Gan River, Fu River, Xin River, Rao River, Xiu River, Poyang Lake, Jiujiang, Nanchang, Ganzhou, Ji’an, Zhangshu, Guanyin Bridge, Wanchang Bridge, Ziyang Dike, Waizhou Station

Do you know why Jiangxi is called “Gan-Po”?

Two characters. One river. One lake. They connect the entire province.

167,176 square kilometers. 2,400 rivers. 18,400 kilometers of waterways. All flowing into a single lake.

This is Jiangxi’s water system code.

766 Kilometers: The Lifeline of Imperial Wealth

The Gan River stretches 766 kilometers. Its basin covers nearly half of Jiangxi.

This is not an ordinary river. It was the financial lifeline of imperial China.

In June 1982, the Gan River’s peak flow hit 20,900 cubic meters per second—ten times its 1950-1979 average of 2,090 m³/s.

But the river’s golden age wasn’t in 1982.

It was 1738. The third year of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty. In just eight months—from the eighth month to the fourth month of the following year—Jiujiang Port transferred 53,032 grain ships. They carried 1.12 million piculs of rice.

This single number tells you: Jiangxi fed the empire.

Poyang Lake: A Lake That Grows

Poyang Lake is not an ordinary lake. It’s the largest throughput-type freshwater lake in China.

What does “throughput-type” mean?

When water rises to 22 meters, the lake expands to 3,222 square kilometers—a vast sea. When it drops to 11 meters, it shrinks to 340 square kilometers—a single line.

22 meters vs 11 meters. A difference of over 2,800 square kilometers. This unique “sea at high water, line at low water” landscape has challenged sailors for a millennium.

How did the ancients solve it?

They built a haven.

During the Yuanyou period of the Song Dynasty (1086-1093), Wu Shenli built wooden barriers at Xingzi County. By the Chongning period (1102-1106), Sun Qiaonian replaced them with a stone dike—the famous “Ziyang Dike”—spanning 115 zhang (approx. 380 meters).

115 zhang. A thousand years later, that dike is still standing.

105 Stones: A Bridge That Refuses to Fall

Jiangxi’s ancient bridges are miracles of Chinese engineering.

The Guanyin Bridge (Qixian Bridge) at the foot of Mount Lushan was built in 1014 AD by three brothers of the Chen family. This single-arch stone bridge is constructed from 105 blocks of granite, each weighing about one ton, interlocked with mortise-and-tenon joints.

Mountain floods have battered it for 1,000 years. The 105 stones haven’t moved.

That’s not a coincidence. That’s Song Dynasty craftsmanship.

Each stone was precisely calculated. They interlock to form a single unit. Move one, the whole bridge collapses.

So it can’t fall. And it can’t be dismantled.

Wanchang Bridge: 410 Meters, 23 Arches

Another masterpiece: the Nancheng Wanchang Bridge.

Built in 1634, it stretches 410 meters with 23 arches—the longest ancient stone arch bridge still standing in Jiangxi.

Why 23 arches?

Because that’s the optimal number for the Fu River’s width, flow rate, and geology in this stretch. Fewer arches mean insufficient water flow. More arches mean wasted materials.

The ancients had no computers. But they had eyes, experience, and tradition.

The 350-Year-Old Water Marker

In 1985, during expansion of Nanchang’s riverside road, a Qing Dynasty granite water marker was unearthed near Tengwang Pavilion.

It was 3.20 meters long, carved with measurements from “Two” to “One Zhang One.”

Estimated age: over 350 years.

This means: as early as the Ming Dynasty, Jiangxi was using scientific methods to record water levels. Not vague oral reports like “the water rose a few feet today”—but permanent calibrations carved in stone.

This scientific spirit predates the West by at least 200 years.

1885: Jiujiang Customs’ First Rain

Modern scientific observation began in March 1885. The Jiujiang Customs started modern precipitation records.

From that year on, Jiangxi’s hydrological data became continuous.

But the real transformation came in the 1980s.

In December 1980, the provincial hydrological bureau first applied the DJS-6 computer to organize Gan River data, publishing the nation’s first computer-processed hydrological yearbook using Chinese character typesetting.

By 1990, the province had built a monitoring network of 145 hydrological stations, 104 water level stations, and 1,397 rainfall stations.

This network proved critical during the major floods of 1982 and 1989. Early warnings saved the province 632 million yuan in economic losses.

632 million. That’s not GDP. That’s money the flood tried to take—and we took back.

One River, One People

From the Qin conquest of the Baiyue to the 1982 flood.

From the 1014 Guanyin Bridge to the 1980 DJS-6 computer.

From the 350-year-old water marker to today’s 145 monitoring stations.

Jiangxi’s water has raised generation after generation.

The Gan River is the mother river. Poyang Lake is the life lake. The 105 granite blocks are the conscience of Song craftsmen. The Ziyang Dike is ancient China’s proof that “man can conquer nature.”

Today we use computers to calculate water flow. The ancients used mortise-and-tenon to calculate bridges.

Different methods. Same goal—

To survive.

The water of Jiangxi raised a thousand years of people.