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Posted On Saturday, November 7, 2009 at
at
12:40 AM
by Alvin
During this trip, we visited two very interesting cities in the Province of Jiangxi (江西) - Jiu Jiang (九江) and Nan Chang (南昌). Jiu Jiang was a surprise find of this trip as this city was only to be our over night stop but this city by the Yangtze turned out to be pleasant and full of memorable sights. We spent 2 hours strolling along the misty Yangtze river bank and we visited the tower of 潯陽樓 where reputedly the fictitious hero of Sung Jiang (宋江) in the famed Chinese classic novel (水滸傳), penned his famous anti-establishment poem before becoming the leader of the 梁山泊 108 rebels. We spent an hour inside the 4-storey 潯陽樓 where there was a precious set (one of only 4 complete sets in the world) of 108 porcelain figurines made from 景德镇, depicting the famous rebels as well as a large painting of these famous fictional characters. It was great fun to be sitting in this tower and imagining you were one of these 108 rebels, all ganged up and ready to rumble and cause some major damage to the empires of the feeble emperors in dynasties of centuries past. Further down the Yangtze river bank, we paid visit to the scenic sights of 鎖江樓, 長江大橋 and 琵琶亭. Jiu Jiang city was blessed with a number of fresh water lakes such as the 甘棠湖 in its inner city centre that gave the city a beautiful setting. All in all, we felt that the good part of a day we spent in Jiu Jiang was enough to appreciate its charm and character.
The capital of Jiangxi - Nan Chang (南昌) was altogether different in character. To start off with, the size of the city was immense as we struggled to cross the un-forgiving multi-lane road traffic. The city centre was dominated by the enormous square of the August 1st Nan Chang Uprising Memorial (August 1st, 1927 being commemorated as the year when the PLA was founded). The open area at the square was a welcome breathing space and solitude amidst the endless streams of cars and buses buzzling around this busy city. Undoubtedly, the landmark of Nan Chang had to be the famed tower of 滕王閣 located along the Yangtze river branch of 赣江 and was first built in the Tang Dynasty over 1,000 years ago. The poet 王勃 almost single-handedly put 滕王閣 on the map and the lips of all scholars at the time after he wrote the 滕王閣序 that contained the immortal lines - 落霞與孤鶩齊飛，秋水共長天一色. Say no more and just sit back and contemplate such beautiful poems.
During this trip, we visited two very interesting cities in the Province of Jiangxi (江西) - Jiu Jiang (九江) and Nan Chang (南昌). Jiu Jiang was a surprise find of this trip as this city was only to be our over night stop but this city by the Yangtze turned out to be pleasant and full of memorable sights. We spent 2 hours strolling along the misty Yangtze river bank and we visited the tower of 潯陽樓 where reputedly the fictitious hero of Sung Jiang (宋江) in the famed Chinese classic novel (水滸傳), penned his famous anti-establishment poem before becoming the leader of the 梁山泊 108 rebels. We spent an hour inside the 4-storey 潯陽樓 where there was a precious set (one of only 4 complete sets in the world) of 108 porcelain figurines made from 景德镇, depicting the famous rebels as well as a large painting of these famous fictional characters. It was great fun to be sitting in this tower and imagining you were one of these 108 rebels, all ganged up and ready to rumble and cause some major damage to the empires of the feeble emperors in dynasties of centuries past. Further down the Yangtze river bank, we paid visit to the scenic sights of 鎖江樓, 長江大橋 and 琵琶亭. Jiu Jiang city was blessed with a number of fresh water lakes such as the 甘棠湖 in its inner city centre that gave the city a beautiful setting. All in all, we felt that the good part of a day we spent in Jiu Jiang was enough to appreciate its charm and character.
The capital of Jiangxi - Nan Chang (南昌) was altogether different in character. To start off with, the size of the city was immense as we struggled to cross the un-forgiving multi-lane road traffic. The city centre was dominated by the enormous square of the August 1st Nan Chang Uprising Memorial (August 1st, 1927 being commemorated as the year when the PLA was founded). The open area at the square was a welcome breathing space and solitude amidst the endless streams of cars and buses buzzling around this busy city. Undoubtedly, the landmark of Nan Chang had to be the famed tower of 滕王閣 located along the Yangtze river branch of 赣江 and was first built in the Tang Dynasty over 1,000 years ago. The poet 王勃 almost single-handedly put 滕王閣 on the map and the lips of all scholars at the time after he wrote the 滕王閣序 that contained the immortal lines - 落霞與孤鶩齊飛，秋水共長天一色. Say no more and just sit back and contemplate such beautiful poems.
