Jiangxi is an inland province in east China. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north into hillier areas in the south and east, it borders Anhui to the north, Zhejiang to the northeast, Fujian to the east, Guangdong to the south, Hunan to the west, and Hubei to the northwest. Major prefecture cities include its capital Nanchang, Ganzhou, and Jiujiang.
Jiangxi was one of the earliest Communist bases in China. The Nanchang uprising took place in Jiangxi on 1 August 1927, beginning the Chinese Civil War. In 1931, the Chinese Soviet Republic's government was established in Ruijin, which is sometimes called the "Former Red Capital".
The southern half of Jiangxi is hilly and mountainous, with ranges and valleys interspersed; notable mountains and mountain ranges include Mount Lu, the Jinggang Mountains and Mount Sanqing. The northern half is comparatively lower in altitude. The Gan River flows through the province.
Although the majority of Jiangxi's population is Han Chinese, Jiangxi is linguistically diverse. It is considered the center of Gan Chinese; Hakka Chinese is also spoken to some degree. Jiangxi is rich in mineral resources, leading the provinces of China in deposits of copper, tungsten, gold, silver, uranium, thorium, tantalum, niobium and lithium.
History
Jiangxi is centered on the Gan River valley, which historically provided the main north–south transport route of south China. The corridor along the Gan River is one of the few easily traveled routes through the otherwise mountainous and rugged terrain of the south-eastern mountains. This open corridor was the primary route for trade and communication between the North China Plain and the Yangtze River valley in the north and the territory of modern Guangdong province in the south. As a result, Jiangxi has been strategically important throughout much of China's history.
Jiangxi was outside the sphere of influence of early Chinese civilization during the Shang dynasty (16th to 11th centuries BC). It is likely that peoples collectively known as the Baiyue inhabited the region. During the Spring and Autumn period, the northern part of modern Jiangxi formed the western frontier of the state of Wu. After Wu was conquered by the state of Yue (a power based in modern northern Zhejiang) in 473 BC, the state of Chu (based in modern Hubei) took over northern Jiangxi and there may have been some Yue influence in the south. Chu subjugated Yue in 333 BC. In 223 BC, when Qin conquered Chu, a majority of the Jiangxi area was recorded to be put under Jiujiang Commandery situated in Shouchun (). However the commandery was ineffective and ended shortly when Qin falls.
Yuzhang Commandery (, Gan: Ì-zong) was established in Jiangxi at the beginning of the Han dynasty, possibly before the death of Xiang Yu in 202 BC, and it was also the first commandery set up by Chinese dynasty in Jiangxi. It was named after the Yuzhang River (, Gan: Ì-zong Kong), the original name of Gan River. "Gan" has become the abbreviation of the province. In 201, eight counties were added to the original seven of Qin, and three more were established in later years. Throughout most of the Han dynasty the commandery's eighteen counties covered most of the modern province of Jiangxi. The county seats of Nanchang, Gan, Yudu, Luling among others were located at the sites of modern major cities. Other counties, however, have been moved or abolished in later centuries.
Under the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty, Yuzhang Commandery was assigned to Yangzhou Province, as part of a trend to establish provinces (zhou) all across China. In 291 AD, during the Western Jin dynasty, Jiangxi became its own Zhou called Jiangzhou (, Gan: Kong-chiu). During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Jiangxi was under the control of the southern dynasties, and the number of zhou slowly grew.
During the Sui dynasty, there were seven commanderies and twenty-four counties in Jiangxi. During the Tang dynasty, another commandery and fourteen counties were added. Commanderies were then abolished, becoming zhou (henceforth translated as "prefectures" rather than "provinces").
Circuits were established during the Tang dynasty as a new top-level administrative division. At first Jiangxi was part of the Jiangnan Circuit (lit. "Circuit south of the Yangtze"). In 733, this circuit was divided into western and eastern halves. Jiangxi was found in the western half, which was called Jiangnanxi Circuit (lit. "Western circuits south of the Yangtze"). This is the source of the modern name "Jiangxi".
