Yujiang District 余江区

History

A county called Jinxing (晋兴县) was set up here in 291 under the Western Jin, later renamed Xing'an and then folded into Yugan. Anren County (安仁县) was created under the Chen dynasty, merged into Yugan again under the Sui, and re-established in 988 under the Northern Song. It took the name Yujiang County in 1914, came under Yingtan in 1983, and was converted from a county into Yujiang District in 2018.

Yujiang holds a place in the history of China's campaign against schistosomiasis, a parasitic disease that People's Daily says was once widespread in the Yangtze basin and south of it. The same People's Daily article records that in 1958 Mao Zedong read a report that Yujiang had been the first to wipe out the disease and wrote his pair of poems "Farewell to the God of Plague" (《送瘟神》). The Yujiang schistosomiasis memorial hall (余江血防纪念馆) is now a Jiangxi provincial protected site.

What to see

The Yingtan city government describes the Jinjiang old town (锦江古镇) as long known for its scholarly tradition. The town (锦江镇) holds two provincial protected sites: the Jinjiang Catholic Church (锦江天主堂), a Republican-era building, and the old Yujiang county yamen (余江县衙) on Zhongxin Street. The Longxi Academy (龙溪书院) and the cliff tombs at Luosiling and Baojiafeng (螺丝岭、保驾峰崖墓群) are also on the provincial list. So are several Red Army sites, among them a divisional headquarters of the Tenth Red Army at Gaogongzhai (高公寨), the north-eastern Jiangxi Red Army command post at Wangjiayuan (汪家源) and the assembly hall of the Yujiang county soviet government.

Chinese Wikipedia also lists Mazu Rock (马祖岩), Xianglu Peak (香炉峰), Swan Lake (天鹅湖), the Jinjiang old town, a Confucian temple, the old city wall of Anren and the former home of Zou Taofen (邹韬奋故居) among the district's sights.

Getting oriented

The district government sits in Dengbu (邓埠). The district is a long, thin strip, about 75 kilometres from north to south and 28.65 kilometres across, narrowing to 17.5 kilometres at its waist. Yujiang railway station in Dengbu opened in 1935 with the Zhejiang–Jiangxi railway (浙赣铁路) and is now on the Shanghai–Kunming line; National Highway 320 also crosses the district.

Highlights

• Yujiang schistosomiasis memorial hall 余江血防纪念馆: Jiangxi provincial protected site on Yujiang's fight against schistosomiasis, whose elimination Mao Zedong marked in 1958 with the poems "Farewell to the God of Plague".
• Jinjiang Catholic Church 锦江天主堂: Republican-era church in Jinjiang town, a Jiangxi provincial protected site.
• Yujiang county yamen 余江县衙: Old county government building on Zhongxin Street in Jinjiang town, a provincial protected site.
• Longxi Academy 龙溪书院: Old academy on the Jiangxi provincial list of protected sites.