The August 1st City — where the Chinese People's Liberation Army was born in a pre-dawn uprising on August 1 1927, the largest freshwater lake in China (Poyang Lake) sits an hour north, and nearby Jingdezhen has produced fine porcelain for 1,700 years while Nanchang serves the cold-mixed rice noodles at 5am on every corner
Nanchang (南昌) is the capital of Jiangxi Province — a central Chinese province that sits between the coastal powerhouses (Shanghai, Zhejiang, Fujian) and the industrial heartland, and has been historically overlooked in favour of its neighbours. The city's defining historical moment is August 1, 1927 — the date of the Nanchang Uprising, when Communist Party troops mutinied against the Nationalist government and established what became the Red Army (later the People's Liberation Army). The date is China's Army Day; Nanchang is 'the cradle of the People's Liberation Army.' The Tengwang Pavilion…
Nanchang's strategic position — at the confluence of the Gan River and the central Chinese canal network — made it a major trading city from the Han Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, the Prince of Ning's court at Nanchang was one of the wealthiest in China — the Jiajing Emperor's era saw Prince Zhu Chenghao mount an armed rebellion (1519) against the imperial court, suppressed by the philosopher-general Wang Yangming (whose Neo-Confucian philosophy influenced East Asian thought for 500 years). The city was severely damaged during the Taiping Rebellion (1850s), the warlord era conflicts, and the J…