Jingzhou (Chinese: 荆州; pinyin: Jīngzhōu) is a prefecture-level city in southern Hubei province, China, located on the banks of the Yangtze River.

Its total residential population was 5,231,180 based on the 2020 census, 1,068,291 of whom resided in the built-up (or metro) area comprising two urban districts.

[1] Jingzhou occupies an area of 14,067 square kilometres (5,431 sq mi)[1] with a topography rising from east to west.

[citation needed] It is covered by a dense network of waterways, as well as lakes, and is located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River on the Jianghan Plain.

[citation needed] Jingmen City, also in Hubei, lies to the north; to its south are Yueyang and Changde, both in Hunan Province.

[6] As of 2019, most of the city's economic growth is derived from its secondary and tertiary sectors, which grew at an annual rate of 8.1% and 8.8%, respectively.

[6] The size of Jingzhou's agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and aquaculture sector in 2019 totaled ¥76.645 billion.

[6] In 2019, the city's insurance industry made ¥16.293 billion in revenue off of premiums, a 15.0% increase from the previous year.

[1] Situated in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, the area has been a strategic location of military importance since ancient times.

[16] The city was lost to Eastern Wu by Guan Yu during the Three Kingdoms period leading to the modern phrase "dàyì shī Jīngzhōu" (大意失荆州), lit.

[citation needed] At the end of the Qing dynasty, Jingzhou had one of the largest Manchu populations, around half of the city, anywhere outside Beijing.

There are also historical sites dating to the Three Kingdoms period, such as the Wulin Battlefield (where the Battle of Red Cliffs took place) and the Huarong Path.

The Jingzhou Museum has on display a well-preserved 2,000-year-old male corpse, as well as silk and lacquerware from the Warring States period.

A 58-meter-tall, 1,197-ton bronze Statue of Guan Yu designed by Han Meilin was constructed in Jingzhou in 2016.

[6] In addition to schools, Jingzhou has 176 cultural institutions staffed by 1,168 employees, and 8 public libraries which house 1.382 million books.