Speaking of Jiangnan Province, I believe many friends have not heard of it, because this province appeared in the early Qing Dynasty. In the early days of Qing rule, it had been gradually abolished. Jiangnan Province's total economic output once accounted for about one-third of the country's total, and its population was also very large. So, in the early period of Qing rule, why did the highest level split Jiangnan Province? Today, we will talk about the story of gangnam province being split. After Gangnam Province was abolished, a total of 5 parts were split, and we will talk about this issue carefully.
First, let's talk about the history of the formation of the provincial system. Before the Yuan Dynasty, The administrative division of our country has always been at the state and county levels, and the imperial court is directly responsible for the assessment of officials in various places. Of course, due to the large number of prefectures and counties in various places, the officials did not understand the actual situation of local officials. Therefore, many methods have emerged throughout the dynasties. The Han Dynasty divided the country into 13 states, such as Jingzhou and Xuzhou. The Tang Dynasty divided the country into 15 provinces, such as Jiannan Province, Jiangnan Province, and so on. The Song Dynasty divided the country into 23 roads, such as Guangnan East Road, Guangnan West Road, and so on.
However, these divisions are all supervision districts, not administrative divisions, and are responsible for supervising local officials within their jurisdiction, rather than directly interfering in the administrative affairs of each region. After the Yuan Dynasty unified the whole country, the territory was unprecedentedly vast. The original administrative divisions at the state and county levels can no longer meet the needs of administrative management. Under such circumstances, the Yuan Dynasty introduced the System of Xingzhongshu Provinces, dividing the country into 10 provinces, such as Henan Jiangbei Province, Gansu Province, Sichuan Province, and so on. However, the provinces were too large at the time, and the power of local officials was too great. By the end of the Yuan Dynasty's rule, there was a situation in which local officials were divided. After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, in view of the many problems of the Provincial System of the Yuan Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty carried out adjustments and reforms.
The Ming Dynasty divided the country into 13 provinces, namely Henan Province, Shandong Province, Zhejiang Province, Huguang Province, Guangdong Province, Guangxi Province, Fujian Province, Yunnan Province, Guizhou Province, Sichuan Province, Shanxi Province, Shaanxi Province, and Jiangxi Province. In addition, since the Ming Dynasty had two capitals, Nanjing and Beijing, two administrative districts were established, namely the Northern Zhili and the Southern Zhili, with a total of 15 provincial-level administrative divisions. Among them, since there was no political envoy department, the administrative affairs of the Southern Direct Subordinate Department were managed by the Six Ministries of Nanjing. For the Ming Dynasty, nanzhi was crucial.
Because the total economic volume of Nanzhili is equivalent to one-third of the whole country, to use an inappropriate analogy, it is equivalent to the total economic volume of Guangdong Province, Jiangsu Province and Shanghai Municipality. At that time, Suzhou and Songjiang provinces alone were responsible for one-tenth of the country's taxes. In the middle of the 17th century, the Ming Dynasty, facing a series of internal and external troubles, collapsed, and the Qing Dynasty, which rose in the northeast region, began to enter the customs on a large scale. In more than 10 years, the Qing Dynasty gradually eliminated the rebel armies and various regimes in the Southern Ming Dynasty, and established its rule over the various regions of the Central Plains. After the external threats were eliminated, the Qing Dynasty began to deal with various potential threats. Since the Qing Dynasty fixed the capital of Beijing, the northern zhili area was renamed zhili province, the status of Nanjing declined, and the southern zhili area was renamed Jiangnan Province.
The Qing Dynasty was not at ease with Jiangnan Province, Shaanxi Province, and Huguang Province. Especially in Jiangnan Province, Jiangnan Province has a developed economy and a large population, and once the feudal officials have the intention of not being subordinate, it is difficult for the imperial court to control. In order to stifle the threat in its cradle, the Qing Dynasty began to adjust the administrative divisions of Jiangnan Province. At that time, Nanzhili administered a total of 113 counties. The Qing Dynasty divided Jiangnan Province into Jiangsu Province and Anhui Province, with Jiangsu Province divided into 62 counties and Anhui Province divided into 51 counties. In addition, there is a small number of jurisdictions, which are divided among hubei provinces.
The situation in Jiangnan Province is not unique, in the early years of the reign of the Kangxi Emperor, the Qing Dynasty split Huguang Province into Hubei Province and Hunan Province, and Shaanxi Province into Shaanxi Province and Gansu Province. With the change of administrative divisions, the two capitals and thirteen provinces of Daming became eighteen inland provinces of the Qing Dynasty. At the end of the Qing Dynasty's rule, the Qing Dynasty established four provinces, including Heilongjiang Province, Jilin Province, and Fengtian Province, and by the time of the fall of the Qing Dynasty, a total of 22 provinces had been established in the country. After the division of Jiangnan Province, Jiangsu Province and Anhui Province were formed, and a very small part was divided into Hubei Province. In the later period of Qing rule, western powers launched a series of wars against the Qing Dynasty. The Qing Dynasty had to open its doors, and in this environment, the economy of the Shanghai area rose rapidly.
From 1860 to 1890, in 30 years, the land price in Shanghai increased by more than 400 times. It can be seen that Shanghai has gradually become a place where land is scarce. However, in terms of administrative divisions, the Shanghai area is still under the administration of Jiangsu Province. After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, China fell into a situation of warlord chaos, and the warlords of all walks of life were busy with the war and were unable to adjust the administrative divisions of various regions. In 1928, after the end of the Northern Expedition, the rule of the Beiyang warlord regime collapsed. The regime at that time, in view of the economic status of the Shanghai area, promoted the city of Shanghai to a special city. Special cities are similar to today's municipalities, but not exactly.
By the 1930s, parts of Huizhou in Anhui Province were incorporated into Jiangxi Province. Therefore, jiangnan province was divided into 5 different parts in total. Seriously speaking, there were already great problems in the establishment of Jiangnan Province, the predecessor of Jiangnan Province was Nanzhili, and Nanzhili was formed by relying on the special status of Nanjing. The area of Gangnam Province is too large, and it is not conducive to management. As the economy develops and the situation changes, adjustments will certainly be made. Finally, let's talk about the economic strength of Jiangsu Province. In the history of the Qing Dynasty and modern times, Jiangsu's economy has been a thriving one, with an overwhelming advantage over other provinces.
Now, Guangdong Province and Jiangsu Province are on a par with each other. According to the latest announced economic aggregates, in 2019, the total economic volume of Guangdong Province reached about 10.5 trillion yuan. The total economic volume of Jiangsu Province has reached 9.9 trillion yuan, which is obviously slightly higher in Guangdong Province. In fact, it was not until the 1980s that Guangdong's total economic output gradually surpassed that of Jiangsu Province, and before that, Jiangsu Province's total economic aggregate had always been the first in the country. There are many more stories about the adjustment of administrative divisions and economic development in various regions of Our country, and the author will slowly talk to you in future articles.