Everything about Jiangsu totally explained
(;
Postal map spelling:
Kiangsu) is a
province of the
People's Republic of China, located along the east coast of the country. The name comes from
jiang, short for the city of Jiangning (now
Nanjing), and
su, for the city of
Suzhou. The abbreviation for this province is "" (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 one thousand
kilometers along the
Yellow Sea, and the
Yangtze River passes through its southern parts. Since the inception of economic reforms in 1978, Jiangsu has been a hot spot for economic development, and is now one of China's most prosperous provinces. The wealth divide between the rich southern regions and the north, however, remains a prominent issue in the province.
History
During the earliest Chinese dynasties, the area in what is now Jiangsu was far removed from the center of Chinese civilization, which was in the northwest
Henan; it was home of the
Huai Yi (淮夷), an ancient ethnic group. During the
Zhou Dynasty more contact was made, and eventually the
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 northern and central China at that 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 in the north in modern-day
Shandong province, and contest for the position of overlord over all 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, and established China as a unified nation in
221 BC.
Under the reign of the
Han Dynasty (
206 BC to
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 that 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 didn't become significant role until the invasion of northern nomads during the
Western Jin Dynasty, starting from the
fourth 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 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 to
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
Jurchen Jin 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 Jin, and the south, under the
Southern Song Dynasty. The Mongols took control of China in the
thirteenth 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 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 fifty meters above sea level. Jiangsu is also laced with a well-developed irrigation system, which 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 meters. 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 alongside south of 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 to 4
°C in January and 26 to 30°C in July. There are frequent rains between spring and summer (
meiyu),
typhoons with
rainstorms in late summer and early autumn. The annual average rainfall is 800 to 1200
mm, concentrated mostly in
summer when the southeast
monsoon carries rainwater into the province.
Major cities:
Administrative divisions
Jiangsu is divided into thirteen
prefecture-level divisions, all
prefecture-level cities:
Changzhou (常州市 Chángzhōu Shì)
Huai'an (淮安市 Huái'ān Shì)
Lianyungang (连云港市 Liányúngǎng Shì)
Nanjing (Simplified Chinese: 南京市, Hanyu Pinyin: Nánjīng Shì)
Nantong (南通市 Nántōng Shì)
Suqian (宿迁市 Sùqiān Shì)
Suzhou (苏州市 Sūzhōu Shì)
Taizhou (泰州市 Tàizhōu Shì)
Wuxi (无锡市 Wúxī Shì)
Xuzhou (徐州市 Xúzhōu Shì)
Yancheng (盐城市 Yánchéng Shì)
Yangzhou (扬州市 Yángzhōu Shì)
Zhenjiang (镇江市 Zhènjiāng Shì)
The thirteen 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 1488 township-level divisions (1078 towns, 122 townships, one ethnic township, and 287 subdistricts).
See List of administrative divisions of Jiangsu for a complete list of county-level divisions.
Politics
The politics of Jiangsu is structured in a dual party-government system like all other governing institutions in mainland China.
The Governor of Jiangsu is the highest ranking official in the People's Government of Jiangsu. However, in the province's dual party-government governing system, the Governor has less power than the Jiangsu Communist Party of China Provincial Committee Secretary, colloquially termed the "Jiangsu CPC Party Chief".
Economy
Jiangsu has an extensive irrigation system supporting its agriculture, which is based primarily on rice and wheat, followed by maize 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 products are non-metal minerals such as halite (rock salt), sulfur, phosphorus, and marble. The salt mines of Huaiyin have more than 0.4 trillion tonnes of deposits, one of the greatest collections of deposits in China.
Jiangsu is historically oriented towards light industries such as textiles and food industry. Since 1949, Jiangsu has also developed heavy industries such as chemical industry and construction materials. Jiangsu's important industries include machinery, electronic, chemicals, and automobile (External Link
). 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 PRC-Singapore cooperation and the only industrial park in China that's in its entirety the investment of one single foreign country.
Jiangsu is very wealthy among the provinces of China, with the second highest total GDP (after Guangdong Province). Its GDP per capita was 28,685 yuan in 2006, but geographical disparity is great, and southern cities like Suzhou and Wuxi have GDP per capita around twice the provincial average, making south Jiangsu one of the most prosperous regions in China.
In 2006, Jiangsu's nominal GDP was 2.15 trillion yuan (US$269.7 billion), making it the third largest GDP of all the provinces and an annual growth rate of 13.5%. Its per capita GDP was 28,685 yuan (US$3,598). In 2005, the share of GDP of Jiangsu's primary, secondary, and tertiary industries were 8.9%, 54.5%, and 36.6% respectively. The share of GDP by the public and private sector was 49.0% and 51.0% respectively.
