Xiangtang (; ) is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

located to the south of

Nanchang Nanchang (, ; ) is the capital of Jiangxi Province, People's Republic of China. Located in the north-central part of the province and in the hinterland of Poyang Lake Plain, it is bounded on the west by the Jiuling Mountains, and on the east ...

, the capital of China's

Jiangxi Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north int ...

province, under the administration of Nanchang County It is the most populous town in the province with the population more than 150,000 as of the 2010 census. The town was established from a village, which is still remaining near the present center of the town, during the Qing Dynasty. The village experienced fast growth when the main part of the Zhejiang–Jiangxi Railway was completed in 1935. Nowadays, Xiangtang has two main rail stations: Xiangtang West Station as the second largest freight yard in China and Xiangtang Station as a level-1 passenger station nationwide. It is the location of

Nanchang Xiangtang Airport Nanchang Xiangtang Airport (), or Xiangtang Air Base, is a military airbase in Xiangtang, Jiangxi, China. It also served as the main civil airport of Nanchang from 1957 until 1999, when all commercial flights were transferred to the new Nanchang ...

, Nanchang's main civil airport (dual-use military/civil) before

Nanchang Changbei International Airport Nanchang Changbei International Airport is an airport serving Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi province, China. It is located north of Nanchang. Construction began in October 1996 and the airport went into operation on 10 September 1999, repl ...

went into operation on September 10, 1999. There are 33 government-owned institutions and about 4000 researchers and technicians working here. In 1999, Xiangtang became a provincial level development zone and boosted the medical, chemical, clothing, material industry and education.

Geography

It is from the city proper of

. The elevation of Xiangtang is 27m above the sea.

Gan River The Gan River (, Gan: Kōm-kong) runs north through the western part of Jiangxi before flowing into Lake Poyang and thus the Yangtze River. The Xiang-Gan uplands separate it from the Xiang River of neighboring eastern Hunan. Two similarly sized ...

, the main river in the province and a tributary of

Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest list of rivers of Asia, river in Asia, the list of rivers by length, third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in th ...

, is just away. The area of the town is .

History

The earliest remnants of human habitation in Xiangtang are found in the Majin Remnants near the village of Shatan. Stone tools from the remnants date to 50,000 to 20,000 years ago. Xiangtang area as a part of

was founded in 201 BC during the early Han dynasty. The village which the town was named after was settled in Qing Dynasty. In 1935, a rail station was built near Xiangtang village and since then the present town was formed.

Demographics

Xiangtang has an approximate population of 150,000 people and the central area consists of 80,000 people. Majority of residents belong to the

Han Chinese The Han Chinese () or Han people (), are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population and consisting of various subgroups speaking distinctive va ...

. Other people from ethnic minorities such as Uyghur are also living and doing business there. Xiangtang also consists of a large population of students and military forces from other places. Though most of them are expected to leave after 3 or 4 years, they are still considered as residents and play an important role in the social and economic aspects. Moreover, they are a significant part of the young people in the town and some of them even stay when they graduate or are demobilized.

Administration

Xiangtang is divided into 10 resident committees and 19 villages. The 10 resident committees are: Zhenjie, Dongfeng rd, Tongzhan rd, Jiefang rd, W.Minzhu rd, E.Minzhu rd, Tuanjie rd, Tielu Xincun, Xinjie, and Shucai. The 19 villages are Tangsu, Huangshan, Hetou, Huangtang, Liangxi, Huangxi, Xiluo, Jiaxi, Xincun, Gufang, Gaotian, Jianxia, Hehuoqi, Dingfang, Xiangtang, Nandian, Jingshan, Shatan, and Shanbei.

Culture

Many communities have their own festivals to thank the guard and bless of their ancestors or pray for good fortune such as Qiqiao festival in Gong's and Fu's communities in Gaotian village, summer festival in Gong's community in Linan, and September 1 festival in Fu's community in Shuxi. The most renowned one is the Denggun festival () in Deng's community in Huangtang village. They celebrate the day of the settlement on Jan 12th of Chinese lunar calendar each year. The festival has more than 220 years history and can be dated to Qianlong era in Qing Dynasty. On that day, all people from Deng's family will go back to their ancestors' houses and erect a 36m long wooden rod using fish forks in the center of the village. On the top of the rod, a lantern will be hang up. The big image of family tree will be displayed and the celebration will last for three days. It becomes a town-wide festival and there are a lot of people from Nanchang attending to it. Pottery is a local artwork in Nandian village. People make fine pottery by hand and the skills are inherited through generations. Another local product is tea can in Jingshan village. Every two years a peasants' sport games is held and a town-wide sport games is held every four years. Military forces and civilians have joint parties on the Army's day and spring festival. The traditional entertainments such as lunar comedy, dragon lantern,

stilts Stilts are poles, posts or pillars that allow a person or structure to stand at a height above the ground. In flood plains, and on beaches or unstable ground, buildings are often constructed on stilts to protect them from damage by water, wav ...

