Where is Jiangnan?

Specifically, the early "Jiangnan" means south of the Yangtze River, and it refers to a wide range, including everything north of Lingnan. It is actually a general concept. It is the same as geographical terms such as "Central Plains", "Saibei", "Lingnan" and "Western Regions". They are only used to express specific geographical locations and are not regional divisions with clear scope. Therefore, the scope of Jiangnan in the earliest period was very large.

During the Han Dynasty, the word "Jiangnan" mostly referred to the north and south areas of Dongting Lake in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River as the main body of Jiangnan. Dongting Lake is sandwiched between Hunan and Hubei. In other words, in most cases, Jiangnan in the Han Dynasty refers to the area of ??Hunan and Hubei, not the scope of Jiangnan today. This is because during the Qin and Han Dynasties, most areas south of the Yangtze River had not been well developed, especially the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.