The seat of today's Jiangling County which was called Jingzhou in history was a strategic city over the course of many dynasties. As the story goes, during the Three Kingdoms Period (220-280), the army of Cao Cao, head of the State of Wei, was badly defeated by an allied force of the other two states, Wu and Shu, at Chibi. Sun Quan (of Wu) wanted to strengthen his alliance to Liu Bei (of Shu) against Cao Cao. So he lent the city of Jingzhou of Liu Bei for use as springboard to expand the latter's influence westwards to Sichuan. But to his dismay, Liu showed no intention of returning the town to Sun Quan once his aim was achieved. As a result, Sun devised a series of schemes to take Jingzhou back from Liu, and the two states of Wu and Shu were engaged in an intense struggle over the town. This famous episode in Chinese history has been dramatized as operas and widely told from generation to generation.

The original town was said to have been built by Guan Yu, a famous general of Shu. The existing town wall was reconstructed on the original base in 1646 during the Qing Dynasty. It is 9.3 kilometers long, 9 meters high, and 10 meters thick, with well preserved gates, watching towers, and battlements.