Jingzhou 荆州Jīngzhōu

About Jingzhou

Jingzhou was the heart of the Chu state, whose capital at Jinan lies just north of town, and later a prize fought over in the Three Kingdoms. Its brick ramparts, rebuilt in 1646 on Ming foundations, still ring the old city, and the Jingzhou Museum shows Chu lacquerware, silks from the Mashan tomb, bamboo-slip texts and a preserved Western Han man. To the south-east, Honghu, the province's largest lake, is a place of lotus and wintering birds.

What to eat in Jingzhou

• Jingsha fish cake (荆沙鱼糕)
• Gong'an guokui flatbread (公安锅盔)

Listed sites in Jingzhou

18 sites in Jingzhou are on the official lists. Those with a page of their own link to it; the rest open as cards on the map.

• Chuwang Chariot and Horse Pits (Xiongjiazhong) 楚王车马阵 4A scenic area · on the map
  Xiongjiazhong is an Eastern Zhou burial ground of the Chu state, with a main earth mound 16 m high, a companion tomb about half its size and 40 chariot-and-horse pits.
• Honghu Wetland Ecological Tourist Area 洪湖湿地生态旅游区 4A scenic area · on the map
  This lakeside leisure area of more than 4,400 mu (about 290 ha) on the eastern shore of Hong Lake, at the edge of Honghu city, centres on a 1,500-mu wetland garden of flowers, aquatic plants and reed marsh.
• Hunan–West Hubei Soviet Martyrs' Memorial, Honghu 湘鄂西苏区革命烈士陵园 4A scenic area · on the map
  This memorial park on the Yangtze embankment in the south-west of Honghu city is built around the Hunan–West Hubei Soviet martyrs' cemetery and memorial hall, a nationally protected martyrs' memorial site of more than 350 mu (about 23 ha).
• Jingzhou Ancient City 荆州古城 4A scenic area · National heritage site
  Jingzhou's old town is enclosed by a brick-faced rampart about 8.8 m high, rebuilt in 1646 on Ming foundations and regarded as one of the best-preserved city walls in southern China.
• Jingzhou Garden Expo Park 荆州园博园 4A scenic area · on the map
  This park was built for Hubei's second garden expo, held here from 28 September to 28 November 2019, and has stayed open as a public park since.
• Jingzhou Museum 荆州博物馆 4A scenic area
  The regional museum of Jingzhou, founded in 1958, holds some 196,000 items, most of them from excavations in and around the city.
• Jingzhou Ocean World 荆州海洋世界 4A scenic area · on the map
  Jingzhou Ocean World is a marine-themed leisure park in Shashi District, open since 2016, with an aquarium (the Undersea Park) and a separate summer water park, both refurbished and reopened on 18 June 2026.
• Taoyuan Town, Shishou 桃源小镇 4A scenic area · on the map
  Taoyuan Town is a purpose-built countryside leisure complex at the foot of Lujiao Peak in Taohuashan town, developed by a Hubei provincial culture-and-tourism group on about 325 hectares (4,873 mu).
• Weishui Scenic Area, Songzi 洈水 4A scenic area · on the map
  Weishui is a large reservoir resort in the hills of south-west Songzi, built round an earth dam about 9 km long whose construction began in 1958, with a lake of roughly 37 km² dotted with hundreds of wooded islands.
• Xiejiaping Tourist Area, Songzi 卸甲坪 4A scenic area · on the map
  Xiejiaping is the only Tujia ethnic township in Jingzhou, set in hills rising to 815 m on the Hunan border at the far south-west of Songzi, with a tourist area planned at about 5,300 mu (some 350 hectares).
• Yuexi Peninsula Hot Spring Resort, Honghu 悦兮半岛 4A scenic area · on the map
  Yuexi Peninsula is a hot-spring resort in Wulin town, Honghu, built around mineral water drawn from about 2,000 m underground at about 76 °C and a large column-free glass-and-steel indoor spring hall.
• Balingshan Tombs 八岭山古墓群 National heritage site · on the map
  A large field of earth-mounded tombs scattered over the wooded hills of Balingshan National Forest Park north-west of Jingzhou, with nearly 500 mounds recorded and burials ranging from the Eastern Zhou to the Ming dynasty.
• Jinan City of Chu 楚纪南故城 National heritage site · on the map
  Jinan was a capital of the Chu state in the Warring States period, a walled city of about 16 km², measuring 4.5 km by 3.5 km, just north of Jingzhou.
• Jingjiang Flood Diversion Sluice, Gong'an 荆江分洪闸 National heritage site · on the map
  The Jingjiang flood diversion works were built in 1952 in 75 days to protect the Yangtze's Jingjiang reach and the Jianghan plain from flooding, and are a nationally listed water-control project.
• Qujiawan Old Street (Hunan–West Hubei Base Sites) 瞿家湾湘鄂西革命根据地旧址 National heritage site · on the map
  Qujiawan is a small riverside town whose stone-paved old street of more than 40 brick-and-timber buildings served in the early 1930s as the capital of the Communist-led Hunan–West Hubei revolutionary base.
• Three Taoist Temples of Jingzhou 荆州三观 National heritage site · on the map
  The nationally listed Three Taoist Temples are Taihui Guan, Xuanmiao Guan and Kaiyuan Guan, all with Ming and Qing halls on older foundations.
• Wanshou Pagoda 万寿宝塔 National heritage site
  Wanshou Pagoda is a seven-storey octagonal brick-and-stone tower 40.46 m high, built between 1548 and 1552 for Prince Zhu Xian of Liao to pray for the Jiajing Emperor's long life.
• Zoumaling Neolithic City Site 走马岭遗址 National heritage site · on the map
  Zoumaling is a late Neolithic walled settlement of the Qujialing culture beside Shangjin Lake, with an earth-banked enclosure about 370 m by 300 m, three gates in its east and west walls and traces of houses inside.

On the map

Open Jingzhou on the illustrated map to see its outline, its places and listed sites together, and to add them to a trip.

Learn more

• Wikipedia
• Official website
• Wikipedia (Chinese)