History of Jiangxi

[3] In this Chinese province the full Neolithic period began before 8000 BC, as represented by Xianrendong culture in discovering cultivated rice over 10,000 years ago.

The first recorded people inhabited in Jiangxi are Baiyue and their influence is still found in modern-day Gan Chinese dialects.

Its encirclement by mountains has allowed the lands of Jiangxi to develop as a separate geographic region and an independent cultural entity.

They provide one of the communication routes from the North China Plain and the Yangzi River valley to the territory of modern Guangdong.

During the Spring and Autumn period, the northern part of modern Jiangxi formed the western frontier of the state of Wu.

The First Emperor of Qin established seven counties in Jiangxi, all of them administered from the commandery seat of Jiujiang, located north of the Yangzi in modern Anhui.

Most were no more than a day or two separated and protected one of the Qin routes to the newly incorporated territories further south in Nanhai (modern Guangzhou).

The Qin colonisation formed the earliest settlement structure in Jiangxi and which for the most part, has survived to the present day.

The commandery of Yuzhang (豫章) was established in northern Jiangxi at the beginning of the Han dynasty, possibly before the death of Xiang Yu in 202 BC.

After the fall of the Qing dynasty, Jiangxi became one of the earliest bases for the Communists and many peasants were recruited to join the growing people's revolution.

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 Chinese civilians and soldiers.

The Imperial Japanese Army began the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign to intimidate the Chinese from helping downed American airmen.