In the previous article, the author talked to you about the administrative division adjustment of many provinces, such as Henan Province, Hubei Province, Shandong Province and so on. Today, we talk about Jiangsu Province, which is an economically strong province in China, and its total economic output is second only to Guangdong Province. In 2018, the total economic volume of Jiangsu Province reached 9.2 trillion yuan. In the long river of history, Jiangsu Province was once divided into 4 parts, of which 68 counties were divided into the Northern Jiangsu Bureau District and the Southern Jiangsu Branch Office District. So, why is there such a large-scale regional adjustment in Jiangsu Province? Today, china talks about the story of the two major administrations in northern Jiangsu and southern Jiangsu in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
First, let's talk about the historical development of Jiangsu Province. Jiangsu Province is one of the strongest economic provinces in China, and in 2018, the total economic volume of Jiangsu Province was second only to Guangdong Province, reaching 9.2 trillion yuan. Guangdong Province is 9.7 trillion yuan, and among the provinces in China, only these two provinces have a total economic volume of more than 9 trillion yuan. Jiangsu Province has a very long history, in ancient history, China's economic center was originally in the north, specifically, in Shaanxi, Henan and other places. Since the period of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, due to the continuous war, the economic center of our country has begun to migrate to the south, of which the main one is the southeast.
By the time of the Tang Dynasty, the total economic output of the south was basically the same as that of the north. During the reign of the Song Dynasty, the economy of the south had clearly surpassed that of the north. At high-level meetings of the Song Dynasty, Song officials bluntly said that "the wealth of the country depends on the southeast." "After the Yuan Dynasty unified the whole country, it established a vast empire. However, due to the large size of the territory, the original administrative divisions at the two levels of prefectures and counties can no longer meet the needs of administrative management. The Yuan Dynasty introduced the System of Xingzhongshu Provinces, dividing the country into 10 provinces, such as Gansu Province, Huguang Province, and so on. At that time, the Jianghuai region belonged to the Province of Jiangbei in Henan, and the region in Jiangnan belonged to the Province of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. The provincial system established by the Yuan Dynasty was still in the initial stage, and there were problems in all aspects. At the end of the Yuan dynasty's rule, local officials began to divide the territory by force.
After the unification of the Ming Dynasty, the provincial system of the Yuan Dynasty was followed, but comprehensive reforms were carried out. Since the Ming Dynasty had two capitals, Nanjing and Beijing, it naturally left two regions, the Southern Zhili and the Northern Zhili. In addition, 13 provinces have been divided. Please note that although the territory of the Ming Dynasty was not the largest, the administrative divisions of many provinces in China were established during the Ming Dynasty. For example, the divisions of Shandong Province, Zhejiang Province and other provinces are very small from the current ones. At that time, the northern direct subordinate included the present-day Hebei Province and the Beijing-Tianjin region, and the southern direct subordinate included the present-day Jiangsu Province, Anhui Province and Shanghai Municipality. In the mid-17th century, the Ming Dynasty fell, and the Qing Dynasty in the northeast began to move south, and gradually established its rule over the whole country.
With the consolidation of its rule, the Qing dynasty began to deal with various potential threats. After the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, because the capital had been determined in Beijing, the status of Nanjing declined, and the southern direct subordinate was changed to Jiangnan Province. However, Jiangnan Province is too dangerous, Jiangnan Province has a large population, a large area, and an economy that accounts for half of the country. Among them, the taxes of Suzhou And Songjiang provinces alone account for one-tenth of the country. To address the potential threat, during the reign of the Kangxi Emperor, the Qing split Jiangnan Province into Jiangsu Province and Anhui Province. Among them, the capital of Anhui Province is Anqing Province, Jiangsu Province has two provincial capitals, the Governor of Liangjiang is in Nanjing, and the Governor of Jiangsu is in Suzhou.
After Jiangnan Province was split, Jiangsu Province was composed of Northern Jiangsu, Central Jiangsu and Southern Jiangsu. Among them, the northern Jiangsu region is close to Henan or Shandong in terms of accent, food, culture and other aspects. The central Jianghuai region belongs to the Jianghuai culture, represented by Yangzhou, Taizhou and other places. As for the southern Jiangsu region, it is the area south of the Yangtze River. It belongs to the economic center of Jiangsu Province and has a very developed economy. At the end of the Qing Dynasty' rule, a Jianghuai Province once appeared, which governed northern Jiangsu and suzhong. Jianghuai Province has Huai'an Province as its capital, but this province lasted only more than 3 months. In 1912, the Qing Dynasty, which had ruled for more than 200 years, collapsed.
China has entered the era of warlord scuffles, and due to the serious scuffles between warlords of all walks of life, naturally no warlords have taken into account the problem of administrative divisions. This series of problems remained unresolved and continued until the end of the 1940s. By the end of the 1940s, many parts of the country had been liberated, including northern Jiangsu. However, the southern Jiangsu region has not yet been liberated, and the northern Jiangsu region must be effectively managed. Under such circumstances, 7 counties, including Xuzhou in northern Jiangsu, were temporarily placed under the administration of Shandong Province. At the same time, the Northern Jiangsu Administration District was established. The northern Jiangsu branch includes five special districts of Nantong, Yangzhou, Taizhou, Yancheng and Huaiyin, and the special office is located in Taizhou, with a total of 41 counties under its jurisdiction.
The administrative division belongs to the administrative division in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, and the administrative district is equivalent to the province. As the situation changed, most of Jiangnan was liberated one after another. In April 1949, the Southern Jiangsu Branch District was established. The Southern Jiangsu Branch Office district manages 4 special districts such as Zhenjiang, Wujin, Suzhou and Songjiang, and the office is stationed in Wuxi, with a total of 27 counties under its jurisdiction. In addition, in the need to manage large cities, Nanjing was temporarily promoted to a municipality directly under the central government. In other words, Jiangsu Province is split into 4 parts.
This is a temporary zoning in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, and after entering the 1950s, the situation in various parts of our country has gradually stabilized. The regions have entered the stage of economic development and post-war recovery, in which Jiangsu Province was divided into 4 parts, which is very unfavorable to economic development, after all, Jiangsu Province belongs to the national economic strong province. In December 1952, in order to develop the economy of Jiangsu Province, the two administrative districts of northern Jiangsu and southern Jiangsu were abolished. At the same time, the city of Nanjing was revoked as a municipality directly under the central government, and the three regions were reorganized into Jiangsu Province, and Nanjing remained the capital city. In January 1953, the Xuzhou area, which was originally assigned to Shandong Province, was transferred to Jiangsu Province. At this point, the administrative division of Jiangsu Province has been fully established.
Throughout the 1950s, a series of regional adjustments occurred between Jiangsu Province and the surrounding provinces of Anhui and Shanghai. In 1955, in the need to control Hongze Lake, Anhui Province divided its Sihong County and Xuyi County into Jiangsu Province. In order to compensate Anhui Province, Zhongshan County and Xiao County in the northwest of Jiangsu Province were included in Anhui Province. In 1958, for the economic development of Shanghai, a total of 10 counties in Songjiang Special District and Nantong Special District of Jiangsu Province were successively divided into Shanghai Municipality, thus forming the current administrative divisions of Shanghai Municipality and Jiangsu Province. There are many more stories about the adjustment of administrative divisions in various regions of our country, and the author will slowly talk to you in future articles.