Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north into hillier areas in the south and east, it shares a border with Anhui to the north, Zhejiang to the northeast, Fujian to the east, Guangdong to the south, Hunan to the west, and Hubei to the northwest. After the fall of the Qing dynasty, Jiangxi became one of the earliest bases for the Communists and many peasants were recruited to join the growing people's revolution.
Later the Communist leadership hid in the mountains of southern and western Jiangxi, hiding from the Kuomintang's attempts to eradicate them. In , after complete encirclement by the Nationalist forces, the Communists broke through and began the Long March to Yan'an. The southern half of Jiangxi is hilly and mountainous, with ranges and valleys interspersed; notable mountains and mountain ranges include Mountain Lu , the Jinggang Mountains and Mount Sanqing.
The northern half is comparatively lower in altitude. The Gan River flows through the province. Although the majority of Jiangxi's population is Han Chinese , Jiangxi is linguistically diverse. It is considered the center of Gan Chinese ; Hakka Chinese , is also spoken to some degree. Jiangxi is rich in mineral resources, leading the provinces of China in deposits of copper , tungsten , gold , silver , uranium , thorium , tantalum , and niobium.
Jiangxi is centered on the Gan River valley, which historically provided the main northโsouth transport route of south China. The corridor along the Gan River is one of the few easily traveled routes through the otherwise mountainous and rugged terrain of the south-eastern mountains. This open corridor was the primary route for trade and communication between the North China Plain and the Yangtze River valley in the north and the territory of modern Guangdong province in the south. As a result, Jiangxi has been strategically important throughout much of China's history.
Jiangxi was outside the sphere of influence of early Chinese civilization during the Shang dynasty 16th to 11th centuries BC. It is likely that peoples collectively known as the Baiyue inhabited the region.
