Many geographical regions of China can be abbreviated by a single word, such as the area around southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang can be called "Wu", the area around Beijing can be called "You" or "Yan", and Sichuan can be called "Shu". This phenomenon occurs because the original place names in China were usually single-character place names, although they gradually evolved into two-character place names (for example: "Xuzhou" originally belonged to "Xu" and "Zhou" was a common name for the establishment; but later became "Xuzhou City", "Xuzhou" became a two-character place name, and "city" became a common name), but the habit of using a single word ancient name to refer to the region still remains in Chinese.
So, if you call the Lingnan region, which word to use to call it? There is no controversy, that is, "Guangdong", now "Guangdong" and "Guangxi" two provincial names with the word "Guang", Lingnan's first metropolis name is "Guangzhou", but in history, the earliest name of this region is another word: Jiao!
Eastern Han Jiaozhou Thorn History Department
At present, the word is no longer used as a local title, but this is actually caused by the political reasons of later generations. But in ancient times, it was customary to use the word to denote a certain region. In some ancient texts that Chinese middle school students learn now, we can see these phenomena.
"300 miscellaneous colors, Salmon Zhen of Jiaoguang City" - "Peacock Flying Southeast"
Among them, Jiaotong and Guangdong are both symmetrical, and seem to describe the same place, so why does Lingnan appear this special phenomenon of "one place and two names", and which is the "orthodox" common name of "Jiaotong" and "Guangdong"?
Historically, "jiao" appeared hundreds of years earlier than "guang".
The Lingnan area was not originally controlled by the Central Plains ethnic groups, but inhabited by indigenous tribes, which the Central Plains Han people called "Baiyue", of which "Yue" and "Yue" were also known as "Yue", which is the origin of the abbreviation of Guangdong Province. After the Qin Dynasty established the first great unified dynasty in Chinese history, the Southern Expedition and the Northern War opened up the territory and conquered the land of Baiyue, and set up three counties: Nanhai, Guilin, and Xiang. This is the first time that the Lingnan region has been included in the territory.
At this time, neither the titles of "Jiao" nor "Guang" appeared.
After the great chaos in the world at the end of the Qin Dynasty and the beginning of the Han Dynasty, the local official Zhao Tuo of Lingnan took the opportunity to establish himself as king and established the "State of South Vietnam", and the State of South Vietnam continued its southern expedition, extending its territory to the Red River Plain area that belongs to northern Vietnam today, and after defeating the local chief An Duong, Zhao Tuo set up two new establishments: Jiaotong County and Jiuzhen County!
"Ling Er envoy to the lord of the two counties, jiuzhen two counties" - "Three Notes on history"
Since then, the place name "Jiao" has appeared, and "Jiao" is actually the abbreviation of "Jiaotong". So what does "cross toes" mean? In fact, if you talk about the word "crossed toe", it appears much earlier than as a place name. As early as the Warring States period of the work "Mozi" has the sentence "The ancient Yao ruled the world, the south touched the toes, the north descended to the capital, the day of the east and the west, and the guests were not clothed", and the "Ritual And Royal System" also said: The south is barbaric, and the carving is crossed toe.
For the Central Plains people, the indigenous peoples throughout the south were "barbarians" at the beginning.
Later scholars have also misunderstood the original meaning of the word "cross-toe", and Du You of the Tang Dynasty believes that this is because the people of the Red River Plain at that time were "open toe and intersected", which was obviously not right, and the feet of the locals were not so strange. In fact, "cross-toe" was originally described by the ancient Han people as a description of the living habits of the Yue tribes distributed in the southern part of the Xiangyue area, and the "carving topic" in "carved toe" is tattooed on the forehead. As for "crossed toes", the understanding of successive commentators is also the same: when lying on their sides, the thighs are bent back, and the feet are crossed behind them.
"Cross toe" was originally a word used by the ancient northern Central Plains people to describe the national customs of the "southern barbarians" in ancient texts. Even if the Central Plains people used "Jiaotong" to describe the place, at first it also referred to the entire Central Plains since the central plains, but after Zhao Tuo set up "Jiaotong County", it became an official organizational name.
