Jiangnan

Jiangnan

Jiangnan is a geographical region of China. In different fields of culture, geography and climate, the scope, concept and definition of Jiangnan are different. In a broad sense, Jiangnan refers to the south of the Yangtze River, and generally refers to the South Bank of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

Jiangnan is a place with outstanding people and beautiful scenery. Since ancient times, "Jiangnan" has always been a constantly changing and flexible regional concept, but it always represents a beautiful and rich water town. It is also a developed area with the highest comprehensive level in China with superior natural conditions, rich natural resources, developed commodity production and complete industrial chain.

In different historical periods, the literary images of Jiangnan are different. Although Jiangnan first appeared in the pre Qin and Han Dynasties, it only refers to the south of the river. After the Yongjia rebellion in the Western Jin Dynasty, the gentry in the Central Plains successively crossed the Huaihe River and the Yangtze River and moved southward. Jiankang (now Nanjing) was the capital of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Since then, from the Eastern Jin Dynasty to the appearance of guanwo Shengfu and AI Jiangnan Fu, Jiangnan culture began to appear.

Historical evolution

The discovery of Homo erectus from Tangshan, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, in 1993 indicates that there were ancient human activities in Jiangnan area as early as 600000 years ago. Six or seven thousand years ago, the great river entered the prosperous stage of Neolithic age. According to a preliminary survey, there are about 1000 Neolithic cultural sites in Jiangsu and its adjacent areas, including caoxiashan culture in Suzhou, beiyinyangying culture in Nanjing and Weidun culture in Changzhou. In the pre Qin period, Jiangnan was a place of Baiyue, which was later incorporated into the territory of China and became one of the nine states of China and Han Dynasty.

In the "twenty four histories", the earliest record of "Jiangnan" is "historical records of the Five Emperors": "Shun In the 61st year, Yao practiced the throne. Thirty nine years after the emperor's reign, he went to the South and collapsed in the field of Cangwu. Buried in the south of the Yangtze River, Jiuyi is a Lingling tomb. " The meaning of "Jiangnan" is very extensive.

Taibo and Zhongyong, the sons of King Zhou, brought their relatives to Wuxi and Changshu in southern Jiangsu to establish the kingdom of Gouwu. Taibo and Zhongyong accepted the local customs, took the initiative to integrate into the local society, and brought the advanced farming technology of the Central Plains to the local, so thousands of tribes voluntarily attached themselves to Taibo.

According to the spring and Autumn Annals of Wu and Yue, "the king of Zhou and Yuan sent people to give him the name of Gou Jian. He was ordered to return to the south of the Yangtze River. He went to the upper part of the Huai River and Chu, returned to the Song Dynasty, invaded by Wu, and the eastern part of Lu and Si. At that time, Yue troops ran rampant over the Yangtze River and Huai River, and the princes Bihe, known as the overlord." In the spring and Autumn period of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, the word "Jiangnan" appeared in the historical books first refers to the regions of Wu, Yue and other vassal states in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.

During the Qin Dynasty, it is recorded in the historical records of Qin Dynasty that in the 30th year of King Zhaoxiang of Qin Dynasty, Shu Shou Ruo conquered Chu and took Wujun and Jiangnan as Qianzhong Jun Jiangnan in this book refers to Hunan Province, southern Hubei Province and parts of Jiangxi Province. Qianzhong county is in the west of Hunan Province. It can be seen that the scope of "Jiangnan" at that time was large. According to the historical records of the five emperors, it can be seen that the southern boundary has always reached the Nanling line.

During the Han Dynasty, the south of the Yangtze River was very broad, including Yuzhang County, Changsha County and Luling County, which was equivalent to Jiangxi Province and Hunan Province. Of course, in the Han Dynasty, the South and north of Dongting Lake and the Ganjiang River Basin should be the main part of Jiangnan, and "Jiangnan" refers to this area. In Wang Mang's time, Yidao county was changed to Jiangnan County, which is the Yidu area of Hubei Province. According to the biography of Liu Biao in the book of the later Han Dynasty, there are many thieves in Jiangnan However, Zhang Zhuang and Chen Zuoyong, the bandits of Jiangxia, took charge of Xiangyang City. They compared Yue with Pang Ji, and came down to the south of the Yangtze River.

