Jiujiang Yantang Mansion (Jiangzhou Historic Quarter)

A restored waterfront pavilion in Jiujiang commemorating the Water Margin hero Song Jiang, sitting at the junction of the Yangtze River and Poyang Lake and associated with some of Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi's most celebrated verse.

Xunyang Tower (Xúnyáng Lóu) stands on the northern waterfront of Jiujiang — historically known as Xunyang — at the point where the Yangtze River and Poyang Lake drainage meet. The tower's literary associations are threefold and span genres: it appears in the classical novel Water Margin (Shuihu Zhuan) as the place where the outlaw hero Song Jiang famously inscribed seditious verse on the wall after too much wine; it is mentioned in Tang poet Bai Juyi's masterpiece 'Pipa Xing' (Ballad of the Pipa), composed while Bai was exiled in Xunyang; and it features in numerous later literary works set on the Yangtze.

The current structure is a modern reconstruction on the historic site, built in a late imperial architectural style with tiered eaves and painted timber balconies. The interior displays artworks and text relating to the tower's literary history, with painted murals illustrating scenes from Water Margin. The view from the upper galleries across the wide Yangtze — particularly at dusk when river traffic is still active — retains the quality that made Xunyang a favourite subject of Tang and Song Dynasty poets.

Jiujiang itself is a historically significant Yangtze port city that served as an important tea-processing and trading centre during the Qing Dynasty, when it was one of the treaty ports opened to foreign trade. Several colonial-era buildings survive in the city centre near the port area.