Jiangnan Province

Jiangnan, formerly romanized as Kiangnan, was a historical province of the early Qing dynasty of China. Its capital was Jiangning (now Nanjing), from which it is sometimes known as Nanjing or Nanking Province. Established in 1645 during the Qing conquest of Ming,^[2] it administered the area of the earlier Ming province of Nanzhili,^[3] reaching from north of the Huai River—at the time the course of the Yellow River—to south of the Yangtze River in East China.^[1] Its territory was later divided into the separate provinces of Jiangsu and Anhui^[3] during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (1736–1795),^[4] although the exact timing is disputed,^[4] with Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville's map of 1734 showing the province still extant as "Kiang-nan". The earliest that the province's partition could have happened was 1667.^[5] Under the Republic and People's Republic of China, an area of Jiangsu also became the provincial-level municipality of Shanghai.

Jiangnan Province
Nanking sive Kiangnan ("Nanjing or Jiangnan"), the 9th provincial map of the Chinese Empire in Martino Martini and Joan Blaeu's 1655 Novus Atlas Sinensis ("New Chinese Atlas").
Jiangnan Province
Chinese	江南省
Literal meaning	Province South of the [Yangtze] River[1]
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Jiāngnán shěng Wade–Giles Chiang-nan Sheng
Nanjing Province
Chinese	南京省
Literal meaning	Province of the [Former] Southern Capital
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Nánjīng shěng Wade–Giles Nan-ching Sheng

Administrative divisions

According to the "General History of Jiangnan" (江南通志, Jiangnan Tongzhi) in the Complete Library of the Four Treasuries,^[6] Jiangnan Province consisted of 16 full prefectures (fu) and 8 independent subprefectures or autonomous counties (zhou). After 1661, its provincial governor was assisted by lieutenant governors who each oversaw half of the prefectures. The "Right" administration (右布政使) was based in Suzhou and oversaw Suzhou, Songjiang, Changzhou, Zhenjiang, and Ningguo Prefectures. The "Left" administration (左布政使) was based in Jiangning (now Nanjing) and oversaw the rest. After a series of changes, this division eventually became the basis for the separate provinces of Jiangsu and Anhui at some point under the Qianlong Emperor.

Administrative divisions in Chinese and varieties of romanizations
Now Jiangsu & Shanghai				Now Anhui
Administrative division	traditional Chinese[6]	simplified Chinese		Administrative division	traditional Chinese[7]	simplified Chinese
Jiangning Fu[note 1]	江寧府	江宁府		Anqing Fu	安慶府	安庆府
Suzhou Fu	蘇州府	苏州府		Huizhou Fu	徽州府	徽州府
Songjiang Fu	松江府	松江府		Ningguo Fu	寧國府	宁国府
Changzhou Fu	常州府	常州府		Chizhou Fu	池州府	池州府
Zhenjiang Fu	鎮江府	镇江府		Taiping Fu	太平府	太平府
Huai'an Fu	淮安府	淮安府		Luzhou Fu	廬州府	庐州府
Yangzhou Fu	揚州府	扬州府		Fengyang Fu	鳳陽府	凤阳府
Xuzhou Fu	徐州府	徐州府		Yingzhou Fu	潁州府	颖州府
Taicangzhou	太倉州	太仓州		Chuzhou	滁州	滁州
Haizhou	海州	海州		Hezhou	和州	和州
Tongzhou	通州	通州		Guangdezhou	廣德州	广德州
				Lu'anzhou	六安州	六安州
				Sizhou	泗州	泗州

Each of these were further divided into counties (xian), some of which were attached to the prefectural seats. Lower levels were not centrally appointed by the imperial government, but were overseen by the county, prefectural, and provincial administration.

See also

• Jiangnan, a geographic concept related to the south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River
• Yang Province, a zhou during Han dynasty, considers one of the Nine Provinces
• Jiangzhe Province, similar region during the Yuan dynasty
• Shanghai, Jiangsu and Anhui, the modern successors of Jiangnan Province.

Notes

1. Jiangning Fu, or Jiangning, now called Nanjing, was the capital of Jiangnan Province.