There are two other provinces in China. Although they are rarely put together, they are more similar in history, culture and geography than the three northeastern provinces and Yunnan-Guizhou-Sichuan. These two provinces are neighboring provinces in the south, namely Jiangsu Province and Anhui Province.
Speaking of Jiangsu and Anhui provinces, the origin is quite deep. From the Ming Dynasty, these two provinces belonged to Nanzhili, and the Qing Dynasty was also jiangnan province. In the 18th year of Shunzhi (A.D. 166 1), the Qing government divided jiangnan province into two parts, namely Jiangsu Province and Anhui Province.
Photo: Map of jiangnan province in Qing Dynasty
Let's see how similar Jiangsu and Anhui provinces are.
First of all, the two provinces span north and south, across the Yangtze River and Huaihe River basins, and their geographical units are divided into three parts: northern Jiangsu (northern Anhui), central Jiangsu (central Anhui) and southern Jiangsu (southern Anhui), or divided into northern Jiangsu (northern Anhui) and southern Jiangsu (southern Anhui) by the Yangtze River.
Secondly, from a cultural point of view, southern Jiangsu is similar to southern Anhui and belongs to Wu-Yue culture. Central Jiangsu is similar to central Anhui and belongs to Jianghuai culture. Northern Jiangsu is similar to northern Anhui and belongs to the Central Plains culture.
Furthermore, from south to north, the diets, dialects and customs of the two provinces are also close to their respective geographical units. For example, in terms of dialects, southern Jiangsu and southern Anhui are Wu dialect areas (southern Anhui speaks Hui dialect), central Jiangsu and central Anhui speak Jianghuai Mandarin, and northern Jiangsu and northern Anhui speak Central Plains Mandarin.
Figure: Geographical division of Jiangsu and Anhui.
Finally, the names of the two provinces are the same. At that time, jiangnan province was divided into two parts, with Jiangning and Suzhou as initials and Anhui as initials. In addition, the economic development level of the two provinces is also stepped from south to north.
In other words, if we cut jiangnan province horizontally instead of vertically, Jiangsu and Anhui could have cut out three provinces with similar culture, language and geography.
There are many similarities between Jiangsu Province and Anhui Province. Geographically speaking, Jiangsu Province and Anhui Province are almost at the same latitude. So why do many people think that Anhui is like Jiangsu in the north and like the south? You know, in terms of latitude, the northernmost part of Jiangsu is more northern than Anhui, and the southernmost part of Anhui is more southern than Jiangsu.
Photo: Anhui is farther south than Jiangsu as a whole.
Actually, there are many reasons for this illusion.
The first is economic reasons. Although Anhui and Jiangsu are the same, the level of economic development in the province gradually decreases from south to north. If compared horizontally, the gap between southern Anhui and southern Jiangsu is still very large. The worst northern Jiangsu in Jiangsu is not weaker than the richest southern Anhui in Anhui.
This leads people to think of southern Jiangsu with higher economic development, such as Suzhou, Wuxi and Changzhou, but Anhui may not remember it, because although southern Anhui is better than central Anhui and northern Anhui on average, both population and economic volume are too small and insignificant. Hefei, a famous city, is located in the north of the Yangtze River and belongs to the north of Anhui in a broad sense.
Figure: Map of Anhui Province
Secondly, although Anhui has now joined the Yangtze River Delta, collectively known as Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai and Anhui, the name Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai is more deeply rooted in people's hearts. No one in Zhejiang and Shanghai thought it would be the north, but Jiangsu, which is crowded together, will be ignored even if half of the provinces belong to the north.
In addition, people in China all have Jiangnan plot, and the narrow sense of Jiangnan refers to southern Jiangsu, Shanghai and northern Zhejiang. When it comes to Jiangnan, people will naturally think of the Jiangnan of Wu Nong's soft language. Although parts of southern Anhui also belong to the south of the Yangtze River, due to the division of provinces, it is not clear to everyone.
Finally, China's official north-south division is based on the Qinling Mountains and Huaihe River, and both northern Jiangsu and northern Anhui belong to the north, but there are great differences between the two provinces. Northern Jiangsu accounts for a low proportion of Jiangsu's total population, and most of Jiangsu's population is concentrated in southern Jiangsu and along the Yangtze River, which is also the most developed area in Jiangsu.
Figure: Map of economic development in the Yangtze River Delta
In Anhui, the population is mainly concentrated in the north and along the Huaihe River, which happens to be an underdeveloped area. Let's look at the most populous cities in the two provinces. Suzhou, the most populous city in Jiangsu Province, is located in the south of Jiangsu with a population of about10.75 million. Fuyang, the most populous city in Anhui Province, is located in the north of Anhui Province, with a population of about10.77 million.
Suzhou is the richest city in Jiangsu, and Fuyang is the poorest city in Anhui, with one south and one north, one strong and one weak, one rich and one poor. In contrast, people will intuitively think that poor Fuyang in the north represents Anhui and rich Suzhou in the south represents Jiangsu.
Similarly, the southern dialect is spoken in the most populous place in Jiangsu, and the northern dialect is spoken in the most populous place in Anhui, which undoubtedly aggravates this intuitive feeling.
Figure: Anhui dialect distribution map
Why is Jiangsu farther north than Anhui? On the contrary, in the impression of many people, is Anhui the north or the south? To sum up, Jiangsu's economic center of gravity, population and culture are all in the south; However, where the economy in southern Anhui is good, the population is too small and the weight is not enough, and the northern region where the population is concentrated is too poor, giving people the impression that there is no center.