Stroll along the ancient city wall of the Song Dynasty and enjoy a tour of Ganzhou, the "Song City of Jiangnan"!
🪭Ganzhou, the largest city in Jiangxi. The ancient city of Ganzhou was first built in the Jin Dynasty and flourished during the Song Dynasty. It still preserves a large number of Song Dynasty cultural relics and cultural sites with extremely high cultural and artistic value. It is known as the "Jiangnan Song City" and the "Song City Museum".
👍The ancient city wall of Ganzhou is the only Song Dynasty brick city wall preserved to this day in the country. It is located on the riverside where the Zhangjiang River and the Gongjiang River meet in Ganzhou. The city wall is 7 meters high on average and is 3.6 kilometers long from the East Gate through the Bajingtai to the West Gate. There are five gates in the entire city: Xijin Gate, Zhennan Gate, Baisheng Gate, Jianchun Gate and Yongjin Gate. During the Xianfeng period of the Qing Dynasty, in order to prevent the Taiping Army from attacking the city, five artillery cities, namely East Gate, Small South Gate, Great South Gate, Xijin Gate, and Bajingtai, were built at the main transportation intersections of Ganzhou City.
🎈You can basically visit all the highlights of Ganzhou along the ancient city wall
👉🏻It is recommended to start the entire citywalk from Zaoer Lane. It was once an ancient street in the Southern Song Dynasty and was called "Jiangjia Lane" in the Ming Dynasty. In the early Qing Dynasty, most of the people living in the lane were government servants, who were called "Zaoyi" at the time, so it was named Zaoer Lane, which was later corrupted to Zaoer Lane.
👉🏻Walk about 400 meters from Zaoer Lane to Jianchun Gate of the ancient city wall.
👉🏻Walking into Jianchun Gate is the Donghe Floating Bridge, which is about 400 meters long and connects the two ends of Gongjiang River. It is made up of more than 100 small boats tied together with cables. It was built during the reign of Emperor Qianlong of the Song Dynasty and has a history of more than 800 years.
👉🏻Climb up the Jianchun Gate city wall and walk 700 meters along the city wall to reach Yongjin Gate.
👉🏻 Continue walking 700 meters forward from the Yongjin Gate City Wall and you will reach the Bajingtai Cannon City in Bajing Park. The platform is 28.5 meters high and was built during the Jiayou period of the Northern Song Dynasty. It is located at the confluence of Zhangshui and Gongshui. It was named after the county magistrate Kong Zonghan drew the "Qianzhou Bajing Map" after building the platform and asked Su Shi for a poem based on the map. Bajing Terrace is the best viewing platform in Ganzhou City. Climbing up to the terrace, you can have a panoramic view of the beautiful scenery of Ganzhou.
👉🏻Follow the signs on the wall behind Bajingtai and continue walking for about 500 meters to reach the former residence of Mr. Jiang Jingguo, a brick-and-wood Russian-style building facing Zhangjiang to the west and Yugutai to the south. From 1940 to 1945, Mr. Jiang Jingguo, his wife and children lived here. The desk in the study room of the old house is the only thing that was used by Mr. Jiang in the past. There are many old photos on it that look back on history.
👉🏻Walk another 200 meters from the exit of Mr. Jiang's former residence to reach the Military Gate Tower and Sixianfang. Pass through the Military Gate Tower and walk another 200 meters to reach the commanding height of the old city, Yugutai described by Xin Qiji. Climb up the platform to experience the poetic habitat described by literati and poets. In the main hall on the first floor there is a calligraphy work called "Bodhisattva Man" written by Jiang Zemin himself.
🎈Recommended other attractions in Ganzhou City: Wei Family Courtyard is the largest existing Qing Dynasty family residential building complex in the city. It is also a representative "Nine Wells and Eighteen Halls" style building of the Hakka people in southern Jiangxi. It has been transformed into the Gannan Hakka Cultural Museum. You can visit the Fushougou Museum together, the two attractions are connected. Fushou Ditch is the earliest urban sewer in the world.
🏩Accommodation recommendation: Ganzhou Jinjiang International Hotel, a Spanish royal-style hotel with rooms with balconies overlooking the Ganjiang River and the flower-filled gardens.
🍜Local food recommendation: Li Ji Shaobing, made to order, with thin skin and rich fillings, available in a variety of flavors including fresh meat, pickled mustard greens, secret beef and pickled mustard tuber, none of which is a bad choice, 10 yuan for 5 small cakes.