The Tang dynasty collapsed in 907, heralding the division of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Jiangxi first belonged to Wu (, Gan: Ng), then to Southern Tang (, Gan: Nām-thóng). Both states were based in modern-day Nanjing, further down the Yangtze River.
After the ten Chinese kingdoms, Jiangnanxi Circuit was reestablished with nine prefectures and four army districts (with sixty-eight districts). Jiangxi was later divided into thirteen different circuits, and Jiangxi Province was established for the first time. This province also included the majority of modern Guangdong. Jiangxi acquired (more or less) its modern borders.
After the fall of the Qing regime, Jiangxi became one of the earliest bases for the Communists and many peasants were recruited to join the growing people's revolution. The Nanchang Uprising took place in Jiangxi on 1 August 1927, during the Chinese Civil War. Later the Communist leadership hid in the mountains of southern and western Jiangxi, hiding from the Kuomintang's attempts to eradicate them. In 1931, the Chinese Soviet Republic's government was established in Ruijin, which is sometimes called the "Former Red Capital" (, Gan: Fūng-set Kū-tu), or just the "Red Capital". In 1935, after complete encirclement by the Nationalist forces, the Communists broke through and began the Long March to Yan'an.
From 1930 to 1934, the National Government carried out five military campaigns against the Jiangxi Soviet area. Its brutal two-party battles and cleansing (including the internal cleansing of the Red Army and the cleaning of the post-war government) caused a large number of deaths or escapes, causing the population of Jiangxi to drop by 40%, until only 13.8 million people were left in 1936.
In 1936, after the opening of the Yuehan Railway in Hunan, Jiangxi lost its important position regarding north–south traffic. In 1937, the east-west Zhegan Railway was opened to traffic, which changed the original traffic patterns in Jiangxi to a large extent. The Jiujiang Port () began to decline in importance.
Following the Doolittle Raid during World War II, most of the B-25 American crews that came down in China eventually made it to safety with the help of Jiangxi locals. The Gan who helped them, however, paid dearly for sheltering the Americans. The Imperial Japanese Army began the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign to intimidate the Chinese from helping downed American airmen. At least 10,000 civilians died in Jiangxi while searching for Doolittle's men.
Jiangxi came under the full control of the CCP upon the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949. The Republican provincial government was evacuated to Taichung in Taiwan Province before dissolving itself that same year.
Geography
thumb|Jiangxi in 1936
thumb|Nanchang City
200px|right|thumb|[[Xinyu|Xinyu City]]
200px|right|thumb|Pingxiang City
Mountains surround Jiangxi on three sides, with the Mufu Mountains, Jiuling Mountains, and Luoxiao Mountains on the west; Huaiyu Mountains and Wuyi Mountains on the east; and the () and Dayu Mountains in the south. The southern half of the province is hilly with ranges and valleys interspersed; while the northern half is flatter and lower in altitude. The highest point in Jiangxi is Mount Huanggang () in the Wuyi Mountains, on the border with Fujian. It has an altitude of .
The Gan River dominates the province, flowing through the entire length of the province from south to north. It enters Lake Poyang in the north, the largest freshwater lake of China; that lake in turn empties into the Yangtze River, which forms part of the northern border of Jiangxi. Important reservoirs include the Zhelin Reservoir in the northwest of the province on the Xiushui River, and the in the upper section of the Gan.
Jiangxi has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa under the Köppen climate classification), with short, cool, damp winters, and very hot, humid summers. Average temperatures are about in January and in July. Annual precipitation is , much of it falling in the heavy rains occurring in late spring and summer.
Nanchang, the provincial capital and the most densely populated city, is one of the largest Chinese metropolises. Nanchang is the hub of Jiangxi civilization throughout its history, which plays a leading role in the commercial, intellectual and industrial and political fields. Ganzhou is the largest subdivision of Jiangxi.
