Today we get to travel a fair distance as we make our way towards the Yangtse River and our 3-day 4-evening cruise through the Three Gorges. But first, after flying from Shanghai to Wuhan, we board a bus to Yichang. Before we get to Yichang, we stop at the ancient city of Jingzhou.
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| Shanghai to Wuhan by Air, Wuhan to Yichang by Coach, Stop at Jingzhou |
Ancient City of Jingzhou
Jingzhou lies in the south of the centre of Hubei Province and the middle reaches of the Yangtze River about 180 miles west of Wuhan. With a long history of more than two
thousand years, and as the city represents so much in Chinese history, it is acknowledged to be one of the best of 24 ancient history and cultural cities in China.
In 106 BC during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty
(206 BC-AD 9), China was divided into thirteen administrative divisions
(excluding the area under the central government's control), each
governed by an Inspector. Jingzhou was one of the thirteen provinces, and its
land area was one of the largest covering roughly the present-day
provinces of Hubei and Hunan, However Jingzhou did not have a provincial capital and was only an administrative division in name.
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| The Old Walled City of Jingzhou |
It was originally one of the birth places of the culture of the Chu State in the Spring and Autumn Period (770BC - 476BC) and the Warring State Period (476BC - 220BC), which left extremely valuable cultural relics from their 400+ years' reign. This is equivalent to the architecture, antiquities, and artifacts left by the Greeks and Romans.
In the Three Kingdom Period
(220-589), the city was the focus of many disputes and wars. From the
Eastern Jin Dynasty (317-420), the city had been selected by 11 emperors as their capital by, making it a political centre in China
for more than 100 years. Its cultural relics and ancient history has drawn
the attention of many visitors from both home and abroad.
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At last! We get a bit of a slower pace!
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