After the Yongjia rebellion in the Western Jin Dynasty, the gentry in the Central Plains successively crossed the Huaihe River and the Yangtze River and moved southward. Jiankang (now Nanjing) was the capital of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

In the Sui Dynasty, Jiangnan was used as a synonym for "Yangzhou" in Yugong. At the same time, "Jiangnan" also means south of Jianghan and north of Jianghuai. Therefore, the descriptions of "Jiangnan Yuzhang and Changsha" and "Jiangnan Beishi and her husband died early" in historical records.

In the Tang Dynasty, the concept of Jiangnan appeared. In the first year of Zhenguan (627) of Tang Dynasty, Jiangnan Road was set up, which divided the world into ten roads, covering the southern part of the Yangtze River in Hubei Province, Hunan Province and Jiangxi Province (see Lu YuCha's eight out of Jiangnan tea's eight out of Yuanzhou and Jizhou). At the same time, Suzhou and Hangzhou belonged to Zhejiang Xidao.

Jiangnan Road includes the whole territory of Jiangxi and parts of Southern Anhui, which is divided into Jiangnan East Road and Jiangnan West Road. Jiangnan East Road includes Xuanzhou (Xuancheng), Chizhou, Taiping, Huizhou, Raozhou (Shangrao), Xinzhou (Yingtan), Fuzhou and Hongzhou (Nanchang); Jiangnan West Road includes Yuanzhou (Yichun), Jizhou (Ji'an), Jiangzhou (Jiujiang) and Qianzhou (Ganzhou) ）。 Jiangnan Road in Song Dynasty mainly refers to Jiangxi Province, namely Ganjiang River Basin, while Suzhou and Hangzhou belong to Liangzhe road in the same period. After the Jingkang rebellion, the number of people in the North moved to the South was the largest at this stage. In a short period of more than ten years, "people from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, lake, Hunan, Fujian and Guangdong were all over the north-west.". In the 11th year of Shaoxing, the peace treaty between Song Dynasty and Jin Dynasty was reached, which stipulated that the Southern Song Dynasty could not accept the "fugitives" of Jin Dynasty, and the wave of southward migration began to fade.

The word "Jiangnan" was also used in administrative divisions in the official geographical records compiled at the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty.

In 1368, the first year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, Tianfu (now Nanjing) was designated as the capital of the state. In 1380, Zhongshu province was abolished, and the prefecture directly under the central government of Zhongshu province was changed into six departments, which is still commonly known as Zhili. In 1421, Yongle moved its capital to Beijing, changed its capital to Nanjing, and changed Zhili to nanzhili.

In the second year of Shunzhi reign (1645) of the Qing Dynasty, Jiangnan Chengshi was set up under the jurisdiction of nanzhili in the Ming Dynasty, which abolished the status of Nanjing as the capital of the country. The buzhengshi yamen was located in Jiangning prefecture (now Nanjing). Later, it was changed into Xingsheng Province, and Jiangnan Chengshi was changed into Jiangnan province. Together with Jiangxi Province, it was under the jurisdiction of Liangjiang governor, who was stationed in Jiangning Prefecture. In 1661, Jiangnan province was divided into two parts. In the East, it was called "Jiangnan right minister" and in the west, "Jiangnan left minister". In the sixth year of Kangxi reign (1667), Jiangnan left minister was changed into Anhui minister, and Jiangnan right minister was changed into Jiangsu minister. Jiangsu comes from Jiangning and Suzhou, while Anhui comes from Anqing and Huizhou. In 1760, Jiangning Prefecture was designated as the capital of Jiangsu Province and anqing Prefecture as Anhui Province. So far, the administrative divisions of Jiangsu and Anhui are roughly the same.

geographical environment

Location context

The meaning of "Jiangnan" varies in ancient literature. It is often a word which is in parallel with other regional concepts such as "Jianghuai", "Zhongyuan" and so on, and it is ambiguous. It has always been a constantly changing and flexible regional concept. Historically, Jiangnan is not only a natural geographical region, but also a social and political region.

