Nanchang did not enter the pages of Chinese history until August 1, 1927 when the communists, led by Zhou Enlai and Zhu De with an army of 30,000 men, captured the city and were briefly able to hold out against the kuomintang.
It marked the founding of the Chinese Red Army, later renamed the People's Liberation Army, and led to Nanchang's nickname, Hero City.
But in these more peaceful times, Nanchang, which is Jiangxi's provincial capital, is steadily opening to the outside world as a tourism centre, and a new airport is planned to cater for the increasing number of visitors from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan.
Today Nanchang is a a drab industrial city of 3.3 million, but it still has much to offer the tourist, and is a gateway to many other attractions.
Its Poyang Lake is the largest fresh-water lake in China, and migratory birds spend the winter here.
In the middle of August First Avenue, there is a large square similar to Beijing's Tiananmen Square, with a monument to the uprising.