Administrative divisions
Jiangxi is divided into eleven prefecture-level divisions: all prefecture-level cities:
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto auto; text-align:center"
|+Administrative divisions of Jiangxi
|-
| colspan="9" | <div style="position: relative" class="center">
</div>
|-
!! scope="col" rowspan="2" | Division code
!! scope="col" rowspan="2" | Division
!! scope="col" rowspan="2" | Area in km<sup>2</sup>
!! scope="col" rowspan="2" | Population 2020
!! scope="col" rowspan="2" | Seat
!! scope="col" colspan="3" | Divisions
|-
!! scope="col" width="45" | Districts
!! scope="col" width="45" | Counties
!! scope="col" width="45" | CL cities
|-
! 360000 !! Jiangxi Province
| 166,900.00 || 45,188,635 || Nanchang city || 27 || 61 || 12
|-
! 360100 !! Nanchang city
| 7,432.18 || 6,255,007 || Donghu District || 6 || 3 ||bgcolor="grey"|
|-
! 360200 !! Jingdezhen city
| 5,256.23 || 1,618,979 || Changjiang District || 2 || 1 || 1
|-
! 360300 !! Pingxiang city
| 3,823.99 || 1,804,805 || Anyuan District || 2 || 3 ||bgcolor="grey"|
|-
! 360400 !! Jiujiang city
| 18,796.79 || 4,600,276 || Xunyang District || 3 || 7 || 3
|-
! 360500 !! Xinyu city
| 3,177.68 || 1,202,499 || Yushui District || 1 || 1 ||bgcolor="grey"|
|-
! 360600 !! Yingtan city
| 3,556.74 || 1,154,223 || Yuehu District || 2 ||bgcolor="grey"| || 1
|-
! 360700 !! Ganzhou city
| 39,317.14 || 8,970,014 || Zhanggong District || 3 || 13 || 2
|-
! 360800 !! Ji'an city
| 25,283.80 || 4,469,176 || Jizhou District || 2 || 10 || 1
|-
! 360900 !! Yichun city
| 18,637.67 || 5,007,702 || Yuanzhou District || 1 || 6 || 3
|-
! 361000 !! Fuzhou city
| 18,811.12 || 3,614,866 || Linchuan District || 2 || 9 ||bgcolor="grey"|
|-
! 361100 !! Shangrao city
| 22,826.04 || 6,491,088 || Xinzhou District || 3 || 8 || 1
|}
{|class="wikitable sortable collapsible collapsed" style="width:auto; text-align:center; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"
! colspan="5" |Administrative divisions in Chinese and varieties of romanizations
|-
! English !! Chinese !! Pinyin !! Gan Romanization
|-
| Jiangxi Province || || ||
|-
| Nanchang city || || ||
|-
| Jingdezhen city || || ||
|-
| Pingxiang city || || ||
|-
| Jiujiang city || || ||
|-
| Xinyu city || || ||
|-
| Yingtan city || || ||
|-
| Ganzhou city || || ||
|-
| Ji'an city || || ||
|-
| Yichun city || || ||
|-
| Fuzhou city || || ||
|-
| Shangrao city || || ||
|}
These prefecture-level cities are in turn subdivided into 100 county-level divisions (27 districts, 12 county-level cities, and 61 counties). Those in turn are divided into 1566 township-level divisions (830 towns, 560 townships, 8 ethnic townships, and 168 subdistricts).
