Chaisang District 柴桑区

Setting and landscape

The land rises from river and lake plains in the north-east to low hills and mountains on the west, south and east. The plains, under 20 metres above sea level, make up more than a third of the district; its lowest point is the Xinzhou (新洲) delta in the middle of the Yangtze, and its highest is Dabujian (大步尖), 901 metres, on the Mount Lu border. The Minshan (岷山), Changshan (长山) and Zhuling (株岭) ranges are spurs of the Mufu Mountains (幕阜山). Saicheng Lake (赛城湖), Chihu (赤湖) and Qili Lake (七里湖) drain north to the Yangtze, while the south drains through the Boyang River (博阳河) at De'an to Poyang Lake.

History

The district government dates a Chaisang county to the sixth year of Emperor Gaozu of Han, more than 2,200 years ago, and names Chaisang as the place where Zhuge Liang (诸葛亮) sealed the Sun–Liu alliance in 208. The county was later renamed Pencheng (湓城), Xunyang (浔阳), Dehua (德化) and Jiujiang; in 2017 Jiujiang County became Chaisang District, taking back the old name. Yue Fei (岳飞) was stationed at Jiangzhou (江州), today's Jiujiang, from 1132. When his mother died with the army in 1136 he had her buried on Zhuling in the Mount Lu foothills, in today's Shizi town (狮子镇).

What to see

The Tao Yuanming Memorial Hall (陶渊明纪念馆), in the north-east of Shahe (沙河街), the district seat, opened in 1985. It includes the Tao Jingjie Shrine (陶靖节祠), rebuilt in the Ming in 1533–1538 and moved here from Mianyang Mountain (面阳山) in the 1980s; the shrine is a provincial protected site. The hall displays more than 30 thread-bound editions of Tao's collected works, the oldest from 1672, and finds from the old city sites of Chaisang and Xunyang.

The tomb of Yue Fei's mother, Lady Yao (岳母墓), is a round-vaulted stone tomb 9.1 metres long; its tablet names her as mother of Yue, Prince Zhongwu. The shrine, pavilion and stone figures around it were restored in 1996, and the tomb of Yue Fei's second wife, Lady Li, faces it from the north-west end of Zhuling.

Yongquan Cave (涌泉洞), in Fuchuan Mountain (伏船山), Yongquan township, is a karst water cave dated by the Chinese Academy of Sciences' karst institute to the Late Cretaceous. A spring runs through it; about 800 metres of the 1,400-metre route go by boat, and Chenghua-era porcelain go pieces found during development in 1983 show that people explored it by boat in the Ming.

Highlights

• Tao Yuanming Memorial Hall 陶渊明纪念馆: Opened in 1985; includes the Tao Jingjie Shrine and holds editions of Tao's works back to 1672.
• Tomb of Yue Fei's mother 岳母墓: Tomb of Lady Yao, buried on Zhuling in 1136.
• Yongquan Cave 涌泉洞: Karst water cave with an 800-metre boat route.
• Dabujian 大步尖: The district's highest peak, 901 metres, on the Mount Lu border.