Jiangsu is a coastal province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the third smallest, but the fourth most populous, with a population of 84.75 million, and the most densely populated of the 22 provinces of the People's Republic of China. Jiangsu has the highest GDP per capita and second-highest GDP of Chinese provinces, after Guangdong. Jiangsu borders Shandong in the north, Anhui to the west, and Zhejiang and Shanghai to the south. Jiangsu has a coastline of over along the Yellow Sea, and the Yangtze flows through the southern part of the province.
Since the Sui and Tang dynasties, Jiangsu has been a national economic and commercial center, partly due to the construction of the Grand Canal. Cities such as Nanjing, Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou, and Shanghai (separated from Jiangsu in 1927) are all major Chinese economic hubs. Since the initiation of economic reforms in 1990, Jiangsu has become a focal point for economic development. It is widely regarded as one of China's most developed provinces, when measured by its Human Development Index (HDI).
Jiangsu is home to many of the world's leading exporters of electronic equipment, chemicals and textiles. It has also been China's largest recipient of foreign direct investment since 2006. In 2025, its GDP was more than 14.24 trillion (US$2 trillion nominal), which is the sixth-highest of all administrative divisions. If it were a country, it would be the twelfth-largest economy as of 2022 as well as the 19th most populous.
Jiangsu is also one of the leading provinces in research and education in China. , Jiangsu hosts 168 institutions of higher education, ranking first of all Chinese provinces. Jiangsu has many highly ranked educational institutions, with 16 of its universities listed in the Double First-Class Construction, ranking second after Beijing. As of 2025, six major cities in Jiangsu ranked in the world's top 200 (Nanjing 5th, Suzhou 33rd, Zhenjiang 98th, Yangzhou 118th, Wuxi 161st, and Changzhou 173rd) cities by scientific research output, as tracked by the Nature Index.
Name
Jiangsu's name is a compound of the first elements of the names of the two cities of Jiangning (now Nanjing) and Suzhou; meaning "Pacified Place". The first character is derived from Chinese abbreviation of jiāng () for Jiangning taken from its Northern Song name of Jiangning (, , "Pacified area of the Yangtze"), while the abbreviation for this province is "" (), which serves the second character of its name is a contraction of the old name Gusu. It refers to "Satisfied place" in the Old Yue language.
Alternatively, the province is also spelled in various forms as Chiangsu, Chiang-su or Kiangsu in postal romanization. Since 1958, the province has adopted its current pinyin name of Jiangsu, a spelling that would be adopted by numerous international organizations and media outlets by the 1980s.
History
Imperial dynasties
During the earliest Chinese dynasties, the area that is now Jiangsu was far away from the center of Chinese civilization, which was in the northwest Henan; it was home of the Huai barbarians (), an ancient ethnic group. During the Zhou dynasty more contact was made, and eventually the state of Wu appeared in southern Jiangsu, one of the many hundreds of states that existed across northern and central China at that time. Near the end of the Spring and Autumn period, Wu became a great power under King Helu of Wu, and defeated in 484 BC the state of Qi, a major power in the north in modern-day Shandong province, and contest for the position of overlord over all states of China. The state of Wu was subjugated in 473 BC by the state of Yue, another state that had emerged to the south in modern-day Zhejiang province. Yue was in turn subjugated by the powerful state of Chu from the west in 333 BC. Eventually the state of Qin swept away all the other states, and unified China in 221 BC.
thumb|left|One of the [[bixi (tortoise)|tortoise stelae of Xiao Dan (478–522), a member of the Liang royal family. Ganjiaxiang, Qixia District, near Nanjing]]
Under the reign of the Han dynasty (206 BC to 220 AD), Jiangsu was removed from the centers of civilization in the North China Plain, and was administered under two zhou (provinces): Xu Province in the north, and Yang Province in the south. During the Three Kingdoms period, southern Jiangsu became the base of the Eastern Wu (222 to 280), whose capital, Jianye (later renamed to Jiankang), is modern Nanjing. When nomadic invasions overran northern China in the 4th century, the imperial court of the Jin dynasty moved to Jiankang. Cities in southern and central Jiangsu swelled with the influx of migrants from the north. Jiankang remained as the capital for four successive Southern dynasties and became the largest commercial and cultural center in China.
thumb|right|The [[Huqiu Tower of Tiger Hill, Suzhou, built in 961]]
After the Sui dynasty united the country in 581, the political center of the country shifted back to the north, but the Grand Canal was built through Jiangsu to link the Central Plains with the prosperous Yangtze Delta. The Tang dynasty (618–907) relied on southern Jiangsu for annual deliveries of grain. It was during the Song dynasty (960–1279), which saw the development of a wealthy mercantile class and emergent market economy in China, that Jiangnan (southern Jiangsu, Shanghai, and adjacent areas) emerged as a center of trade. From then onwards, major cities like Suzhou or Yangzhou, would be synonymous with opulence and luxury in China. Today the region remains one of the richest parts of China.
