Can either refer to the U.S. state of Mississippi or the Mississippi River.

The real town of China Grove, Texas is one of the few (if not the only) places to actually get an unintentional title of a song and shoutout in the song. As the story goes, the Doobie Brothers recorded the song, "China Grove" in late 1972 about "a sleepy little town" near San Antone (San Antonio, Texas also gets a shoutout in the song) without consulting a map of Texas and assuming that their "China Grove" was fictional imagination of the Doobie Brothers' lead singer, guitarist and songwriter, Tom Johnston. When FM Rock radio stations picked up the song and started playing it, it started to become a hit and it became a Top Ten hit on Billboard Magazine's HOT 100 charts and a hugely played one at Top 40 radio stations in 1973. That's when Tom Johnston and the rest of the Doobie Brothers were finally informed and shocked, at first, to learn that China Grove, Texas was actually a town in Bexar County, Texas (southeastern Texas and a bit more closer to Houston, Texas than San Antonio, Texas). (This story is not made up, but really happened). The real China Grove, Texas isn't as much associated with the Far East (in the continent of Asia) as the "China Grove, Texas" in the Doobie Brothers song, though. Also mentioned in the song is the Sun. I have transcribed the first verse and first chorus upabove.