Shangrao 上饶Shàngráo

Huizhou-style villages, granite pinnacles and a cave of 20,000-year-old pottery

Type: City
Region: Jiangxi
Featured places: 2
Listed sites: 533 rated 5A · 37 rated 4A · 16 national heritage

About Shangrao

Shangrao fills the north-east corner of Jiangxi, where the province meets Anhui, Zhejiang and Fujian. Wuyuan, once part of Huizhou, keeps Huizhou-style villages such as Jiangwan, Huangling and Likeng, while Mount Sanqing's granite pinnacles (World Heritage, 2008) and the red cliffs of Guifeng (China Danxia, 2010) offer very different mountains. At Xianrendong cave in Wannian, potsherds about 20,000 years old are among the earliest pottery known.

What to eat in Shangrao

Wuyuan red carp (婺源荷包红鲤鱼)
Yugan chilli pork (余干辣椒炒肉)
Yiyang rice cake (弋阳年糕)

Featured places in Shangrao

Mount Sanqing 三清山

Granite pillars in cloud and pine, and cliffside plank walks to a Taoist palace

Best time: Mar–May, Sep–Nov · Time needed: 1–2 days · 5A scenic area · National heritage site · UNESCO World Heritage
Wuyuan Villages 婺源

White-walled villages among yellow rapeseed in spring and red chillies in autumn

Best time: Mid-Mar–early Apr, Nov · Time needed: 1–2 days

Listed sites in Shangrao

53 listed sites are in Shangrao. These are the 40 rated 5A or 4A; see all 53 in the Jiangxi list.

