Weather forecast in Zhuozhou, Hebei Province

Names of regions and administrative districts

Jiangnan literally means Jiangnan. "Jiang" has a special meaning in Chinese, which is the Yangtze River. Jiangnan originally refers to the area south of the Yangtze River. In ancient times, Jiangnan often represented a prosperous and developed culture and education and a beautiful and rich water town scene, and the region was roughly the south bank of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Historian Feng Xianliang said, "Geographically, Jiangnan is undoubtedly the most prosperous area in China since modern times. But the definition and application of the word Jiangnan has never been unified since ancient times. "

Jiangnan in history

There was a saying of Jiangnan in the pre-Qin period. Until the Sui Dynasty, the Central Plains was still the center of geographical coordinates, and Jiangnan often referred to Hunan and Jiangxi. The establishment of Jiangnan Road in Tang Dynasty was later divided into Jiangnan East Road, Jiangnan West Road and Guizhou Middle Road, which became the beginning of defining the meaning of modern Jiangnan. Later, Jiangdong became the proper name of Jiangnan (that is, small Jiangnan or narrow Jiangnan), and Jiangnan Road became wide Jiangnan (that is, big Jiangnan).

The evolution of administrative regions named after "Jiangnan" in history is as follows: before the Tang Dynasty, the area referred to by the word Jiangnan included Jiangnan and the vast areas along the Yangtze River, including Jingzhou (southeastern Hubei, Hunan) and Yangzhou (southern Jiangxi, Anhui, Fujian, southern Jiangsu, Shanghai and Zhejiang). Emperor Taizong established Jiangnan Road, covering the whole middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, south of the Yangtze River and Guizhou and Fujian. Tang Xuanzong subdivided Jiangnan Road into Jiangnan West Road (southeastern Hubei, Hunan and Jiangxi, southern Anhui) and Jiangnan East Road (Fujian, southern Jiangsu, Shanghai and Zhejiang). Jiangnan West Road (most of Jiangxi, southeastern Hubei) and Jiangnan East Road (northeastern Jiangxi, southern Anhui and Nanjing) were established in the Song Dynasty. The provinces in the south of the Yangtze River were established in the early Qing Dynasty (1645- 1667), but they included a large area in the north of the Yangtze River. Later, it was divided into Jiangsu Province and Anhui Province.

Jiangnan in a narrow sense and Jiangnan in a broad sense

The broad definition of Jiangnan originates from the division of Jiangnan Road in Tang Dynasty, which refers to the whole area south of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, that is, Jiangnan Road except southern Hunan, southwestern Jiangxi, Guizhou and Fujian. Including the narrow sense of Jiangnan, the north of Jiangxi, the south of the Yangtze River in Hubei and the north of Hunan. Some areas in Fujian are sometimes called Jiangnan. Jiangnan in a broad sense was widely used in ancient times, for example, Du Fu wrote "Meet Li Guinian and Go Down the River" in Changsha. Jiangnan in a broad sense is also used in modern times. For example, Jiangnan in weather forecast refers to Jiangnan in a broad sense; The three famous buildings in Jiangnan (Yellow Crane Tower in Wuhan, Yueyang Tower in Yueyang and Wangtengting Pavilion in Nanchang) refer to Jiangnan in a broad sense.

Now the specific Jiangnan refers to the narrow sense of Jiangnan (small Jiangnan), that is, it does not include Jiangnan East Road in Fujian Province and southern Zhejiang, and takes Taihu Lake as the center, including Suzhou, Changzhou, Wuxi and Hangzhou. Nanjing was also the core area of Xiaojiangnan in ancient times, but because residents speak Jiangbei dialect, it is often not considered as a part of Xiaojiangnan in Wu dialect area in modern times. Some areas north of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, such as Yangzhou, are located in the north of the Yangtze River, but their economy and culture are similar to those of Jiangnan, and they were once regarded as the core areas of Jiangnan. And some areas that are not in the Yangtze River basin, but are sometimes considered as small Jiangnan, are in the south of Taihu Lake and even the south of Qiantang River, such as Shaoxing and Ningbo.