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Jiangsu (Simplified Chinese:
江苏; Traditional Chinese:
江蘇; pinyin: Jiāngsū; Wade-Giles: Chiang-su; Postal System
Pinyin: Kiangsu) is a province of the People's Republic of China, located along the east
coast of the country.
The name "Jiangsu" comes from Jiang, short for the city of Jiangning (now Nanjing), and Su, for the city of Suzhou. The abbreviation for this
province is 苏 (Hanyu Pinyin: Sū), the second character of its
name.
Jiangsu borders Shandong in the north, Anhui to the west, and Zhejiang and Shanghai to the south. Jiangsu has a coastline of over 1,000 km along the Yellow Sea, and the Yangtze River passes through its
southern parts.
History
The province of Jiangsu was formed in the 17th century. Before then, the
northern and southern parts of Jiangsu had little to do with each other. South Jiangsu is currently the dominant part, being much
wealthier and more influential than the north, and has been so for centuries; it is also firmly a part of southern Chinese
culture. North Jiangsu, on the other hand, is at the juncture between North China and South China. Culturally it is of North China, but it has influences from South
China, and is indeed still a part of a province that is based in the south.
During the earliest of the Chinese dynasties, Jiangsu was far removed from the center of Chinese civilization, which were to
the northwest in Henan; it was home to the Huai Yi (淮夷), an ancient ethnic group.
During the Zhou Dynasty more contact was made, and eventually a state of Wu (centered at Gusu, now Suzhou)
appeared as a vassal to the Zhou Dynasty in south Jiangsu, one of the many
hundreds of states that existed across north and central China at the time. Near the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, Wu became a great power under
King Helu of Wu, and was
able to defeat in 484 BC the state of
Qi, a major power to the north in modern-day Shandong province, and contest for
the position of overlord over all the states of China. The state of Wu was subjugated in 473 BC by the state of Yue, another state that had emerged to
the south in modern-day Zhejiang province. Yue was in turn subjugated by the
powerful state of Chu from the west in 333 BC. Eventually the state of Qin swept away all the other
states of China, and established China as a unified nation in 221 BC.
Under the reign of the Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD), which brought China to its first golden age, Jiangsu was
a relative backwater, far removed from the centers of civilization in the North China Plain. Jiangsu was at the time administered under two zhou (provinces): Xuzhou Province in the north, and
Yangzhou Province in the
south. Although south Jiangsu was eventually the base for the kingdom of
Wu (one of the Three Kingdoms from 222 to 280), it did not become significant until the invasion of northern nomads
during the Western Jin Dynasty, starting from the 4th century. As northern nomadic groups established kingdoms across the north, ethnic
Han Chinese aristocracy fled southwards and set up a refugee Eastern Jin Dynasty in 317, in
Jiankang (modern day Nanjing). From then until 581 (a period known as the Southern and Northern Dynasties), Nanjing in south Jiangsu was to be the base of four more
ethnic Han Chinese dynasties facing off with northern barbarian (but
increasingly sinicized) dynasties. In the meantime, north Jiangsu was a
buffer of sorts between north and south; it initially started as a part of southern dynasties, but as northern dynasties gained
more ground, it became part of northern dynasties.
In 581 unity was reestablished again, and under the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907) China
once more went through a golden age, though Jiangsu at this point was still rather unremarkable among the different parts of
China. It was during the Song Dynasty (960-1279),
which saw the development of a wealthy mercantile class and emergent market
economy in China, that south Jiangsu emerged as a center of trade. From then onwards,
south Jiangsu, especially major cities like Suzhou or Yangzhou, would be synonymous with opulence and luxury in China. Today south Jiangsu remains one of the richest
parts of China, and Shanghai, arguably the wealthiest and most cosmopolitan of
mainland China cities, is a direct extension of south Jiangsu
culture.
The Khitan Jinn Dynasty gained
control of North China in 1127, and the
river Huai He, which used to cut through north Jiangsu to reach the Yellow Sea, was the border between the north, under the Jinn, and the south, under the
Southern Song Dynasty. The Mongols took control of China
in the 13th century. The Ming Dynasty, which was established in 1368 after driving out the
Mongols who had occupied China, initially put its capital in Nanjing. Following a coup by Zhu Di (later Yongle
Emperor), however, the capital was moved to Beijing, far to the north. (The
naming of the two cities continue to reflect this: "Nanjing" literally means "southern capital", "Beijing" literally means
"northern capital.) The entirety of modern day Jiangsu as well as neighbouring Anhui
province kept their special status, however, as territory-governed directly by the central government, and were called Nanzhili
(南直隸 "Southern directly-governed"). Meanwhile, South Jiangsu continued to be an important center of trade in
China; some historians see in the flourishing textiles industry at the time
incipient industrialization and capitalism, a trend that was however aborted, several centuries before similar trends took hold in the West.
