Jiangnan (Qing province)

Jiangnan, formerly romanized as Kiangnan (Chinese: 江南省; Pinyin: Jiāngnán shěng; Wade–Giles: Chiang-nan Sheng; lit. 'Province South of the River'), was a historical province of the early Qing dynasty of China. Established in 1645 during the Qing conquest of Ming, it administered the area of the earlier Ming province of Nanzhili.^[1]

The province reached from north of the Huai River (at the time the course of the Yellow River) to south of the Yangtze River in East China.^[2] Its territory was later divided into the separate provinces of Jiangsu and Anhui during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (1736–1795), although the exact timing is disputed.^[3]

According to the "General History of Jiangnan" (江南通志, Jiangnan Tongzhi) in the Complete Library of the Four Treasuries,^[4] 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.

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.