The Xunyang riverfront district (浔阳区) contains what remains of Jiujiang's historical layer closest to the Yangtze. The area around the old docks and the Xunyang River tributary retains some colonial-era buildings from the nineteenth-century treaty port period, including warehouses and merchants' residences with European architectural details mixed into their Chinese structure. The riverfront promenade, rebuilt in the 2000s, gives long views across the Yangtze.
A short walk from the riverfront leads to Pipa Pavilion (琵琶亭), a memorial to Bai Juyi's famous poem, rebuilt multiple times over the centuries and now housing an exhibit about the poet's exile in Jiujiang. The poem itself, with its account of exile, music, and unexpected connection, has made Jiujiang a pilgrimage stop for admirers of Tang literature for over a thousand years.