The Qing Dynasty changed this situation by establishing Nanzhili as
Jiangnan province; in 1666 Jiangsu and Anhui were split apart as separate provinces, and
Jiangsu was given borders approximately the same as today. With the start of the Western incursion into China in the 1840s, the rich and mercantile south Jiangsu was increasingly exposed to Western influence;
Shanghai, originally an unremarkable little town of Jiangsu, quickly developed into
a metropolis of trade, banking, and cosmopolitanism, and was split out later as an independent municipality. South Jiangsu also
figures strongly in the Taiping Rebellion (1851 – 1864), a massive and deadly rebellion that attempted to set
up a Christian theocracy in
China; it started far to the south in Guangdong province, swept through much of
South China, and by 1853 had established Nanjing as its capital, renamed as Tianjing
(天京 "Heavenly Capital").
The Republic of China was established in 1912, and China was soon torn apart by warlords. Jiangsu changed hands several times, but in April 1927 Chiang Kai-Shek established a
government at Nanjing; he was soon able to bring most of China under his control.
This was however interrupted by the second
Sino-Japanese War, which began full-scale in 1937; on December 13, 1937, Nanjing fell, and the combined atrocities of the occupying Japanese
for the next 3 months would come to be known as the Nanjing
Massacre. Nanjing was the seat of the collaborationist government of East China under Wang Jingwei, and Jiangsu remained under occupation until the end of the war in 1945.
After the war, Nanjing was once again the capital of the Republic of China, though now the Chinese Civil War had broken out between the Kuomintang government and Communist
forces, based further north, mostly in Manchuria. The decisive Huaihai Campaign was fought in
northern Jiangsu; it resulted in Kuomintang defeat, and the communists were soon able to cross the Yangtze River and take Nanjing. The Kuomintang fled
southwards, and eventually ended up in Taipei, from which the Republic of China government continues to administer Taiwan and its neighbouring islands, though it also continues to claim (technically, at least)
Nanjing as its rightful capital.
After communist takeover, Beijing was made capital of China and Nanjing was
demoted to be the provincial capital of Jiangsu. The economic reforms of Deng Xiaoping initially
focused on the south coast of China, in Guangdong province, which soon left
Jiangsu behind; starting from the 1990s they were applied more evenly to the rest of
China. Suzhou and Wuxi, two southern cities of
Jiangsu in close proximity to neighbouring Shanghai Municipality, have since become
particularly prosperous, being among the top 10 cities in China in gross domestic product and outstripping the provincial capital of Nanjing. The income disparity between north Jiangsu and south Jiangsu however remains large.
Geography
Jiangsu is very flat and low-lying, with plains covering 68 percent of its total area (water covers another 18 percent), and
most of the province not more than 50 m above sea level. Jiangsu is also laced with a
well-developed irrigation system, which is earned it (especially the southern half) the moniker of 水乡
(shuǐxiāng "land of water"); the southern city of Suzhou is so crisscrossed
with canals that it has been dubbed "Venice of the East". The Grand Canal of China cuts through Jiangsu from north to south,
traversing all the east-west river systems. Jiangsu also borders the Yellow
Sea. The Yangtze River, the longest river of China, cuts through the
province in the south and reaches the East China Sea. Mount Yuntai near the city of Lianyungang is the highest point in this province, with an altitude of 625 m. Large lakes in Jiangsu include Lake Taihu
(the largest), Lake Hongze, Lake Gaoyou, Lake Luoma, and Lake Yangcheng.
Historically, the river Huai He, a major river in central China and the
traditional border between North China and South
China, cut through north Jiangsu to reach the Yellow Sea. However, starting
from 1194 AD, the Yellow River
further to the north changed its course several times, running into the Huai He in
north Jiangsu each time instead of its other usual path northwards into Bohai
Bay. The silting caused by the Yellow River was so heavy that after its
last episode of "hijacking" the Huai He ended in 1855, the Huai He was no longer able to go
through its usual path into the sea. Instead it flooded, pooled up (thereby forming and enlarging Lake Hongze and Lake Gaoyou), and flowed southwards through
the Grand Canal into the Yangtze. The old path of the Huai He is now marked by a series of
irrigation channels, the most significant of which is the North Jiangsu Irrigation Main Channel
(苏北灌溉总渠), which channels a small amount of the water of the Huai He along its old path into the sea.
