Jiangnan, literally the south of the river. The word "Jiang" in Chinese refers to a large river, the Yangtze River. Jiangnan originally meant the area south of the Yangtze River. In ancient times, Jiangnan often represents a prosperous and developed culture and education and beautiful and affluent water town scene, the region is roughly the south bank of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The term Jiangnan already existed in the pre-Qin period. Until the Sui Dynasty, the central plains were still the center of geographical coordinates, and Jiangnan often referred to the area around Hunan and Jiangxi. The Tang Dynasty established the Jiangnan Dao, which was later divided into Jiangnan Dong Dao, Jiangnan Xi Dao and Qianzhong Dao, which became the beginning of the definition of the modern meaning of Jiangnan, and later Jiangnan became the exclusive name of the Jiangdong region.

Historical evolution

The historical evolution of the administrative regions named "Jiangnan" is as follows: Before the Tang Dynasty, the term Jiangnan referred to the area south of the Yangtze River and the vast area along the Yangtze River, including Jingzhou (southeast Hubei, Hunan), Yangzhou (Jiangxi, southern Anhui, Fujian, southern Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang). The Tang Dynasty established the Jiangnan West Road (southeast of E, Hunan, Jiangxi, southern Anhui), Jiangnan East Road (Fujian, Southern Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang). The Song Dynasty established the Jiangnan West Road (most of Jiangxi, southeast of E), Jiangnan East Road (northeast of Gan, south of Anhui, Nanjing area). Jiangnan Province was established in the early Qing Dynasty and later divided into Jiangsu Province and Anhui Province.

Tang Taizong established the Jiangnan Road, which covered the entire area south of the Yangtze River in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze, as well as Guizhou and Fujian. Tang Xuanzong subdivided Jiangnan Dao into Jiangnan Dong Dao, Jiangnan Xi Dao and Qianzhong Dao. In ancient times, Jiangnan was divided into East Jiangnan and West Jiangnan. The Tang and Song dynasties set up Jiangnan West Road and Jiangnan West Road, covering Jiangxi, Hunan and southern Hubei west of Jiangnan, which were originally composed of Jiangnan in a broad sense. In the late Tang Dynasty, Jiangdong was specifically called Jiangnan, which gave rise to the concept of "Jiangnan" in the cultural sense. After the concept of Jiangnan in a narrow sense, the Jiangnan West Road evolved into today's Jiangxi Province; and Jiangdong area is centered in Nanjing, mainly including Suzhou, Zhejiang, Anhui part of the region. The Qing Dynasty set up the Governor's Office of the two rivers, jurisdiction over Jiangsu Province (including Shanghai), Anhui Province, Jiangxi Province, the two rivers that contains Jiangdong, Jiangxi.

Jiangnan in a narrow sense and Jiangnan in a broad sense

Jiangnan in a broad sense refers to the entire middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River south of the Yangtze River, that is, excluding the southern part of Hunan, southern Jiangxi, Guizhou and Fujian Jiangnan Road. It includes Jiangnan in the narrow sense, the area north of Jiangxi, south of the Yangtze River in Hubei and north of Hunan. However, some areas of Fujian are sometimes referred to as Jiangnan. Jiangnan in the broad sense was more often used in ancient times, such as Du Fu's "Meeting Li Guinian in Jiangnan", which was written about being in the city of Changsha. Jiangnan in a broad sense is also used in modern times, for example, Jiangnan in the weather forecast refers to Jiangnan in a broad sense; Jiangnan in the three famous buildings in Jiangnan (Huanghe Tower in Wuhan, Yueyang Tower in Yueyang City and Tengwang Pavilion in Nanchang City) said Jiangnan is Jiangnan in a broad sense.

Now specifically refers to the Jiangnan for the narrow sense of Jiangnan, refers to the literati glorification of the region. That is, in addition to Fujian Province and the south of Zhejiang Jiangnan Dongdao, is to Nanjing to Suzhou area as the core zone, including the Yangtze River south of Anhui Province, Jiangxi Province, Zhejiang Province, part of the region, that is, the south of Jiangsu Province and north of Zhejiang Province, south of Anhui Province, north of Gan. North of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River part of the region, such as Yangzhou area, although the geographic location in the north of the river, but the economic and cultural shape of the Jiangnan, is also seen as a cultural sense of the composition of the Jiangnan region; and is not the Yangtze River Basin, but is considered to be the Jiangnan region of the south of the Taihu Lake to the south of the Qiantang River part of the region, such as the Shaoxing, Ningbo area, and so on.