The state of Nanyue lasted until the time of Emperor Wu of Han before it was destroyed by the Han Dynasty, and after Emperor Wu of Han destroyed the state of Nanyue, he continued to march south to central Vietnam, in addition to sending a water army to control Hainan Island and reorganize the lingnan system, divided into nine counties: Nanhai, Cangwu, Yulin, Hepu, Jiaojiao, Jiuzhen, Nichinan, Zhuya, and Dan'er.
Among them, the three counties of "Zhuya and Dan'er" were in the current Hainan Island, the three counties of "Jiaozhi, Jiuzhen and Nichinan" were located in the north of present-day Vietnam, and the four counties of "Nanhai, Cangwu, Yulin and Hepu" were located in Liangguang.
At the same time, the place name "Guang" also officially appeared, "Guang" actually came from the holy will of Emperor Wu of Han, who gave instructions on how to control his homeland after the destruction of the State of South Vietnam: when guangdong land was first opened, it was advisable to guangdong Bu'enxin. It means that it is hoped that local officials will control the land with a soft policy. At that time, in addition to the counties, Emperor Wu of han also set up a higher-level supervision area, that is, the "Thorn History Department", in addition to the seven counties of Sanfu, Sanhe and Hongnong near the Beijing Division, divided the country's more than 100 counties into Yuzhou, Yanzhou, Qingzhou, Xuzhou, Jizhou, Youzhou, Hezhou, Liangzhou, Yizhou, Jingzhou, Yangzhou and Jiaotong, Shuofang Thirteen Thorn History Department.
At that time, the Lingnan area belonged to the "Jiaotong Thorn History Department", and at the same time, after receiving the will of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty "Guangbu EnXin", the local officials named the location of the Thorn History Department "Guangxin County" (Cangwu County, the confluence of water and Yushui, in present-day Wuzhou, Guangxi or Fengkai, Guangdong).
Do you have a question: the History Department of the Cross-toed Thorn, the ruling center in Cangwu County, Guangxin, the first county should be Cangwu County, that should be called "Cangwu Thorn History Department" is more appropriate, how can it be called "Cross Toe Thorn History Department"?
This is actually a "historical legacy problem", because when the Jiaozhi Thorn History Department was first established, the location of the Thorn History Department was not in Guangxin County, Cangwu County, but temporarily established in Jiaozhi County, Yinglou County (northwest of present-day Hanoi, Vietnam). During the Western Han Dynasty, the history of thorns was not frequent, and there was no fixed place of governance, except for Jiaotong, and later moved to Guangxin.
"Jiaozhou Zhi Win Lou County, Yuan Feng 5 years (106 BC) moved to rule Cangwu Guangxin County" - Western Jin Dynasty Wang Fan "Jiaoguang Spring and Autumn"
Then another question arises: Jiaozhi County is in present-day Vietnam, why did the Han Dynasty initially put the Ministry of Thorn History in Vietnam? Could it be that the center of gravity of the entire Lingnan land at that time was on the edge of Vietnam? The core of this area should be in the Pearl River Delta.
This is the crux of the matter, perhaps in everyone's impression, the most remote places tend to be the most backward in economy, but this is not the case for the Lingnan region, the Hanshu • Geographical Chronicle records the population of each county, the population of the seven counties of the Toe Thorn Shibu (zhuya and Dan'er counties on Hainan Island after being abandoned due to frequent local indigenous rebellions) is as follows:
Population of each county in the History Department of cross-toed thorns
As can be seen from the above table, Jiaotong County has a large population, and with the addition of Jiuzhen and Nichinan Counties, the population of the three counties located in the Vietnamese belt now accounts for more than half of the total population!
In the feudal era, the population can basically reflect the degree of prosperity, why is the toe so prosperous? This is related to its superior geographical environment, the Red River Plain is located in the tropics, very suitable for agricultural development. In addition to the Red River Plain, another economic center in the Lingnan region is the Pearl River Delta centered on today's Guangzhou, which is also the core area of the old South Vietnamese state, but its strength is far inferior to that of The Crossing.
The population density of the Han Dynasty, Jiaotong was the most densely populated area in the south
The History department of the Toe Thorn Is a monitoring area at the farthest edge of the Western Han Dynasty, and the Book of Han and Geography of Yan Shigu notes: "The Han Dynasty established the land of South Vietnam, placed the history of the toe thorn, different from the states, so that the history of the toe thorn held the rule of Cangwu." What does this mean? That is to say, the history of the thorns of the toe is different from the history of thorns of other states (the common name of the History of Thorns), which is permanently stationed in Cangwu (Guangxin) and has the meaning of a certain administrative region, which is to strengthen the need to strengthen the rule of Lingnan.