Jiangsu Province spans the warm-temperate/humid and subtropical/humid climate
zones, and has clear-cut seasonal changes, with temperatures at an average of -2 - 4 °C in January and 26 - 30 °C in July. There are frequently "plum rains" between spring and summer,
typhoons with rainstorms in late
summer and early autumn. The annual average rainfall is 800 - 1,200 mm, concentrated mostly in summer when the southeast monsoon carries rainwater into the
province.
Major cities:
Administrative divisions
Jiangsu is divided into 13 prefecture-level divisions, all of them prefecture-level cities:
The 13 prefecture-level
divisions of Jiangsu are subdivided into 106 county-level divisions (54 districts, 27 county-level cities,
and 25 counties). Those are in turn divided into 1518 township-level divisions (1117
towns, 125 townships, 1 ethnic township, and 275 subdistricts).
See List of
administrative divisions of Jiangsu for a complete list of county-level divisions.
Economy
Jiangsu has an extensive irrigation system supporting its agriculture, which is based primarily on rice and wheat, followed by corn and
sorghum. Main cash crops include
cotton, soybeans, peanuts, rape, sesame,
ambary hemp, and tea. Other products include peppermint, spearmint, bamboo, medicinal herbs, apples, pears, peaches, loquats, ginkgo. Silkworms also form an important part of
Jiangsu's agriculture, with the Lake Taihu region to the south a major base of
silk production in China. Jiangsu is also an important producer of freshwater fish and
other aquatic products.
Jiangsu has coal, petroleum, and
natural gas deposits, but its most significant mineral produces are non-metal
minerals such as halite (rock salt), sulfur,
phosphorus, as well as marble. The
salt mines of Huaiyin has more than 0.4
trillion tonnes of deposits, one of the highest in China.
Jiangsu is historically oriented towards light industries such as textiles and
food industry. After 1949 Jiangsu has also developed heavy industries such as chemical industry and construction materials. The economic reforms of Deng Xiaoping has
greatly benefited southern cities, especially Suzhou and Wuxi, which outstrip the provincial capital Nanjing in total output. In
the eastern outskirts of Suzhou, Singapore has built the Suzhou Industrial
Park, a flagship of China-Singapore
cooperation and the only industrial park in China that is in its entirety the investment of one single foreign country.
Jiangsu is very wealthy among the provinces of China, with the second highest total gross domestic product (after Guangdong
Province). Its GDP per capita was 14500 Renminbi in 2002, but geographical disparity is great, and southern cities like Suzhou
and Wuxi have GDP per capita around twice of the provincial average, making south Jiangsu
one of the most prosperous regions in China.
Economic indicators in 2003:
Gross domestic product: 1245.18 billion Renminbi
Gross domestic product per capita: 16796 Renminbi
Gross domestic product growth rate: 13.5%
Gross domestic product share by sector
(primary/secondary/tertiary): 8.9% / 54.5% / 36.6%
Gross domestic product share by sector
(public/private): 49.0% / 51.0%
Demographics
The majority of Jiangsu residents are ethnic Han Chinese. Other minorities
include the Hui and the Manchus.
Demographic indicators in 2000:
Population: 74.058 million (urban: 3463.7 million; rural: 3942.1 million) (2003)
Birth rate: 9.04 per 1000 (2003)
Death rate: 7.03 per 1000 (2003)
Sex ratio: 102.55 males per 100 females
Average family size: 3.25
Han Chinese proportion: 99.64%
Illiteracy rate: 7.88%
Culture
There are wide disparities in culture in Jiangsu. North Jiangsu is closer to Shandong and Henan provinces in culture while south Jiangsu is more
similar to Zhejiang and Shanghai.
Two main subdivisions of the Chinese language, Mandarin and Wu, are spoken in different parts of Jiangsu. Dialects of Mandarin are spoken over most of northern Jiangsu and central Jiangsu, as well as parts of
southern Jiangsu, such as in the provincial capital, Nanjing; a more detailed
classification would put dialects of northern Jiangsu (such as in Xuzhou) under
"Zhongyuan dialects" and those of central and southern Jiangsu (such as in Yangzhou
or Nanjing) under "Jianghuai dialects". Dialects of Wu are spoken in the southernmost
parts of Jiangsu, such as in Suzhou, Wuxi, and
Changzhou. Mandarin and Wu are not
mutually intelligible and the dividing line is sharp and well-defined. (See also: Nanjing dialect, Xuzhou dialect, Yangzhou dialect, Suzhou dialect, Wuxi dialect, Changzhou dialect.)
