Northern and Southern China - History

History

The concepts of northern and southern China originate from differences in climate, geography, culture, and physical traits; as well as several periods of actual political division in history. Northern China is too cold and dry for rice cultivation (though rice is grown there today with the aid of modern technology) and consists largely of flat plains, grasslands, and desert; while Southern China is warm and rainy enough for rice and consists of lush mountains cut by river valleys. Historically, these differences have led to differences in warfare during the pre-modern era, as cavalry could easily dominate the northern plains but encountered difficulties against river navies fielded in the south. There are also major differences in language, cuisine, culture, and popular entertainment forms.

Episodes of division into North and South include:

• Three Kingdoms (220–280)
• Sixteen Kingdoms (317–420) and Southern and Northern Dynasties (420–589)
• Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period (907–960)
• Southern Song Dynasty (1127–1279) and Jin Dynasty (1115–1234)
• Warlord era (1916–1928)

The Southern and Northern Dynasties showed such a high level of polarization between North and South that northerners and southerners referred to each other as barbarians; the Mongol Yuan Dynasty also made use of the concept: Yuan subjects were divided into four castes, with northern Han Chinese occupying the second-lowest caste and southern Han Chinese occupying the lowest one.

For a large part of Chinese history, northern China was economically more advanced than southern China . The Jurchen and Mongol invasion caused a massive migration to southern China, and the Emperor shifted the Song Dynasty capital city from Kaifeng in northern China to Hangzhou, located on the south of the Yangtze river. The population of Shanghai increased from 12,000 households to over 250,000 inhabitants after Kaifeng was sacked by invading armies. This began a shift of political, economic and cultural power from northern China to southern China. The east coast of southern China remained a leading economic and cultural center of China until the Republic of China. Today, southern China remains economically more prosperous than northern China.

During the Qing dynasty, regional differences and identification in China fostered the growth of regional stereotypes. Such stereotypes often appeared in historic chronicles and gazetteers and were based on geographic circumstances, historical and literary associations (e.g. people from Shandong, were considered upright and honest) and Chinese cosmology (as the south was associated with the fire element, Southerners were considered hot-tempered). These differences were reflected in Qing dynasty policies, such as the prohibition on local officials to serve their home areas, as well as conduct of personal and commercial relations. In 1730, Kangxi emperor made the observation in the Tingxun Geyan (庭訓格言):

The people of the North are strong; they must not copy the fancy diets of the Southerners, who are physically frail, live in a different environment, and have different stomachs and bowels. —Kangxi emperor, Tingxun Geyan (庭訓格言)

During the Republican period, Lu Xun, a major Chinese writer, wrote:

According to my observation, Northerners are sincere and honest; Southerners are skilled and quick-minded. These are their respective virtues. Yet sincerity and honesty lead to stupidity, whereas skillfulness and quick-mindedness lead to duplicity. —Lu Xun, Lu Xun Quanji (魯迅全集), pp. 493–495