However, since the most economically developed place in the History Department of the Thorn Toe is the Cross Toe, followed by the Pearl River Delta, why does the location of the Thorn History Department not choose the Toe Area, nor the Pearl River Delta, but will migrate to Guangxin County in Cangwu? This is entirely a political imperative: Guangxin is an important transportation hub in Lingnan, a liaison center between Lingnan and the Central Plains, and its "residence in the hundreds of Guangdong and five mountains, even the victory of the nine ridges and seven zezes." It is bordered by Huxiang in the north, and is the state of lips and teeth, and it passes through Panyu under it, and has the potential of throat. ", located in the heart of the Lingnan region. However, during the Yonghe period (136-141 AD), due to the frequent unrest in the three southern counties of Jiaozhi, the seat of government was once moved to Longbian County (present-day East Hanoi, Vietnam).
The population changes in the counties of the Two Han Mountains recorded in the "Hanshu Geographical Chronicle" and the "Later Hanshu County", which show that the population of Cangwu County grew the fastest, which has a lot to do with its status as a political center.
Among the thirteen thorn history departments set up by the Western Han Dynasty, Jiaotong and Shuofang also have a special place that they are not called states, which is because they are "not the domain of the Nine Prefectures of "Yugong" and not the limits of the "Zhou Li" office", so they are not called states, and the southernmost and northernmost thorn history departments of the two Han Empires are only called "Jiaotong" and "Shuofang", and at this time, "Jiaotong" can generally not be referred to as "Jiao".
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Thorn History Department was changed to a prefecture, and in the eighth year of Jian'an (203 AD), the Jiaotong Thorn History Department was changed to a prefecture, and at this time, "Jiao" was the common name for the entire Lingnan region. However, after that, an extremely far-reaching event occurred in the Lingnan region: the division of communication and Guangzhou!
As we all know, during the Eastern Han Dynasty, the warlords fought each other and then evolved into a situation of three kingdoms, so which side does "Jiaozhou" belong to? Jiaozhou is very special, let's think about the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", twelve of the thirteen states of the Eastern Han Dynasty have appeared, but can you think of the plot about "Jiaozhou"? I can't imagine it, because Jiaozhou is a paradise-like existence in this chaotic world, and this has to be said to be a person: Shi Xie.
Shi Xie, born in Guangxin, Jiaozhou at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, was the son of an official eunuch, and his father Shi Shi had served as the Taishou of Nichinan during the reign of Emperor Huan of Han. In 187 AD, Shi Xie was appointed by the Han Dynasty as the Taishou of Jiaotong. During the chaos of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Shi Xie also became a warlord who divided Lingnan, and shi clan relatives mostly held important positions in Jiaozhou, such as Shi Xie's three younger brothers Shi Yi, Shi Yi, and Shi Wu, who served as Hepu Taishou, Jiuzhen Taishou and Nanhai Taishou respectively. Jiaozhou was far away from the Central Plains and was basically unaffected by the war, and Shi Xie was "a generous and modest corporal", so that "the number of Chinese (referring to the Central Plains) scholars has taken refuge in the hundreds".
From The fortune of Shi Xie, it can also be seen that the strength of Jiaotong is strong, Shi Xie is a Cangwu person, but the foundation of his power is in Jiaotong, which sweeps Through Jiaozhou with a county. In the eighth year of Jian'an (203 AD), because "Zhang Jin is the history of thorns, Shi Xie is the taishou of Jiaotong, and the common table is established as a state, and Baijin is the pastor of Jiaozhou", the History department of Jiaotong Thorns was originally called Jiaozhou.
Note: From Zhao Tuo to Shi Xie, it can be seen that Lingnan was very suitable for partition at that time
Under the governance of Shi Xie, Jiaozhou was relatively stable, but who did Jiaozhou belong to? Nominally it was a territory of Eastern Wu, and in the fifteenth year of Jian'an (210), Sun Quan sent Buqi to jiaozhou to assassinate shi. However, Shi Xie was still the Emperor of Jiaotong, and together with his brothers, he submitted to Sun Quan, took his son to Eastern Wu as a hostage, and donated local treasures every year to maintain his power. Until the fifth year of Sun Wu Huangwu (226), Shi Xie remained in the county for more than forty years and died at the age of ninety.