Jiangsu is rich in cultural traditions. Kunqu, originating in Kunshan, is one of the most prestigious forms of
Chinese opera. Pingtan, a form of storytelling accompanied by music, is also popular: it can be subdivided
into types by origin: Suzhou
Pingtan (of Suzhou), Yangzhou Pingtan (of Yangzhou), and
Nanjing Pingtan (of Nanjing). Xiju, a form of traditional Chinese opera, is popular in
Wuxi, while Huaiju is popular further north, around Yancheng. Jiangsu cuisine is one of the eight
great traditions of the cuisine of China.
Suzhou is also famous for its embroidery, its jasmine tea, its silk, and its classical gardens. Nearby Yixing is famous for its teaware, and Yangzhou is famous for its
lacquerware and jadeware. Nanjing's yunjin is a famous form of woven silk, while Wuxi is famous
for its peaches.
Since ancient times, south Jiangsu has been famed for its prosperity and opulence, and simply inserting south Jiangsu place
names (Suzhou, Yangzhou, etc.) into
poetry gave an effect of dreaminess, as was indeed done by many famous poets. In particular, the fame of Suzhou (as well as Hangzhou in neighbouring Zhejiang province) has led to the popular saying:
上有天堂，下有蘇杭 (above there is heaven; below there is Suzhou and Hangzhou), a saying that continues to
be a source of pride for the people of these two still prosperous cities. Similarly, the prosperity of Yangzhou has led poets to dream of:
腰纏十萬貫，騎鶴下揚州 (with a hundred thousand strings of coins
wrapped around the waist, riding a crane down to Yangzhou).
Famous people
This is a list of famous people from Jiangsu in chronological order. Note that modern-day Jiangsu province dates from the
17th century, so most of the people in this list would not know what
"Jiangsu" is.
- King Helu of Wu (? -
496 BC), king of the state of
Wu
- Gan Jiang
- Mo Xie
- Xiang Yu (232 BC - 202 BC), warlord at the end of Qin
Dynasty
- Emperor Gao of Han (256 BC - 195 BC), first emperor of Han Dynasty
- Han Xin, Han Dynasty
general
- Xiao He, Han Dynasty
general
- Cao Shen, Han Dynasty general
- Zhang Zhao, Three
Kingdoms era strategist
- Lu
Xun, Three Kingdoms era strategist and general
- Ge Hong
- Tao Hongjing
- Gu Kaizhi (348 - 409), painter
- Lu Ji
- Lu Yun
- Emperor Wu of Song
(363 - 422), first emperor of Song Dynasty (420-479)
- Zhang Xu (? - ?), Tang Dynasty calligrapher
- Li Houzhu (937 - 978), last emperor of Later Tang Dynasty,
poet
- Fan Zhongyan (989 - 1052), Song Dynasty politician, poet
- Fan Chengda
- Gu Xiancheng
- Xu Xiake (1586 - 1641), travel writer
- Shen Zhou
- Wen Zhengming
- Dong Qichang
- Zhu Yunming
- Wu Cheng'en (? - 1582), author of
Journey to the West
- Gui Youguang
- Feng Menglong
- Zheng Banqiao (1693 - 1765), poet, painter, scholar
- Jin Shengtan (1608 - 1661), writer, critic
- Gu Yanwu
- Zhao Yi
- Liu E
- Xu Beihong (1895 - 1953), painter
- Mei Lanfang (1894 - 1961), Beijing opera actor
Tourism
Nanjing was the capital of several Chinese dynasties and contain a variety of
historic sites, such as Purple Mountain, Purple Mountain Observatory, Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum,
Ming Dynasty city wall and gates, Ming Xiao Ling, Lake Xuanwu, Jiming Temple, the Nanjing Massacre
Memorial, Nanjing Confucius Temple, Nanjing
Yangtze River Bridge, and Nanjing
Zoo with circus. Suzhou is renowned for its classical gardens (a World Heritage Site), Hanshan Temple, and Huqiu Hill. Yangzhou is known for Thin West Lake.
- Chaotian Palace
- Jiangxin Island
- Swallow Rock (Yanziji)
- Qixia Temple in Qixia Mountains
- Tombs of Southern Tang emperor
- Night Markets
- Gulin Park
Miscellaneous topics
- Jiangsu Administrative Regions
Professional sports teams in Jiangsu include:
Colleges and universities
External links
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