Jingzhou Ancient City (photo from nipic.com)

Jingzhou's location in Hubei

Jingzhou is a lively, sprawling and modern-day city on the banks of the Yangtze River in Hubei province. Jingzhou has a long history of around 2,400 years dating back to the Spring and Autumn Period. It was the capital of the Chu State (one of the six most powerful states in the Spring and Autumn period) during the time for a total of 20 emperors.

Jingzhou is situated at the Jianghan Plain, close to the Golden Waterway, with Wuhan to the east, Yichang to the south, and Jingmen to the north. It borders the Three Gorges. Jingzhou is higher in the west and lower in the east. It is densely covered by the network of waterway, as well as lakes; with winding river courses.

The total area of Jinzhou is 14,100 square kilometers, among which plains and lake districts are about 78.8 percent, hilly areas and low-relief terrain are 21.2 percent and agricultural acreage is 431,500 hectares. It is a key port city in the middle reaches of Yangtze River, a textile industry base in China, a production base of cottons, grains and cooking oil and it is also a fresh water fishery base. It is reputed as “a cultural area”, “a land of milk and honey” and “tourist resort”.

Jingzhou Museum (photo from nipic.com)

Jinzhou was one of the main arteries of traffic in China and a distributing center of goods and materials from time immemorial. It has good transport facilities no matter by land, by water or by air.

Jingzhou has subtropical humid monsoon climate. The four seasons are clearly demarcated, with cloudy and sunny weather in spring, humid and hot weather in summer, fine autumns and dry cold winter. It has plenty of sunshine and a frost-free period of 220-300 days annually.

The statue of phoenix in Jingzhou (photo from nipic.com)

Jinzhou is a city with deep cultural deposits and rich historical legends. When in Jinzhou, you may hear about many famous stories happened in the period of Three Kingdoms, such as, “Liu Bei borrowing Jinzhou”, “Guanyu losing Jinzhou because of his carelessness”. And those stories make Jinzhou more famous.

A bridge in the Yangtze River connects two parts of Jinzhou city. The River Han flows in the north part of the city. There are numerous rivers and densely covered lakes in Jinzhou. Wishui scenic area in Songzi, Honghu scenic area and Zhongshan Park in Shashi are good places for visitors.

Jiulong (Nine Dragon) Bridge (photo from nipic.com)