Guifeng, Yiyang 龟峰 5A scenic area · on the map
Guifeng, in Yiyang County, is a cluster of 36 Danxia peaks of red rock rising above forest on the southern edge of the Xin River basin, with stone pillars, isolated crags, natural arches and caves.
Huangling Village 篁岭 5A scenic area
Huangling is a hillside village of Ming and Qing Huizhou-style houses; its residents were moved to a new village at the foot of the hill, and the old houses were restored for visitors, with cable cars linking the two.
Jiangwan, Wuyuan 江湾 5A scenic area · on the map
Jiangwan is a lived-in Huizhou-style old town in the east of Wuyuan County, with ancestral halls, memorial archways, old houses, theatres and waterways.
Daming Flower Sea, Yugan 大明花海 4A scenic area · on the map
Daming Flower Sea is a flower-themed leisure park on the shore of Daming Lake, one of the lakes inside the Kangshan dyke on the south-east side of Poyang Lake.
Dieshan Culture Park, Yiyang 叠山文化园 4A scenic area · on the map
Dieshan Culture Park is centred on Dieshan Academy, a provincial protected site on the Xin River bank, first built in 1318 in memory of Xie Fangde (sobriquet Dieshan), a Southern Song loyalist who refused to serve the Yuan dynasty and died in 1289.
Ehu Academy 鹅湖书院 4A scenic area · National heritage site
Ehu Academy stands at the foot of Mount Ehu on the spot where, in 1175, the philosophers Zhu Xi, Lu Zuqian, Lu Jiuyuan and Lu Jiuling held the debate known as the Ehu Meeting.
Fairy Valley (Sanqingshan) 三清山神仙谷 4A scenic area · on the map
Fairy Valley is a stream valley at the foot of Mount Sanqing, one of several smaller scenic areas around the mountain that are separate from the summit circuits.
Guangfeng Redwood Culture and Creative Industry Park 广丰红木文化创意产业园 4A scenic area · on the map
This is an industrial-tourism park for the redwood furniture and wood-carving trade in Yangkou town, run by a local redwood company and named a provincial industrial-tourism demonstration base in 2022.
Huaiyu Mountains, Yushan 怀玉山 4A scenic area · on the map
The Huaiyu hills in north-west Yushan County, next to Mount Sanqing, rise to Yungai Peak (1,538 m) and Yuya Peak (1,380 m) and have been a place of learning since the Southern Song, when Zhu Xi lectured here.
Likeng Village 李坑 4A scenic area
Likeng, in Qiukou town, is a Li-clan village where lanes follow a winding stream crossed by dozens of stone, timber and brick bridges, with Ming and Qing houses on both banks.
Lingshan Craftsman Town 灵山工匠小镇 4A scenic area · on the map
A craft-themed tourist district on the road from Shangrao towards Lingshan, listed by local government among the cultural-industry projects of the former Shangrao County.
Lingyan Cave, Wuyuan 灵岩洞 4A scenic area · on the map
Lingyan Cave is a group of 36 limestone caves in the mountains of northern Wuyuan, whose walls carry more than 2,000 inscriptions left by visitors over the centuries, among them the words 'Wu Hui Zhu Xi' linked to the philosopher Zhu Xi.
Min-Zhe-Gan Provincial Offices Site, Geyuan 闽浙赣省委机关旧址 4A scenic area · National heritage site
In December 1932 the Chinese Soviet Republic's Gandongbei (north-east Jiangxi) province was renamed Min-Zhe-Gan, and its party committee and government were based in Fenglin village in Geyuan town until the offices left in November 1934.
Mount Damao, Dexing 大茅山 4A scenic area · on the map
Damaoshan is a mountain of the Huaiyu range in the south-east of Dexing, with a main peak of 1,392 m, and has been a national scenic area since 2012.
Mount Gexian 葛仙山 4A scenic area
Mount Gexian is a 1,096 m peak of the Wuyi range in Yanshan County, a Taoist mountain where legend holds that the Taoist Ge Xuan became an immortal.
Mount Lingshan 灵山 4A scenic area · on the map
Lingshan is a granite mountain in the north of Guangxin District, with 72 peaks and 36 waterfalls, rock formations known as Sleeping Beauty, the Dragon's Spine and the Kissing Fish, and a main summit of 1,496 m.
Pastoral Idyll (Sanqingshan) 三清山田园牧歌 4A scenic area · on the map
Pastoral Idyll is a countryside-style holiday area beside the mountain road near the Jinsha entrance on the eastern side of Mount Sanqing.
Phoenix Lake, Dexing 凤凰湖 4A scenic area · on the map
Phoenix Lake is a reservoir in wooded hills on the southern side of Dexing city, laid out as a lakeside park with walking paths; the Dexing Museum stands in the scenic area.
Pipa Lake, Yugan 琵琶湖 4A scenic area · on the map
Pipa Lake is a lakeside wetland park on the south-western edge of Yugan town, laid out around a large urban lake with a peninsula plaza, walkways, a pavilion and a Ferris wheel.
Poyang Lake National Wetland Park 鄱阳湖国家湿地公园 4A scenic area · on the map
Poyang Lake National Wetland Park covers channels, islands and shoreline at Wujincha, on the Poyang County side of China's largest freshwater lake.
Qili Street, Yushan 七里街 4A scenic area · on the map
Qili Street is an old street in the south-west of Yushan town, beside the Bingxi river, and the scenic area includes a street of inkstone carvers.
Raozhou Ancient Town, Poyang 饶州古镇 4A scenic area · on the map
