What are the differences between North and South?

There is flooding in the south and drought in the north. China has an East Asian monsoon climate. Affected by the monsoon, annual precipitation gradually decreases from the southeastern coast to the northwest inland. The south not only has a long rainy season, but also suffers from frequent floods due to concentrated rainfall in summer and autumn. North China and northwest China have less precipitation, coupled with excessive reclamation and grazing, and poor water storage and drought resistance capabilities, so they face serious "water shortages", which affects the production and life of local people.

Humanistic differences

Southern economics and northern politics. Generally speaking, northern China has active military and political activities, while southern China has developed economic and cultural industries. The north has always been the political center of China. Chang'an (today's Xi'an) was the capital of the Qin, Han, and Tang dynasties, and Beijing was the capital of the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. After the founding of New China, Beijing became the capital of the Republic of China. This is even more The political status of the North in the country was determined. The South has been China's economic center since the Southern Song Dynasty. It has developed agriculture and is also the main distribution center for trade ports. In modern times, Western science and culture were first introduced from the southeastern coast of China, which promoted the development of the South's economy, making the South's economic and cultural The advantages are continuously strengthened. Therefore, "the north produces officials, and the south produces businessmen." These two sentences better reflect the different political and economic mentality of the north and the south.

Industrial differences

The south is lighter than the north. Due to the influence of factors such as resources and location, China's industrial layout has the regional characteristics of light industry in the south and heavy industry in the north. That is, heavy industry is the main industry in the north of China, while light industry is relatively developed in the south. The main reason for this phenomenon is that northern China is rich in mineral resources such as coal, petroleum, and iron ore, so it has gradually formed an industrial structure dominated by heavy industries such as mining, metallurgy, and machinery manufacturing. Southern China has many high-end industrial raw materials such as rare metals, precious metals and non-ferrous metals, but lacks basic industrial raw materials such as coal and oil. The south has strong financial and technological strength, so it chooses to develop industrial types that consume less raw materials and fuel. Therefore, light industry is relatively developed.

Traffic Differences

Southern boats and northern horses. The mode of transportation in ancient China was mainly boats in the south and horses in the north. The reason is that the climate in the south is humid, the precipitation is abundant, and the surface river network is densely covered. Therefore, ship transportation came into being to adapt to the "water town". The north has an arid and semi-arid climate, with extensive pastures and developed animal husbandry. In addition to providing milk and meat products, horses were domesticated by the people of the north because of their good endurance and fast speed, and became the means of transportation in the northern land.

Architectural differences

Nantian and Beiping. The slope of the roofs of Chinese residents in Nanchang and Beifeng gradually slows down from south to north. The reason for the high and pointed roofs in the south is that the annual rainfall in the south is large and the climate is hot. The high and pointed roofs are conducive to drainage and ventilation and heat dissipation. In the north, there is less precipitation, so the roofs are mostly built with flat roofs, which not only saves building materials, but also doubles as a place to dry crops. At the same time, due to heavy snowfall in the Northeast, and the snow only melts in spring, it is also common for houses to have high and pointed roofs in order to reduce the pressure of snow on the roof. In addition, the garden architecture in southern China is light, slender, exquisite and clear, with coherent internal and external spaces and clear layers. The Humble Administrator's Garden in Suzhou is a typical representative. Northern garden architecture is gentle and rigorous, strong and simple, with clear boundaries between interior and exterior spaces. Chen Congzhou, a famous Chinese garden scholar, summed up: "The south is a shed, which is mostly open. The north is a nest, which is mostly closed." It can be seen that from the perspective of adapting to the environment and living comfortably, southern buildings pay attention to ventilation and heat dissipation, while northern buildings are conducive to thermal insulation.

Language differences

Southern and Northern Qi. The geographical differences in Chinese language are manifested in the southern and northern Qi, that is, the southern language is complex and the northern language is relatively simple. The vast area in northern China belongs to the northern dialect area. The straight-line distance from Harbin to Kunming (although Kunming is located in the south, the language is divided into the Southwest Mandarin area, and Southwest Mandarin is a branch of the northern dialect) is more than 3,000 kilometers away. Although there are differences in the languages ????of the two places , but there is no big obstacle to calls and communication. Even within the same dialect area in the south, such as the Min dialect area, there are still Fuzhou dialects, Xiamen dialects, Putian dialects, Western Fujian dialects, etc., which are so different from each other that they can even be incomprehensible. The formation of these languages ??has a certain relationship with the geographical environment. First, there are many flat plateaus and plains in northern China, with convenient transportation links. People have many opportunities to interact and communicate with each other. Therefore, there is not much difference in language. Secondly, there are many hilly and mountainous areas in the south, with rugged terrain and blocked traffic, which is not conducive to people's communication. Over time, "dialects" with local characteristics have formed.

Dietary differences

Nanmibeimian is generally used to describe the traditional dietary differences between the north and the south. Southerners like to eat rice and rice noodles, while northerners (North China and Northwest China) traditionally like pasta. In fact, this is related to the different agricultural production structures between the north and the south. The climate in southern China is hot and rainy, and most of the cultivated land is paddy fields. Therefore, local farmers grow rice that prefers high temperatures and rainy conditions according to local conditions. In northern China, there is less precipitation, lower temperatures, and most of the cultivated land is dry land, which is suitable for the growth of dry and cold-tolerant wheat. The so-called "eat what you sow", over time, the traditional eating habits of the south and north have been developed.

But there are exceptions to everything. Although the Northeast region belongs to the north, it has enough water for the growth of high-quality rice. The local staple food focuses more on rice. At the same time, most Northeastern people are descendants of immigrants from Shandong and Hebei, so they are not afraid of pasta. In the Beijing-Tianjin region of North China, the food transported by water from the south during the Ming and Qing Dynasties was rice, and their eating habits were more accepting of rice than other regions in North China.

Generally, most areas in the Northeast and South where rice is the staple food refer to rice as "rice" for short; while in Henan, Shandong, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Gansu and other areas where pasta is the main food, rice is generally referred to as "rice" or "fried rice". It is called "fried rice", and in the south, fried rice is another snack.