{|class="wikitable sortable collapsible"
|+ Population by urban areas of prefecture & county cities
|-
!#!!City!!style ="background-color: #aaaaff;"|Urban area!!Census date
|-
|1||Nanchang||2,223,661||2,357,839||5,042,566||2010-11-01
|- bgcolor="lightyellow" class="sortbottom"
|(1)||Nanchang ||390,719||795,412||||2010-11-01
|-
|2||Pingxiang||716,229||893,550||1,854,515||2010-11-01
|-
|3||Jiujiang||611,321||704,986||4,728,778||2010-11-01
|- bgcolor="lightyellow" class="sortbottom"
|(3)||Jiujiang ||93,035||159,909||||2010-11-01
|-
|4||Ganzhou||605,231||642,653||8,368,447||2010-11-01
|- bgcolor="lightyellow" class="sortbottom"
|(4)||Ganzhou ||430,680||1,334,600||||2010-11-01
|-
|5||Xinyu||567,820||839,488||1,138,874||2010-11-01
|-
|6||Fuzhou||482,940||1,089,888||3,912,307||2010-11-01
|- bgcolor="lightyellow" class="sortbottom"
|(6)||Fuzhou ||169,404||438,319||||2010-11-01
|-
|7||Yichun||461,817||1,045,952||5,419,591||2010-11-01
|-
|8||Jingdezhen||430,084||473,561||1,587,477||2010-11-01
|-
|9||Fengcheng||379,914||1,336,392||||2010-11-01
|-
|10||Ji'an||328,318||538,699||4,810,339||2010-11-01
|-
|11||Shangrao||298,975||416,219||6,579,747||2010-11-01
|- bgcolor="lightyellow" class="sortbottom"
|(11)||Shangrao ||392,302||752,953||||2010-11-01
|-
|12||Gao'an||295,507||811,633||||2010-11-01
|-
|13||Leping||286,351||810,353||||2010-11-01
|-
|14||Ruijin||216,229||618,885||||2010-11-01
|-
|15||Guixi||210,319||558,451||||2010-11-01
|-
|16||Yingtan||191,893||214,229||1,125,156||2010-11-01
|- bgcolor="lightyellow" class="sortbottom"
|(16)||Yingtan ||131,470||352,476||||2010-11-01
|-
|17||Zhangshu||188,586||555,120||||2010-11-01
|-
|18||Ruichang||150,531||419,047||||2010-11-01
|-
|19||Dexing||148,565||293,201||||2010-11-01
|- bgcolor="lightyellow"
|(20)||Gongqingcheng||118,986||118,986||||2010-11-01
|- bgcolor="lightyellow"
|(21)||Lushan||101,630||245,526||||2010-11-01
|-
|22||Jinggangshan||86,673||152,310||||2010-11-01
|}
Politics
The politics of Jiangxi is structured in a dual party-government system like all other governing institutions in mainland China.
The Governor of Jiangxi is the highest-ranking official in the People's Government of Jiangxi. However, in the province's dual party-government governing system, the Governor has less power than the Jiangxi Chinese Communist Party Provincial Committee Secretary, colloquially termed the "Jiangxi CCP Party Chief".
Economy
Jiangxi was a major recipient of China's investment in industrial capacity during the Third Front campaign.
Rice is the dominant crop in Jiangxi. Cash crops commonly grown include cotton and rapeseed. Jiangxi is the leading producer of kumquats in China, particularly in Suichuan County.
Mining-related industries are a major part of Jiangxi's economy.Jiangxi is rich in mineral resources, leading the provinces of China in deposits of copper, tungsten, gold, silver, uranium, thorium, tantalum, niobium, among others. Noted centers of mining include Dexing (copper) and Dayu County (tungsten).
It is located in extreme proximity to some of the richest provinces of China (Guangdong, Zhejiang, Fujian), which are sometimes blamed for taking away talent and capital from Jiangxi.
Jiangxi has the lowest wages and third lowest property prices in all of China.; purchasing power parity of Chinese Yuan, as Int'l. dollar based on IMF WEO October 2017)
|- align=center
| align=center rowspan=3| year
| align=center colspan=4| GDP
| align=center colspan=3| GDP per capita (GDPpc)<br /> based on mid-year population
| align=center colspan=2| Reference index
|- align=center
| align=center colspan=3| GDP in millions
| align=center rowspan=2| real<br />growth<br />(%)
| align=center colspan=3| GDPpc
| align=center colspan=2| exchange rate<br />1 foreign currency<br /> to CNY
|- align=center
||CNY
||USD
||PPP<br />(Int'l$.)
