Nanchang History, China

Nanchang has always been connected to its neighboring cities of Hangzhou and Fuzhou, but its history started long before theirs. The county city of Nanchang was first founded during the Han dynasty in 201 BC, when Nanchang history officially began. Nanchang was known as the Yuzhang’s administrative seat.

Nanchang History – The Dynasties

During the Sui dynasty in 589, the commandery of Yuzhang was changed into that of Hongzhou.

The Tengwang Pavilion was built in 653, which is known today as one of the Four Great Towers of China, though it has now already been rebuilt around thirty times as centuries have gone by. In its current state, the Tengwang Pavilion is a reconstruction from the 1980’s after it was completely demolished during the Chinese civil war.

By 763, Hongzhou turned into the center of the province of Jiangxi. From there on, a rapid growth occurred, eventually turning China’s province into one with the highest amount biggest number of population.

Soon afterwards, the Tang regime took over and in 959, it became known as the capital of the south. The Song regime took over in 981 and changed their name back to Hongzhou.

Nanchang History – Before the 20th Century

By 1164, the Hongzhou superior prefecture had changed its name again to Longxing, which they decided to keep until 1368. That was around the time the Mongol and Yuan period ended as it became a place of battle between the Ming dynasty’s leader, Zhu Yuanzhang, and his rival Chen Youliang. In the 16th century, this also became the power base where Prince Zhu Chenhao rebelled against the Ming dynasty.

Nanchang suffered significantly during the 19th century. From 1850 – 1864, Nanchang’s importance as a center of commerce decreased as all the paths to Canton were taken over by services of coastal steamships in the later years of the 19th century. To this day, however, Nanchang is still known as the regional metropolis of Jiangxi.

Nanchang History – After the 20th Century

Nanchang’s first ever rail connection was received in 1915, which allowed passengers to get to the port of Jiujiang. Since then, several more have been received, though.

By 1927, Nanchang had turned into a place where several insurrections by the communist party of China were organized. The Nanchang Uprising took control of the city for several days, which was led by pro-communist officers of Kuomintang under orders of Russia. Several troops were given, which eventually led to the People’s Liberation Army.

The Battle of Nanchang, which is probably the most vicious battle in all of Nanchang history, occurred in 1939 between the National Revolutionary Army of China and the Imperial Japanese Army.

By 1949, Nanchang was nothing more than an antique-style city of commerce with hardly any industries left except food processing. Its population was 275,000.

Since then, however, Nanchang has grown significantly again, in the industrial sense. Nanchang now produces quite a lot of cotton yarn and cotton textiles. Paper is also a big industry in Nanchang, as is rice milling. Other larger chemical industries also function there that produce pharmaceuticals and insecticides and chemicals for agricultural purposes.

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