Raozhou Ancient Town is a tourism and leisure quarter in the north of Poyang town, laid out in old-street style around a pond, with shops selling local snacks and sweets such as scallion biscuits (congsu bing) and filled sugar (guanxin tang).
Shangrao Concentration Camp Site 上饶集中营 4A scenic area · National heritage site · on the map
From March 1941 to mid-1942 the Nationalist government held captured New Fourth Army officers and other Communist-aligned prisoners at several sites around Shangrao, and the national listing covers prison sites at Maojialing, Zhoutian, Licun and Qifengyan.
Shennongyuan (Shennong Palace Cave), Wannian 神农源 4A scenic area · on the map
Shennongyuan is a scenic area in the hills of Dayuan town, Wannian County, built around the Shennong Palace karst cave, whose stalactites and underground river are the main sight.
Shuimo Shanghe, Wuyuan 水墨上河 4A scenic area · on the map
Shuimo Shanghe is a tourism development around Shanghe village in Qiukou town, themed on Huizhou culture and built as a cultural-industry park that was complete by 2019.
Sixi and Yancun Villages, Wuyuan 思溪延村 4A scenic area · on the map
Sixi and Yancun are neighbouring villages in Sikou town, just over a kilometre apart, both listed as China Historic and Cultural Villages (Yancun in the fourth batch, Sixi in 2014).
Tongbo Mountain, Guangfeng 铜钹山 4A scenic area · on the map
Tongbo Mountain is the highest part of Guangfeng, a forested ridge of the Wuyi range on the Fujian border whose main peak reaches 1,534.6 m; its northern slopes have been a national forest park since 2002.
Wangkou Village 汪口 4A scenic area · on the map
Wangkou is an old trading village of the Yu clan, founded in the early 12th century and surrounded by water on three sides, which lay on the land route from Huizhou through Wuyuan to Raozhou; its shops and merchants flourished in the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Wangxian Valley 望仙谷 4A scenic area · on the map
Wangxian Valley is a rock-walled gorge in Wangxian township, in the north of Guangxin District, developed as a tourist destination with a cliff-and-immortals fantasy theme and known for its night views.
Wengong Mountain, Wuyuan 文公山 4A scenic area · on the map
Wengong Mountain is a wooded hill in the hills south-west of Wuyuan town, named after the Neo-Confucian philosopher Zhu Xi (posthumous title Wengong), whose family came from Wuyuan.
Wolong Valley, Dazhangshan 大鄣山卧龙谷 4A scenic area · on the map
Wolong Valley is a wooded mountain gorge in Dazhangshan township, in the high ground of northern Wuyuan, where a stream drops through pools and small waterfalls.
Xi Garden, Wuyuan 熹园 4A scenic area · on the map
Xi Garden is a Huizhou-style garden complex on the edge of Wuyuan town, on the site of Zhujiazhuang, the village where Zhu Xi's second- and third-generation ancestors lived.
Yantian Village, Wuyuan 严田 4A scenic area · on the map
Yantian is a village settled by Li-clan families in Fuchun town, in north-western Wuyuan, strung along the old Huizhou–Raozhou post road, with a Ming-dynasty patrol post among its hamlets.
Yinju Stone Tribe, Dexing 隐居·石头部落 4A scenic area · on the map
Yinju Stone Tribe is a hill hamlet in Dexing whose 18 surviving houses were built in the 1960s and 70s from river pebbles and flat stones, bonded with a clay-and-lime mortar mixed with glutinous rice.
Yitian Cultural Tourism City, Wuyuan 翼天文化旅游城 4A scenic area · on the map
Yitian Cultural Tourism City is a purpose-built visitor complex on a river bend south of Wuyuan town, run by the Yitian cultural-tourism company, whose core project is Mengli Laojia ('Old Home in Dreams'), a large live outdoor show with a landscape backdrop.
Yuantou Village, Wuyuan 源头古村 4A scenic area · on the map
Yuantou is a small village in a mountain valley in Fuchun town, a settlement of the Wu clan founded in the early Ming dynasty, with a stream, small bridges, a traditional water-mouth grove and old Huizhou-style houses.
Yuanyang Lake (Mandarin Duck Lake), Wuyuan 鸳鸯湖 4A scenic area · on the map
Yuanyang Lake is a reservoir among wooded hills in Fuchun town, both a nature reserve and a tourist scenic area, promoted as a winter roosting ground for wild mandarin ducks, which arrive in autumn and leave in spring.
Yulian Waterfalls (Sanqingshan) 三清山玉帘瀑布 4A scenic area · on the map
A separate 4A scenic area in the Sanqingshan area, laid out as a walk up a forested valley below the mountain's north-eastern slopes, past a series of named waterfalls, nine in all.
Yungu Tianyuan Eco-Agriculture Town 云谷田园生态农业小镇 4A scenic area · on the map
A farm-themed leisure park on the southern side of Shangrao, in Guangxin District, built around smart farming: a vertical vegetable factory and a fruit-and-vegetable base were shown to provincial officials in June 2024, and an aerospace science exhibition opened in 2023.
Zhongyi Culture Park (Zhongchen Temple), Kangshan 忠义文化园 4A scenic area · on the map
The park is built around Zhongchen Temple, which stands beside Poyang Lake at Kangshan and honours 36 Ming generals, among them Han Cheng and Ding Pulang, killed in the 1363 Battle of Lake Poyang, where Zhu Yuanzhang defeated Chen Youliang.