, myth cosplay are performed in public.

Local special food

*Dingfang Red-cooked Chicken () *Dingfang Rice Wine () *Xia'an Red-cooked Grey Mullets () *Jingshan Bean-Rice Cakes and Fried Rice Pancakes () *Xincun Rice Noddles () *Gufang Noddles () *Xiangtang Organic Chicken Soup () *Nandian Lotus Roots ()

Historical sites

*Liangxi Qianfang Remnants () *Shatan Majin Remnants () *Tianxian Temple WWII Massacre Memorial () *Hewan Well WWII Massacre Memorial ()

Accent

Nanchang dialect is the general name of the regional speech in

and its nearby area. It is also an example of

Gan The word Gan or the initials GAN may refer to: Places *Gan, a component of Hebrew placenames literally meaning "garden" China * Gan River (Jiangxi) * Gan River (Inner Mongolia), * Gan County, in Jiangxi province * Gansu, abbreviated ''Gā ...

, which is spoken in most part of

and some parts of surrounding provinces. Though it is located near the city of Nanchang, the Xiangtang area has a slightly different speech pattern called the Xiangtang Tuhua(). The different pattern was formed because in the old days people usually didn't move out their own villages unless women married to other people in neighbor villages. The traditional Xiangtang Tuhua has five phonemic tones like Nanchang dialect, however, it emphasizes more often and heavier on the words. Because of this, Xiangtang Tuhua sounds louder and harder. There are also a number of words and expressions only found in Xiangtang Tuhua.

Transportation

Xiangtang is served by Nanchang Railways, which uses Xiangtang Station as the passenger station and Xiangtang West station as the freight station. The railways provide connection to almost all major cities in the country. Beijing-Kowloon Railway, Shanghai-Kunming Railway and Xiangtang-Putian Railway run across the town.

Xiangtang's public bus lines 236 and 239 to Nanchang are the main bus routes. It takes about 2 hours on regular route or less than 40 minutes using fast route to travel between Xiangtang and Nanchang. Three national routes:

G316 China National Highway 316 (G316) runs from Fuzhou in Fujian to Lanzhou in Gansu, via Nanchang (in Jiangxi) and Wuhan (in Hubei). It is 2915 kilometres in length. The highway crosses the provinces of Gansu, Shaanxi, Hubei, Jiangxi, and Fujian. ...

G320 China National Highway 320 (G320) runs southwest from Shanghai through the provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan and Guizhou before ending in Ruili, Yunnan at the Sino–Burmese border. It is in length.G105 and Wen-hou highway pass by Xiangtang.

, now a military airport, is located in Xiangtang. It formerly served as Nanchang's main civil airport until all commercial flights were moved to

in 1999.

Economy

Xiangtang Provincial level development zone In 1999, Xiangtang became a provincial level development zone. Agricultural production in Xiangtang is traditional part of its economy. The yield of grain was 57,776 tons in 2004. The yield of vegetable in 2004 is 87,570 tons. The Huiren Medical Company has its headquarters and one of the factories in Xiangtang with more than 1000 local employees.

Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine give ...

has a clothing factory near the Jiangxi Clothing Institute. Town government has introduced 32 projects and 2.63 billion

RMB The renminbi (; symbol: ¥; ISO code: CNY; abbreviation: RMB) is the official currency of the People's Republic of China and one of the world's most traded currencies, ranking as the fifth most traded currency in the world as of April 2022. ...

fund to improve the industrial structure. Many of its industry revolves around clothing, manufacturing, metallurgy, textile, chemical engineering,

traditional Chinese medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. It has been described as "fraught with pseudoscience", with the majority of its treatments having no logical mechanism of action ...

, pharmaceuticals and others. In 2007, Xiangtang together with other towns in Nanchang County was awarded "National top 100 Counties".The GDP of Xiangtang in 2008 was 7.2 billion RMB (1.06 billion USD). The total financial revenue was 100 million RMB.Jiangxi
Now Xiangtang is growing as one of the main freight hubs in Jiangxi province while taking advantage of the convenience of transportation.

Education

*Jiangxi Clothing Institute *Jiangxi Technology Institute *Rail Nursing School

References

{{Reflist

External links

Nanchang Government websitetouristinformation Nanchang
Township-level divisions of Jiangxi