Port · Scenic area · Historic city · Jiangxi
Jiujiang
九江
Yangtze port at the foot of Lushan and the mouth of Poyang Lake
Jiujiang is a prefecture-level city in northern Jiangxi on the south bank of the Yangtze, where Poyang Lake drains into the river. It is the gateway to Lushan, a World Heritage cultural landscape of temples, academies and villas, and was the home of the poet Tao Yuanming; Bai Juyi wrote the Song of the Pipa here during his exile.
Key facts
Overview
Jiujiang commands the junction of the Yangtze and Poyang Lake, and has been a strategic river port and market town for two thousand years. It was one of China's great rice markets in the late Qing and opened as a treaty port in 1861.
Most visitors come for Lushan, the mountain that rises just south of the city between the river and the lake. Its temples, including Donglin, the cradle of Pure Land Buddhism, the White Deer Grotto Academy, and the summer resort of Guling built by foreign missionaries give it a cultural weight matched by few Chinese mountains.
Names and nicknames
浔阳
Old name of the city and of the Yangtze stretch beside it, familiar from Bai Juyi's poem.
江州
Name of the prefecture in the Tang, when Bai Juyi served here.
History
The Qin created Jiujiang commandery in 221 BCE. In the fourth century the monk Huiyuan founded Donglin Temple on Lushan, and the poet Tao Yuanming lived as a farmer near the mountain. Bai Juyi was exiled here in 815–818. The city became a treaty port in 1861; from 1895 foreigners built the resort of Guling on Lushan, which later served as the summer capital of the Nationalist government and hosted the 1959 Lushan Conference.
386
Donglin Temple founded
Huiyuan's community on Lushan is regarded as the origin of Pure Land Buddhism.
816
Song of the Pipa
Bai Juyi, demoted to Jiangzhou, wrote the long poem after hearing a former courtesan play the pipa on the river.
1861
Treaty port
Opened to foreign trade after the Second Opium War.
1895
Guling resort founded
The missionary Edward Little leased land on Lushan and laid out a summer resort that grew to hundreds of villas.
1959
Lushan Conference
The Party meeting at which Peng Dehuai criticised the Great Leap Forward and was purged.
Landmarks
Nature
Lushan
庐山
Mountain of cliffs, waterfalls and mist with the town of Guling at its centre and Wulao Peak, Sandiequan waterfall and the Flower Path among its sights.
Historic site
White Deer Grotto Academy
白鹿洞书院
Confucian academy on the south-eastern slope of Lushan, restored by Zhu Xi in 1180.
Temple or shrine
Donglin Temple
东林寺
Temple at the western foot of Lushan, the ancestral seat of Pure Land Buddhism.
Historic site
Xunyang Tower
浔阳楼
Riverside tower featured in The Water Margin, where Song Jiang writes a rebellious poem on the wall.
Historic site
Lushan Conference Site
庐山会议旧址
Hall in Guling where the 1959 and 1970 meetings took place, near Meilu villa.
Neighbourhoods
Guling
牯岭镇
Mountain town of stone villas and churches on Lushan.
Food
Lushan stone frog
庐山石鸡
A large mountain frog traditionally eaten on Lushan; protected populations are now farmed.
Poyang Lake fish
鄱阳湖鱼
Silver carp, bream and eel cooked with chilli and fermented beans.
Jiujiang tea cakes
茶饼
Crisp sesame pastries eaten with tea.
Culture
Jiujiang's cultural landscape is Lushan's: Buddhist, Daoist and Confucian sites side by side with the villas of Guling and the inscriptions and poems left by visitors over sixteen centuries. Tao Yuanming, Li Bai, Bai Juyi, Su Shi and Zhu Xi are all associated with the mountain.
飞流直下三千尺，疑是银河落九天。Fēi liú zhí xià sānqiān chǐ, yí shì yínhé luò jiǔ tiān.
“The flying torrent plunges three thousand feet; I wonder if the Milky Way is falling from the ninth heaven.”
— Li Bai, “Viewing the Waterfall at Mount Lu” (望庐山瀑布), Tang dynasty, 8th century
Getting around
- Lushan station and Jiujiang station are on the Beijing–Kowloon line and high-speed lines to Nanchang and Wuhan.
- Roads and a cable car climb Lushan from the north and south; Guling is the base on the mountain.
Day trips
Poyang Lake
鄱阳湖
Wintering grounds of cranes and geese, reached from Wucheng in Yongxiu county.
Stone Bell Hill
石钟山
Hill at Hukou where the lake meets the Yangtze, subject of Su Shi's essay on its sounding rocks.
Frequently asked questions
Sources
- Jiujiang Municipal People's Government — Jiujiang Municipal People's Government (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Seventh National Population Census communiqués — National Bureau of Statistics of China (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Lushan National Park — UNESCO World Heritage Centre (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Jiujiang — Encyclopaedia Britannica (retrieved 27 September 2026)
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