China

China is on U.S. Highway 90 ten miles west of Beaumont in northwestern Jefferson County. The Texas and New Orleans Railroad was completed through the area in 1860, and a water stop was established amidst a grove of chinaberry trees near the community's present location; the stop was dubbed China Grove. A post office by that name was authorized in March 1887 but was discontinued within two months. Another office, using the shorter name China, was established in 1893.

Two miles east of China, Charlie Nash and Howell Land organized a separate community called Nashland, which had 174 residents in 1900. The new townsite plat was belatedly filed on October 30, 1902. When fire destroyed the older China depot to the west in 1906, the people of Nashland convinced railroad officials to move operations to the more populated community center. The railroad, however, stipulated that the new depot retain the name of China. The Nashland post office, established in 1900, was therefore renamed China.