Everything about Northern And Southern China totally explained
» Alternative meaning: In geology, North China (continent) and South China (continent) were two ancient landmasses that correspond to modern northern and southern China.
Northern China and
Southern China are two approximate regions within
China. The exact boundary between these two regions has never been precisely defined. Nevertheless, the self-perception of
Chinese people, especially regional
stereotypes, has often been dominated by these two concepts.
Extent
The boundary between northern and southern China is generally defined to be the
Qinling Mountains and
Huai River (Huai He). In the eastern provinces like
Jiangsu and
Anhui, however, the
Yangtze River may instead be perceived as the north-south boundary instead of the Huai River, but this is a recent development. There is an ambiguous area, the region around
Nanyang,
Henan, that lies in the gap where the Qinling has ended and the Huai River hasn't yet begun; in addition, central Anhui and Jiangsu lie south of the Huai River but north of the Yangtze, making their classification somewhat ambiguous as well. As such, the boundary between northern and southern China doesn't follow provincial boundaries; it cuts through
Shaanxi,
Henan,
Anhui, and
Jiangsu, and creates areas such as
Hanzhong (
Shaanxi),
Xinyang (
Henan), and
Xuzhou (
Jiangsu) that lie on an opposite half of China from the rest of their respective provinces. This may have been deliberate; the
Mongol Yuan Dynasty and
Han Chinese Ming Dynasty established many of these boundaries intentionally to discourage regionalist
separatism.
Areas often thought of as being outside "
China proper," such as
Manchuria,
Taiwan, and
Inner Mongolia, are also conceived as belonging to either northern or southern China according to the framework above.
Xinjiang and
Tibet are, however, not usually conceived of as being part of either north or south.
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:
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.
Today
In modern times, North and South is merely one of the ways that Chinese people identify themselves, and the divide between northern and southern China has been complicated both by a unified
Chinese nationalism and as well as by local loyalties to province, county and village which prevent a coherent Northern or Southern identity from forming.
During the
Deng Xiaoping reforms of the
1980s, South China developed much more quickly than North China leading some scholars to wonder whether the economic fault line would create political tension between north and south. Some of this was based on the idea that there would be conflict between the bureaucratic north and the commercial south. This hasn't occurred to the degree feared in part because the economic faultlines eventually created divisions between coastal China and the interior, as well as
urban and
rural China, which run in different directions from the north-south division, and in part because neither north or south has any type of obvious advantage within the Chinese central government. In addition there are other cultural divisions that exist within and across the north-south dichotomy.
Stereotypes
Nevertheless, the concepts of North and South continue to play an important role in regional
stereotypes.
The stereotypical Northerner:
Is taller and bigger
Has lighter skin (some have purely white skin)
Has small, slit-like, and/or slanty eyes with single eyelids (for example an epicanthal fold)(External Link
)
Has a longer rugged face (possibly with considerably more facial hair than southerners)
Speaks a northern Mandarin dialect
Eats wheat-based food rather than rice-based food (External Link)
Is loud, loyal, boisterous, warm-hearted, open, and prone to drunkenness and "thunderbolt" displays of emotion, such as anger
The stereotypical Southerner:
Is shorter and smaller
Has darker skin
Has large, almond-shaped eyes with double eyelids(External Link)
Has a smooth, round face
Speaks a southern dialect such as Wu, Hakka, Yue (Cantonese), or Min
Eats rice-based food rather than wheat-based food(External Link)
Is clever, calculating, wealthy, hardworking, and prone to "mincemeat" displays of emotion, such as brooding melancholy
Note that these are very rough stereotypes, and are greatly complicated both by further stereotypes by province (or even county) and by real life.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Northern And Southern China'.
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