Jiangnan area

Jiangnan area literally means Jiangnan, which has a vast territory. In a narrow sense, it refers to the south bank of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. It includes Nanjing, Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou and Zhenjiang in Jiangsu Province, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Jiaxing and Huzhou in the north of Qiantang River in Zhejiang Province, Shaoxing, Ningbo, Zhoushan, Chizhou, Xuancheng, Maanshan, Wuhu, Tongling and Huangshan in the south of Anhui Province, Nanchang, Jiujiang, Shangrao and Jingdezhen in the northeast of Jiangxi Province, and it is surrounded by Taihu Lake, Dongting Lake and Jingdezhen to the greatest extent. Jiangnan in a broad sense includes the whole territory of Shanghai, Jiangxi, Hunan and Zhejiang, as well as the areas south of the Yangtze River in Jiangsu, Anhui, Hubei and Shanghai. Compared with Jiangnan Road in Tang Dynasty, there are fewer parts involving Guizhou Province. Northern Fujian is sometimes called Jiangnan.

In a broad sense, Jiangnan has a vast territory and diverse landforms, so it is often regarded as "Great Jiangnan", which is roughly consistent with the meteorological scope of Jiangnan. Four rice markets and four famous buildings in Jiangnan are all within the scope of Jiangnan. This area includes three famous mountains, three rivers and three lakes-Qiantang River and Taihu Lake in Huangshan, Ganjiang River and Poyang Lake in Lushan, Xiangjiang River and Dongting Lake in Hengshan. These three rivers and lakes are the cradles of Wu culture, Jiangxi culture and Huxiang culture respectively. The definition of "Great Jiangnan" begins with the ancient division (Jiangnan Road) and is often described in literary works. For example, Du Fu's Random Encounter Li Guinian was written in Changsha. The Jiangnan referred to in the weather forecast is roughly the Jiangnan zone in a broad sense.

The word "Jiangnan" has also been used for administrative divisions in official geographical records since the Yuan Dynasty. Jiangnan provinces in the early Qing Dynasty, that is, Jiangsu, Anhui and Shanghai are now collectively referred to as Jiangnan. Suzhou, Songjiang, Changzhou, Hangzhou, Jiaxing and Huzhou are also the most representative administrative places in the Qing Dynasty. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Raozhou Prefecture, Jiujiang Prefecture and Nanchang Prefecture in Jiangxi Province and Chizhou Prefecture, Taiping Prefecture, Ningguo Prefecture and Huizhou Prefecture in Anhui Province were also very representative Jiangnan areas.