Modern Language Division and Historical Administrative Division in Northern Fujian

Modern language division and historical administrative division are not the same concept. The former is a branch of linguistics, which studies the various characteristics of dialects in geographical distribution; The latter is to study the distribution and changes of geographical areas in historical periods. However, due to the characteristics of China culture, the relationship between modern Chinese dialect division and historical administrative division is particularly close. From the perspective of northern Fujian (here, northern Fujian is both a geographical concept and a historical concept), this close relationship has a remarkable feature, that is, taking the government (second-level administrative region) as the unit, there is great internal consistency, and the dialect division and historical administrative division basically overlap, that is, the northern Fujian dialect represented by Jian' ou dialect is distributed in Fujian-Jiangxi dialects in Jian' ou, Jianyang, Chong' an and Shunchang (eastern towns and villages), with Shaowu dialect as the representative. The central Fujian dialect, represented by Yong 'an dialect, is distributed in Yong 'an, Sanming, Shaxian and Youxi counties, which is slightly smaller than the administrative division of Yanpingfu (Nanping) in history.

The close relationship between the above-mentioned language divisions and historical administrative divisions in northern Fujian can be understood from two aspects.

First, the relationship between authoritative dialect and the change of administrative center. The administrative center of an administrative division is generally the center of politics, economy, culture, transportation and fashion in the region and the largest city in the region. The language psychology of ordinary people is also as close to this center as possible. Therefore, the dialect in the political center of administrative divisions often restricts the language in this area and plays a certain role of convention. Once the central city changes, the local dialect will inevitably change. Northern Fujian is one of the earliest developed areas in Fujian. At the beginning of Jian 'an in the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were five counties in Fujian: Jian 'an (Jian 'ou), Yanping (Nanping) and Hanxing (Pucheng). In the 3rd year of Wu Yong 'an in the Three Kingdoms (260), Jian 'an County was located in the north of Fujian, leading ten counties such as Jian 'an, Jianping (Jianyang), Xing Wu (Pucheng), Dongping, Jiangle, Zhaowu (Shaowu), Sui 'an (Jianning, Taining), Yanping (Nanping), Houguan and Dong 'an. In the Five Dynasties, the state was established in the third year of Jin Dynasty (946), Shao Wujun was established in the fourth year of Song Taiping Xingguo (979), Ningfu was rebuilt in the first year of Ming Hongwu (1368), Nanjian Road was changed to Yanping House, Shaowu Road was changed to Shaowu House, and Sanfu House was established in northern Fujian. Yanping Prefecture governs Nanping, Shunchang, Jiangle, Shaxian, Youxi and Yongan counties; Jianning Prefecture governs Jian 'an, Ou Ning, Jianyang, Chong 'an, Pucheng, Zhenghe and Songxi counties; Shaowufu governs Shaowu, Guangze, Taining and Jianning counties. Therefore, Jian 'ou and Shaowu, as the political, economic, cultural and transportation centers of the second-level administrative region, have a long history and have an obvious influence on the dialects in this region, thus forming the northern Fujian dialect area and the Fujian-Jiangxi dialect area represented by their dialects.

Second, the relationship between dialect division and traffic geography. Rivers played an important role in ancient transportation, especially in mountainous and hilly areas in the south. There are two reasons: first, rivers have the convenience of boats; Second, although rivers in mountainous and hilly areas are not convenient for shipping, river valleys and plains naturally become traffic passages. Especially in mountainous and hilly areas, immigrants often go up or down the river. There are often flat valleys on both sides of the river for farming, so economic zones are often formed in the basin. However, due to the frequent interaction between residents in the same economic zone, their dialects are naturally easy to get close to, while maintaining relative independence. Every such river basin or economic zone will naturally form one or two central cities, so most ancient county towns were set along river valleys. Especially between the two basins of different rivers in mountainous and hilly areas, because of the high barrier of watershed, dialects are not easy to approach, which hinders the mutual exchange and development of economic zones in society, transportation, economy and culture. Northern Fujian belongs to the middle and low mountainous area of Wuyishan. Several tributaries in the upper reaches of Minjiang River —— Futunxi, Jinxi, Jianxi and Shaxi are fan-shaped with obvious high watershed. The Han people who moved to Fujian by land crossed Xianxialing at the latest in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, passed Pucheng and Chong 'an, entered Jianxi Valley, migrated to Jian 'ou, Nanping and Jianyang, and then spread to the whole Jianxi Valley, forming the northern Fujian dialect. Others may go further, reaching Shaxian and Yong 'an by tracing Shaxi, thus forming a dialect area in central Fujian. Jiangxi immigrants entered Fujian through Linchuan and Wuyishan, and then spread to the whole Futunxi and Jinxi basins. Therefore, the dialect in Shaowu area was different from the northern Fujian dialect from the beginning, and then the difference was even greater, so that it had many similarities with Hakka dialect in northwest Fujian, forming the Fujian-Jiangxi dialect with both Fujian and Gan dialects. As for the historical administrative divisions of Shunchang, Jianglehe, which belong to Min-Gan dialect and Yanping (Nanping) government, there are certain historical reasons. Shunchang, formerly known as Jiangle County, belonged to Shaowu and later to Yanping (Nanping) government. Today, the dialects of the two places are more characteristic of northern Fujian dialect.

Although the northern Fujian dialect is inconsistent with the historical administrative divisions, only Pucheng dialect and the northern dialect island in Nanping Chengguan have special phenomena. Pucheng dialect has long belonged to Wu dialect. Because Pucheng was the transportation hub of ancient Zhejiang and Fujian, the first batch of Han people who entered Fujian by land, that is, they arrived in northern Fujian from Huiji via Pucheng at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Yongjia was in chaos, and immigrants from the north still entered Fujian along this road in the middle Tang Dynasty, the Five Dynasties at the end of the Tang Dynasty and the Song Dynasty. Therefore, Pucheng has not only been settled by Wu dialect residents since the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, but also kept in touch with Wu dialect since then. Comparing the similarities and differences between Pucheng dialect and Zhejiang Wu dialect today, we can find that it is close to the neighboring southwest of Zhejiang and has the characteristics of northern Zhejiang. The formation of the northern dialect island in Nanping Chengguan may be due to the migration of Hakkas to western Fujian in the late Song Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty, which broke the strange coincidence among today's dialect divisions, river basins and historical administrative regions.