Shaannan () or Southern Shaanxi refers to the portion of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

Shaanxi province Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see § Name) is a landlocked province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichuan (SW), Gansu (W), ...

south of the Qinling Mountains. Its name derives from the province's abbreviation "Shaan" () combined with the word "Nan" (, lit. "south"), its geographical location within the province. In the

Yuan Dynasty The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fif ...

, the area began to be merged with what is the Guanzhong Plain to form Shaanxi province. The Qinling Mountains, as a geographic barrier, has also created major differences in climate, cultural traditions and

dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that is ...

s between Shaannan and the other parts of Shaanxi, and thus there is some similarity between Shaannan and Sichuan.

Geography

The region is mountainous, and was historically part of the Ba shu region. It is geographically considered part of the

Sichuan Basin The Sichuan Basin (), formerly transliterated as the Szechwan Basin, sometimes called the Red Basin, is a lowland region in southwestern China. It is surrounded by mountains on all sides and is drained by the upper Yangtze River and its tributar ...

's northern fringe and the three prefectural cities in the Shaannan region are mainly based along the

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams ove ...

s and

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

s of the Han River's

tributaries A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drain ...

, all part of the

Yangtze The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flows ...

river system. The only exception is the

Luonan County Luonan County (, ''alternatively'' ) is a county under the administration of Shangluo city, in the east of Shaanxi Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see § Name) is a landlocked province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders ...

in northern

Shangluo Shangluo () is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Shaanxi province, People's Republic of China, bordering Henan to the northeast and Hubei to the southeast. Part of the Shannan region of the province, it is located in the eastern part of the ...

, which is based around the upper Luo River and is part of the

Yellow River The Yellow River or Huang He (Chinese: , Mandarin: ''Huáng hé'' ) is the second-longest river in China, after the Yangtze River, and the sixth-longest river system in the world at the estimated length of . Originating in the Bayan Ha ...

system.

Cities

Hanzhong Hanzhong (; abbreviation: Han) is a prefecture-level city in the southwest of Shaanxi province, China, bordering the provinces of Sichuan to the south and Gansu to the west. The founder of the Han dynasty, Liu Bang, was once enfeoffed as ...

Ankang Ankang () is a prefecture-level city in the south of Shaanxi Province in the People's Republic of China, bordering Hubei province to the east, Chongqing municipality to the south, and Sichuan province to the southwest. History The settl ...

Culture

The Shaannan dialects belongs to the Northern Chinese group, and forms a transition between the

Southwestern The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sep ...

and Central Plains dialects. For the most part, the native dialects of Shaannan are divided into the Qinlong and

Guanzhong Guanzhong (, formerly romanised as Kwanchung) region, also known as the Guanzhong Basin, Wei River Basin, or uncommonly as the Shaanzhong region, is a historical region of China corresponding to the crescentic graben basin within present-day ce ...

groups of the Central Plains dialect. The Sichuanese group of the Southwestern dialect are mostly "guest dialects" brought in by large influx of migrants from

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The p ...

Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangx ...

and northern

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020 ...

during the early

Ming The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han pe ...

and early Qing dynasties.

Transportation

National Roads: * G108 * G210 *

G312 China National Highway 312 (312国道), also referred to as Route 312 or The Mother Road, is a key east-west route beginning in Shanghai and ending at Khorgas, Xinjiang in the Ili River valley, on the border with Kazakhstan. In total it spans , pa ...

G316 China National Highway 316 (G316) runs from Fuzhou in Fujian to Lanzhou in Gansu, via Nanchang (in Jiangxi) and Wuhan (in Hubei). It is 2915 kilometres in length. The highway crosses the provinces of Gansu, Shaanxi, Hubei, Jiangxi, and Fujian. ...

Expressways: * Xihan Expressway (Xi'an—Hanzhong) * Xikang Expressway (Xi'an—Ankang) Railways: *

Xi'an–Ankang Railway The Xi'an–Ankang railway or Xikang railway (), is a single-track, electrified railway line in Shaanxi Province of China between Xi'an, the provincial capital, and Ankang. The line is long and was built from 1995 to 2001. As of June 2009, a s ...

* Yangpingguan–Ankang Railway * Xiangyang–Chongqing Railway

Geography

Cities

Culture

Transportation

See also