History of Jingzhou

Jingzhou has been a transportation hub and commodity distribution center for 6,000 years. Situated in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, this has been a strategic location of military importance since ancient times.

Ying, within the borders of present-day Jingzhou, was the capital of 20 kings over 411 years of the State of Chu during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods of the Zhou Dynasty (1046 BCE – 256 BCE).

The city was lost to Eastern Wu by Guan Yu during the Three Kingdoms period leading to the modern phrase ‘大意失荆州’, literally ‘carelessness lost Jingzhou’.

During the Southern and Northern Dynasties period, it was the capital of the Western Liang. In the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, it was the capital of Jingnan (the Nanping State).

Jingzhou was the site of one of the last major battles between Republican and Qing forces during the Xinhai Revolution in 1911. At the end of the Qing dynasty, Jingzhou had one of the largest Manchu populations, around half of the city, anywhere outside Beijing.

Source From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jingzhou#History