In a broad sense, Jiangnan includes Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui and Jiangxi, which are located in the south of the Yangtze River. In a broad sense, Jiangnan has a vast area and diverse landforms, so it is often regarded as "great Jiangnan", which is roughly consistent with the scope of Jiangnan in meteorology. The four major rice markets and the three famous buildings in Jiangnan are all located in the area of Jiangnan. This area includes three famous mountains, three rivers and three lakes - Huangshan Qiantang River and Taihu Lake, Lushan Ganjiang River and Poyang Lake, Hengshan Xiangjiang River and Dongting Lake. The definition of "great Jiangnan" started from the ancient division (Jiangnan Road) and was often described in literary works. For example, Du Fu's "meeting Li guinian in Jiangnan" was written in Changsha. The south of the Yangtze River in the weather forecast is also generally generalized. The term "Jiangnan" was also used in administrative divisions in official geographical records since the Yuan Dynasty, but its division often did not have the representativeness of Jiangnan. In the Southern Tang Dynasty, the Jiangnan Road in Song Dynasty and Jiangnan Road in Tang Dynasty are the representative of Jiangnan area. They generally include Jinling (Nanjing), Pingjiang (Suzhou), Lin'an (Hangzhou), Jiaxing (Xiuzhou), Zhenjiang (Runzhou), nanxingjun (Yixing), Changzhou (Changzhou and Wuxi), Anjou (Huzhou), Jiangyin (Jiangyin), Qingyuan (Mingzhou), Shaoxing (Yuezhou), Jiande (Yanzhou), Quzhou, Wuzhou and Ruian (Wenzhou) Taizhou, Chuzhou.

In a narrow sense, Jiangnan refers to Shanghai, Southern Jiangsu, Northern Zhejiang and southern Anhui, and is located in the south of the Yangtze River. According to the study of Jiangnan towns in Ming and Qing Dynasties, Jiangnan refers to Jiangning (now Nanjing), Zhenjiang, Changzhou, Suzhou, Wuxi, Songjiang (now Shanghai) and Taicang Zhili Prefecture in Jiangsu Province to the south of the Yangtze River, Xuanzhou, Huizhou, Taiping and Ningguo in Anhui Province to the south of the Yangtze River, and Hangzhou, Shaoxing, Ningbo, Jiaxing and Huzhou in Zhejiang Province to the south.

topographic features

Compared with the north, the most obvious features of the topography in Jiangnan area are more hills, more plains and more water. Jiangnan is located in the plains and hills of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The terrain is high in the South and low in the north. The north of Jiangnan is flat, mainly plain and hills, while there are some mountains in the south.

The middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River Plain refers to the belt plain along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River to the east of the Three Gorges. It is one of the three great plains in China. It straddles seven provinces and cities in China, such as Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai. It is known as "water country". In a narrow sense, Jiangnan mainly refers to the lower reaches and the east of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River Plain.

The middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River Plain lies between 111 ° 05 ′～ 123 ° E and 27 ° 50 ′～ 34 ° n. It starts from the east foot of Wushan mountain in the west, reaches the Yellow Sea and East seashore in the East, connects Tongbai mountain, the south foot of Dabie Mountain and Huanghuai Plain in the north, and reaches Jiangnan hills and Qiantang River and Hangzhou Bay in the south. It is about 1000 km long from east to west and 100 ～ 400 km wide from north to south, with a total area of about 200000 square kilometers Yuan, Dongting Lake Plain, Poyang Lake Plain

Chinese PinYin : Jiang Nan