow dragon once lived here. The three thousand-meter-long cave is divided into several areas, including a corridor, the east palace, the west palace, a great hall, and Dragon Pool (Longtan). Inside this "underground art museum" there are stone pillars, stalagmites, imagination, and other formations which, if you have a good reliefs, as well as the shrimp soldiers and crab generals of the dragon king, his daughters, and their palace maids.
(china.org.cn)
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