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: 34.637 million; rural: 39.421 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
The province of Jiangsu was formed in the seventeenth century. Before then, the northern and southern parts of Jiangsu had less connection than that later. Traditionally, South Jiangsu is referred to as the three more prosperous southern cities including Suzhou, Wuxi and Changzhou. Their culture is more southern than the rest and is oftened referred to as the Wu. All the other parts of the province is dominated by the so-called "Jianghuai Culture", which means the culture in the area between the Yangtse River (Jiang) and Huaihe River (Huai), though not all of them lie within the district defined by the term. In history, the term North Jiangsu refers to the cities to the north of the Yangtze River. For cities of Nanjing and Zhenjiang, neither the two terms (North Jiangsu and South Jiangsu) refers to them, because though they're to the south of the River, culturally they're still of the Jianghuai Region. Since about 1998, there's a new classification used frequently by the government and defined by economic means. It groups all the cities to the south of the Yangtse River as South Jiangsu, the cities of Yangzhou, Nantong and Taizhou as Middle Jiangsu, and all the rest as North Jiangsu.
Though the terms of classification are very complex, by cultural means only the very north cities of Xuzhou and Lianyugang are culturally north Chinese. All the rest areas of the province are culturally south, though the three South Jiangsu cities are more purely southern while the culture in other cities is more a transitional mixture dominated by the southern.
Two main subdivisions of the Chinese language, Mandarin (not Putonghua, the national standard speech based on the Beijing dialect, also commonly called Mandarin) and Wu, are spoken in different parts of Jiangsu. Dialects of Mandarin are spoken over the traditional North Jiangsu, Nanjing and Zhenjiang, while Dialect of Wu is used in South Jiangsu. 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). In addition, Standard Chinese (Putonghua/Mandarin) is also spoken by most people.
Jiangsu is rich in cultural traditions. Kunqu, originating in Kunshan, is one of the most renowned and 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 silk, embroidery art, jasmine tea, stone bridges, pagodas, 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's heaven; below there's 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).
Notables
This is a list of famous people from Jiangsu in chronological order. Note that modern-day Jiangsu Province dates from the seventeenth century, so most of the people in this list wouldn't recognise it.
King Helu of Wu (died 496 BC), king of the state of Wu.
Gan Jiang
Mo Xie
Xiang Yu (232 202 BC), warlord at the end of Qin Dynasty.
Emperor Gao of Han (256 195 BC), first emperor of Han Dynasty.
The Han Dynasty generals Han Xin, Xiao He and Cao Shen.
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 the 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.
Shen Kuo (1031 1095), Song Dynasty scientist, general, and statesman
Fan Chengda
Gu Xiancheng
Xu Xiake (1586 1641), travel writer.
Shen Zhou
Wen Zhengming
Tang Bohu (1470 - 1524), artist
Dong Qichang
Zhu Yunming
Wu Cheng'en (died 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
Hsing Yun (born 1927), Buddhist monk.
Xu Beihong (1895 1953), painter.
Mei Lanfang (1894 1961), Beijing opera actor.
Liu Tianhua (1895 1932), musician and composer.
Zhou Enlai (1898 1976), former Premier of the People's Republic of China.
Zhou Xuan Chinese singer and actress
Jiang Zemin (born 1926), former President of the People's Republic of China
Hu Jintao (born 1942), current President of the People's Republic of China
Hau Pei-tsun, Retired general of the ROC Army, former Premier of the Republic of China
Tourism
Nanjing was the capital of several Chinese dynasties and contains a variety of historic sites, such as the Purple Mountain, Purple Mountain Observatory, the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, Ming Dynasty city wall and gates, Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum (The mausoleum of the first Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang), Lake Xuanwu, Jiming Temple, the Nanjing Massacre Memorial, Nanjing Confucius Temple, Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, and the Nanjing Zoo, with circus. Suzhou is renowned for its classical gardens (designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site), as well as Hanshan Temple, and Huqiu Tower. Nearby is the water-town of Zhouzhuang, an international tourist destination where Venice alike waterways, bridges and dwellings have been preserved over centuries. Yangzhou is known for Thin West Lake. Wuxi is known for being the home of the world's tallest buddha statue. In the north, Xuzhou is designated as one of China's "eminent historical cities".
Lion Garden in Suzhou
Grand Buddha at Ling Shan, Wuxi
Chaotian Palace
Gulin Park
Jiangxin Island
Night Markets
Qixia Temple in Qixia Mountains
Swallow Rock in Yanziji
Tianning Temple Pagoda
Tombs of Southern Tang Emperor
Miscellaneous topics
Sports
Professional sports teams in Jiangsu include:
Chinese Football Association Jia League
Chinese Basketball Association
Colleges and universities
Nanjing
Nanjing University (南京大学)
Southeast University (东南大学)
Hohai University (河海大学)
Nanjing Aeronautics and Astronautics University (南京航空航天大学)
Nanjing University of Finance & Economics (南京财经大学)
Nanjing Agricultural University (南京农业大学)
Nanjing Forestry University (南京林业大学)
Nanjing Medical University (南京医科大学)
Nanjing Normal University (南京师范大学)
Nanjing University of Science and Technology (南京理工大学)
Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (南京信息工程大学)
Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications (南京邮电大学)
Nanjing University of Technology (南京工业大学)
Nanjing Institute of Technology (南京工程学院)
Suzhou University (苏州大学)
Suzhou Medical College (苏州医学院)
Xuzhou
Xuzhou Normal University (徐州师范大学)
Xuzhou Medical College (徐州医学院)
Yangzhou
Yangzhou University (扬州大学)
Zhenjiang
Jiangsu University (江苏大学)
Wuxi
Jiangnan University (江南大学)Further Information
Get more info on 'Jiangsu'.
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