China · Jiangxi
Where to Stay in Ganzhou, Jiangxi
Ganzhou is an old walled city in southern Jiangxi, China, at the source of the Gan River in the heart of the Hakka country.
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Where to stay in Ganzhou
Each area has its own feel; here's who each one suits.
Where you stay in Ganzhou turns on the old walled town. The streets within the Song walls keep the river gates, the temples, and the markets within a walk, and staying in the old town suits anyone here for the history. The old walls follow the river.
Rooms sit near the gates. Out toward the newer city and the hills, the town spreads up the river basin. A room in the new town trades the old walls for the malls, the stations, and the road out to the Hakka country.
Past the last streets, the green hills of the basin take over. If you want the walls and the temples, stay in the old town; if you want the trains, take a room in the new city. Whichever you choose, the Song walls stay within easy reach.
About Ganzhou
Ganzhou is the walled city of the Gan.
What is Ganzhou known for?
On the Gan River in the Hakka south of Jiangxi, it keeps the finest Song-dynasty brick city wall in China along the water, an ancient floating bridge of boats, and the great walled fortress-houses of the Hakka clans in the hills around. The green hills ring the town. Walls and rivers mark the city.
What are the main landmarks in Ganzhou?
The old brick wall rings the heart of Ganzhou. The great Song-dynasty rampart, running for miles along the rivers with its gates and towers, is the best of its age in China, the emblem of the city, above the water. An ancient floating bridge crosses the river.
The old pontoon bridge of linked boats still spans the Gong, while the Hakka fortress-houses, the grottoes, and the Confucian temple mark the country around Ganzhou.
What is the history of Ganzhou?
Ganzhou grew as the great southern gate of Jiangxi. At the head of the Gan River it guarded the road south to Guangdong over the Mei Pass, the old way that carried trade and pilgrims between the Yangtze lands and the sea. The Song city built walls of brick.
In the Song days the townsfolk raised a great brick wall along the rivers, with gates and towers that still stand, the finest of their age in the land. The hills filled with the Hakka. Wave upon wave of Hakka settlers came into the southern hills, and they built their clans into great walled fortress-houses, the wei, round and square strongholds of rammed earth and stone.
Later the hills saw revolution. In the last century the Red Army made the country around Ruijin its base and set out from here on the Long March, and the region became a cradle of the movement. The old walls still ring the river town.
Ganzhou keeps its walls and its Hakka houses on the Gan.
Where is Ganzhou?
Ganzhou lies in the far south of Jiangxi in China, where the Zhang and the Gong rivers join to form the Gan. The city sits in a basin among green hills, at the head of the Gan River that flows north to the great lake and the Yangtze, near the mountains of Guangdong. Wooded hills rise around.
The river runs north through the basin.
What is the climate of Ganzhou?
Ganzhou's climate is subtropical and damp. Hot, wet summers hang over the basin, and mild, damp winters bring rain and rare frost, with a long green growing season and heavy summer storms. Mist fills the hills after rain.
The country stays green through the year.
How do you get to Ganzhou?
Ganzhou lies in the far south of Jiangxi, on the road to Guangdong. Fast trains and the expressway run to it from Nanchang and Guangzhou through the hills, and roads climb south over the Mei Pass. Buses reach the Hakka towns around.
Most arrive by rail from Nanchang.
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Updated August 2026