Position

Jiangxi Province, called Gan for short, lies in the southern bank of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. It is located at latitude 24°29′-30°04 ′north, longitude 113°34′-118°28′east. It borders Zhejiang and Fujian provinces to the east, Guangdong to the south, Hunan to the west, and Hubei and Anhui to the north. Jiangxi dominates the Yangtze River on the north, and connects the Wuhan in the upper stream, Nanjing and Shanghai in downstream. And it closes to the coastal opening cities in the southeast. Both Beijing-Kowloon and Zhejiang-Jiangxi railways run through the whole province, which provided with the convenient transportation and superior location.

Topography and area

Mountains surround Jiangxi province on three sides. The southern half of the province is hilly with ranges and valleys interspersed; while the middle and northern half is flatter and lower in altitude. Stretching from south to north, the whole land is generally sloping towards Poyang Lake, which has formed a huge basin opening to the north. The total area of the province is 166,900 square kilometers. Within it are various land forms, with mountains and hills dominating. Mountains account for 36%of the province’s total area, hills account for 42%,and mounds, plains, and water surface area for 22%.

Mountain ranges, rivers and lakes

The main mountain ranges are distributed by the border of the province, which generally have the altitude of about 1000m, and minority over 2000m. On the east and northeast of Jiangxi have Wuyi and iHuaiyu Mountains winding between Jiangxi and Fujian, Jiangxi and Zhejiang provinces. On the south have Dayu and Jiulian Mountains wriggling between Jiangxi and Guangdong province. In the west have Luoxiao Ranges standing between Jiangxi and Hunan provinces, where the magnificent Mt. Jinggang is situated at the middle. In the northwest have Mufu Mountains circling between Jiangxi and Hubei provinces. And its extending part on the east is namely the famous mountain-Mt. Lushan.

There are more than 2400 rivers of various sizes in Jiangxi province, which have a combined total length of about 18400 kilometers. Most of them enter Poyang Lake, which in turn empties into the Yangtze River. The five major rivers are Gan River, FuRiver, Xin River, Xiu River, and Rao River. The Gan River winds along 751 kilometers, which is the biggest river of the province, and the second tributary of the Yangtze River in water volume. Flowing through the entire lenghth of the province from south to north, it enters Ganzhou to Hukou, and then pours into the Yangtze River, with navigation mileage of over 5000 kilometers.

Poyang Lake is the larges fresh lake in China, and the biggest water assembling basin of Jiangxi province. It is the huge volume moderator of the Yangtze River, and also the intersection of linking up with all shipping lines in-and-out of the province.

Climate

The climate of Jiangxi province is four seasons alternating distinctively: warm with abundant rainfall in spring, hot and humid in summer, cool with little rainfall in autumn, chilly and dry in winter. In 2009, The average temperature of the whole province is about 18.9℃,with the annual precipitation of 1438.1mm and sunshine hours of 1686.3h.The whole year of Jiangxi has mild climate, with sufficient sunshine, plentiful rainfall and long frost-free period, which belongs to humid subtropical climate.

Resources

At the end of the year 2009, the total area of the arable land of the province is 2,819,800 hectares, the area of afforested land in Jiangxi is 10,629,200 hectares. The total standing forest stock is 354 million cubic meters, and the forest coverage rate of 60.05%.

In 2009, the total cultivated freshwater area of the whole province is 417.060 hectares. The identified species of the fishes are 155 and more than 30types of them occupied the main production, such as carp, crucian carp, black carp, and silver carp etc. the valuable types are including lotus red carp, transparent carp, whitebait, reeves shad, and mandarin fish etc. there are also numerous birds and cherished ones in province, mot of which belonged to world-protected species.

Jiangxi province has a rich reserve of underground minerals which is one of the provinces with higher matching degree of mineral resources in China. The reserves of Copper, Tungsten, Silver, Tantalum, Scandium, Uranium, Rubidium, Caesium, Gold, and Associated Pyrite etc. rank the top three of the nation. Among all these minerals, Copper, tungsten, Uranium, Tantalum, Rare Earths, Gold and Silver are called “the seven gold flowers of Jiangxi”.