As we all know, today's provincial-level administrative divisions in China are 23 provinces, 5 autonomous regions, 4 municipalities directly under the central government and 2 special administrative regions, for a total of 34 provincial-level administrative divisions.
Of course, this is the result of more than 70 years of evolution. Before the founding of New China, China was actually 12 municipalities, 35 provinces and 1 place. At that time, 10 provinces have completely disappeared, such as Xikang Province, Rehe Province, Suiyuan Province, and so on. After liberation, in order to reduce unnecessary administrative divisions, it is convenient for management. China has carried out drastic reforms of administrative divisions, and after several evolutions, it has finally become what it is today.
In fact, administrative division reform is not only in modern times, but also in ancient times. However, the purpose is completely different, and contemporary administrative division reform is generally to facilitate management, achieve economic stimulation, achieve common prosperity and many other complex factors. But in ancient times, administrative division reform had only one purpose, that is, to strengthen the centralization of power.
The feudal era was a typical era when imperial power dominated everything, and everything had to be conceded for imperial power, even administrative divisions. Hundreds of years ago, China had such a "most powerful province in history". Because it was too powerful, the emperor was jealous and was forcibly split into two. So, which province is it?
This province is the famous Jiangnan Province, which covers the area of present-day Shanghai, Jiangsu, Anhui, and the northeastern part of Jiangxi. It has existed since the Yuan Dynasty established the provincial system. At the beginning of the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang set the capital of the country here.
Even after Ming Chengzu Zhu Di moved the capital to Beijing, Nanjing still maintained a division of southern direct subordination, essentially the same administrative power as Beijing. As a result, Jiangnan Province achieved unprecedented development during the Ming Dynasty.
Since the Qing army entered the customs, this privilege was abolished by the regent Dorgon. Nevertheless, Jiangnan Province was the largest province in the country in terms of economy and grain production. In the early Qing Dynasty, the state taxation provided one-third of jiangnan province, especially Taihu Lake, which was also known as the granary of the world.
Of course, this was not what the Qing rulers were most afraid of. The key lies in the emergence of talents in Jiangnan Province, from the restoration of the Imperial Examination in the Qing Dynasty to the Shunzhi Period, more than half of the number of people on the national Examination Examination list is from Jiangnan Province. Folk even have such a sentence :"The world's talents, half out of Jiangnan."
Such a province whose economy, culture and food completely hangs over other provinces can exist as an independent state. Most importantly, due to the abolition of the division of Nanzhi in Nanjing, the Qing emperors who were far away in Beijing could not personally administer the affairs of Jiangnan Province. As the saying goes, "the emperor is far away", where the centralization of power cannot be extended, it is bound to be prone to the risk of rebellion.
In order to strengthen the centralization of power and facilitate the administration of the emperor. Later, when Kangxi ascended to the throne, he ruthlessly divided Jiangnan into two identities: Jiangsu and Anhui. This division remained unchanged until the fall of the Qing Dynasty and is still in use today.
The people of Today's Anhui Province and Jiangsu Province would never have imagined that hundreds of years ago it would be a family. I have to say that Kangxi's measures did play an effective role that year. After Jiangnan Province was divided, Jiangsu in the eastern region developed rapidly because of its better geographical advantages. Because of its proximity to the inland, Anhui's development speed has also been greatly reduced.
Fortunately, although the economic development of the two provinces is different, the people are still as close as one family. Nowadays, the dialects of many areas in southern Anhui are basically interconnected with Jiangsu, and there is not much difference in culture and customs, and the people of the two provinces still feel very kind when they meet each other.
In fact, division or merger does not make much sense today. Everyone is Chinese, and working together to build a harmonious China is the last word.