||CNY
||USD
||PPP<br />(Int'l$.)
||USD 1
||Int'l$. 1<br />(PPP)
|- align=right
||2016||1,836,440||276,477||524,562||9.0||40,400||6082||11,540||6.6423||3.5009
|- align=right
||2015||1,672,378||268,508||471,159||9.1||36,968||5935||10,415||6.2284||3.5495
|- align=right
||2014||1,571,463||255,822||442,616||9.7||34,890||5680||9,827||6.1428||3.5504
|- align=right
||2013||1,441,019||232,678||402,868||10.1||32,122||5187||8,980||6.1932||3.5769
|- align=right
||2012||1,294,888||205,131||364,675||11.0||28,967||4589||8,158||6.3125||3.5508
|- align=right
||2011||1,170,282||181,192||333,842||12.4||26,292||4071||7,500||6.4588||3.5055
|- align=right
||2010||945,126||139,615||285,485||14.0||21,368||3156||6,454||6.7695||3.3106
|- align=right
||2009||765,518||112,065||242,444||13.2||17,437||2553||5,522||6.8310||3.1575
|- align=right
||2008||697,105||100,374||219,436||13.3||15,986||2302||5,032||6.9451||3.1768
|- align=right
||2007||580,025||76,279||192,386||13.2||13,389||1761||4,441||7.6040||3.0149
|- align=right
||2006||482,053||60,470||167,513||12.3||11,197||1405||3,891||7.9718||2.8777
|- align=right
||2005||405,676||49,523||141,894||12.9||9,478||1157||3,315||8.1917||2.8590
|- align=right
||2000||200,307||24,196||73,661||8.0||4851||586||1,784||8.2784||2.7193
|- align=right
||1995||116,973||14,007||42,857||6.8||2896||347||1,061||8.3510||2.7294
|- align=right
||1990||42,862||8,961||25,174||4.5||1134||237||666||4.7832||1.7026
|- align=right
||1985||20,789||7,079||14,831||14.8||597||203||426||2.9366||1.4017
|- align=right
||1980||11,115||7,418||7,432||4.2||342||228||229||1.4984||1.4955
|- align=right
||1978||8,700||5,595||||13.3||276||177||||1.5550||
|}
Economic and technological development zones
- Nanchang Export Processing Zone
Nanchang National Export Expressing Zone is located in Nanchang Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone, it was approved by the State Council on May 8, 2006, and passed the national acceptance inspection on Sep 7th, 2007. It has a planning area of and now has built . It enjoys simple and convenient customs clearances, and special preferential policies both for Nanchang National Export Expressing Zone and NCHDZ.
- Nanchang National High-tech Industrial Development Zone
Nanchang National High-tech Industrial Development Zone (NCHDZ for short hereafter) is the only national grade high-tech zoned in Jiangxi, it was established in Mar. 1991. The zone covers an area of , in which have been completed. NCHDZ possesses unique nature condition and sound industry foundation of accepting electronics industry. NCHDZ has brought 25% industrial added value and 50% industrial benefit and tax to Nanchang city by using only 0.4% land area.
- Nanchang Economic and Technological Development Zone
- Jiujiang Free Trade (Tariff-free) Zone
- Jiujiang National Economical and Technological Development Zone
- Jiujiang Gongqingcheng National High-tech Industrial Development Zone
Demographics
thumb|150px|She ethnic townships in Jiangxi
The population of Jiangxi according 2020 Chinese census is 45.18 million. 99.73% of that is Han Chinese, predominantly Gan and Hakka. Ganzhou, Jiangxi's largest city, has an especially large number of Hakka. Ethnic minorities include the She people.
Jiangxi and Henan both have the most unbalanced gender ratios of all Chinese provinces. Based on a 2009 British Medical Journal study, the ratio is over 140 boys for every 100 girls in the 1–4 age group.
In 2019 the most-common surname in Jiangxi was Liú (刘), the only province where this was the case. Overall Liu is the fourth-most common surname in the country.