For Sun Quan, Shi Xie's death was undoubtedly good news, which meant that he could control Jiaozhou more firmly, and in order to weaken the shi family's influence in Jiaozhou, Sun Quan decided to divide Jiaozhou in two:
"Quan hangs far away from the toe, north of Hepu is Guangzhou, and Lü Dai is the history of thorns; south of the crosses is Jiaozhou, and Dai Liang is the history of thorns." - Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Divide and conquer
Of course, the remnants of the Shi family resisted fiercely, and Shi Hui, the son of Shi Xie, signed himself to cross the toe and was too defensive, and sent troops to refuse, but was expelled.
According to Sun Quan's division, Guangzhou administered the four counties of Nanhai, Cangwu, Yulin, and Hepu, which were basically the two cantons of the present, while Jiaozhou had jurisdiction over the three counties of Jiaojiao, Jiuzhen, and Ninan, which were basically the current Vietnam.
Although Sun Quan's purpose is to divide powers, this division is actually very reasonable, and you can see the following figure.
This map marks the area that has been developed at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and everyone can obviously find that there is a fault in the middle of the Jiaozhou area, most of the Guangdong area has been developed, and the Vietnamese region has also been developed, but the Guangxi in the middle is still wasteland. Therefore, Jiaozhou actually has two centers of gravity, and now its division is also in line with the geographical rules.
Therefore, there was an "irreversible" phenomenon in the history that followed, originally because the power of the shijia family was eradicated, Sun Quan believed that there was no need to divide Guangzhou again, so the partition plan was cancelled (so the partition plan was abolished (so guangzhou was removed, and Jiaozhou was restored as before - "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"), and Jiaozhou was divided and merged.
But 30 years later, Jiaotong and Guangzhou were divided again.
In May of the sixth year of Yong'an (263), rebellion broke out again in the three counties of Jiaojiao, Jiuzhen, and Ninan, and Lü Xing, an official of Jiaotong County, killed Taishou and rebelled, and sent envoys to Wei to request annexation. The State of Wei, which had just destroyed Shu, quickly responded, and the State of Wu quickly quelled the rebellion, and Eastern Wu once again made the decision to "re-divide the prefectures and place Guangzhou" in order to cut off the ties between the rebellious counties of Jiaolan, Jiuzhen, and Ninan and Hepu and hepu, and prevent the rebellion from spreading and being unmanageable. Although Wu briefly regained Jiaozhou, the Jin eventually destroyed Eastern Wu (280), and the situation of the coexistence of Jiaozhou and Guangzhou was fixed.
During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Jiaotong successfully gained independence from the Southern Han Dynasty
Since then, "Guang" has become the common name of the two Guangdong areas, while "Jiao" refers only to the place of crossed toes.
However, after the separation of Jiaozhou and Guangzhou, they went to different development paths, and the connection between Guangzhou and the interior became closer and closer; but jiaozhou gradually appeared separatist tendencies due to its remote location, and because of the lack of Guangzhou's moderation, the separation of Jiaozhou intensified. By the time of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, Jiaozhou had separated after defeating the Southern Han Dynasty, forming today's Vietnam.
However, Jiaozhou was ruled by China for 1000 years, and by the time the Tang Dynasty had been completely Sinicized, the locals basically considered themselves to be Han Chinese, belonging to the same ethnic group as the Han people, and there was no "Yue" saying that they were self-reliant in the chaotic era of the late Tang Dynasty, but did not deny that they were "Chinese regimes", and they considered themselves to belong to the internal separatist regimes of China rather than foreign countries. Then, in the later period, because the Song and Yuan dynasties did not fight and did not conquer Vietnam, and Vietnam itself did not have the strength to unify China, this gradually formed a situation of "Han-Vietnam separation".
As a result, the habit of using the word "Jiao" to refer to this place has remained for a long time, and some ethnic minorities in Vietnam are still accustomed to calling the Main ethnic group in Vietnam, the Kyo ethnic group, "Keo".
Author: Yun Fan