The Jurchen Jin dynasty gained control of North China in 1127 during the Jin-Song wars, and Huai River, which used to cut through north Jiangsu to reach the Yellow Sea, was the border between the north, under the Jin, and the south, under the Southern Song dynasty. The Mongols took control of China in the thirteenth century. The Ming dynasty, which was established in 1368 after driving out the Mongols who had occupied China, initially put its capital in Nanjing. Regions surrounding Nanjing, corresponding to Jiangsu and Anhui today, were designated as Nanzhili province (literally "southern directly governed"). Following a coup by Zhu Di (later, the Yongle Emperor), however, the capital was moved to Beijing, far to the north, although Nanjing kept its status as the southern capital. In late Ming, Jiangnan continued to be an important center of trade in China; some historians see in the flourishing textiles industry at the time incipient industrialization and capitalism, a trend that was however aborted.
thumb|left|upright|The tall [[Beisi Pagoda of Suzhou, built between 1131 and 1162 during the Song dynasty]]
The Qing dynasty converted Nanzhili to "Jiangnan province"; in 1666 Jiangsu and Anhui were split apart as separate provinces. Jiangsu's borders have been for the most part stable since then.
With the start of Western incursion into China in the 1840s, the rich and mercantile Yangtze River Delta was increasingly exposed to Western influence. Shanghai, originally an unremarkable little town of Jiangsu, quickly developed into a metropolis of trade, banking, and cosmopolitanism, and was split out later as an independent municipality. Jiangnan also figures strongly in the Taiping Rebellion (18511864), a massive and deadly rebellion that attempted to set up a Christian theocracy in China; it started far to the south, in Guangdong province, swept through much of South China, and by 1853, had established Nanjing as its capital, renamed as Tianjing ( "Heavenly Capital").
Modern times
The Republic of China was established in 1912, and China was soon torn apart by warlords. Jiangsu changed hands several times, but in April 1927, Chiang Kai-shek established a government at Nanjing; he was soon able to bring most of China under his control. The provincial government moved to Zhenjiang in 1928. This was however interrupted by the second Sino-Japanese War, which began full-scale in 1937; on December 13, 1937, Nanjing fell, and the combined atrocities of the occupying Japanese for the next three months would come to be known as the Rape of Nanjing, after which it became the seat of the collaborationist government of East China under Wang Jingwei, and most of Jiangsu remained under Japanese occupation until the end of the war in 1945.
After the war, Nanjing was once again the capital of the Republic of China, though now the Chinese Civil War had broken out between the Kuomintang government and Communist forces, based further north, mostly in Northeast China. The decisive Huaihai Campaign was fought in northern Jiangsu; it resulted in Kuomintang defeat, and the communists were soon able to cross the Yangtze River and take Nanjing. The Kuomintang fled southward and eventually ended up in Taipei, from which the Republic of China government continues to administer Taiwan, Pescadores, and its neighboring islands, though it also continues to claim (technically, at least) Nanjing as its rightful de jure capital. Later on, after the capture of Zhenjiang, the provincial government was then relocated to Shengsi County in Zhejiang.
After the communist takeover, Beijing (formerly Peiping) was made capital of the People's Republic, while Jiangsu was dissolved into Subei and Sunan Administrative Regions. On 15 November 1952, Jiangsu Province was reconstituted and Nanjing was demoted to be the provincial capital. The reform and opening up of Deng Xiaoping initially focused on the south coast of China, in Guangdong province, which soon left Jiangsu behind; starting from the 1990s they were applied more evenly to the rest of China. Suzhou and Wuxi, two southern cities of Jiangsu in close proximity to neighboring Shanghai, have since become particularly prosperous, being among the top 10 cities in China in terms of gross domestic product and outstripping the provincial capital of Nanjing. The income disparity between northern and southern Jiangsu however remains large.
Geography
thumb|left|Population density and low elevation coastal zones in Jiangsu. Jiangsu is particularly vulnerable to [[sea level rise.]]
thumb|Jiangsu in 1946
alt=|thumb|Tourists cross a bridge in Chengxu temple, a Taoist temple which was built in 1086–1093 during the Song dynasty
Jiangsu is flat, with plains covering 68 percent of its total area (water covers another 18 percent). Most of the province stands not more than above sea level. Jiangsu also has a well-developed irrigation system, which earned it (especially the southern half) the moniker of (shuǐxiāng "land of water"). The southern city of Suzhou has so many canals that it has been dubbed "Venice of the East" or the "Venice of the Orient". The Grand Canal of China cuts through Jiangsu from north to south, crossing all the east–west river systems. Jiangsu also borders the Yellow Sea. The Yangtze River, the longest river of China, cuts through the province in the south and reaches the East China Sea, which divides the region into two parts: more urban, prosperous south and more poorer, rural north, and these two parts has a tense division.
Mount Huaguo, near the city of Lianyungang, is the highest point in Jiangsu, at an altitude of above sea level. Large lakes in Jiangsu include Lake Tai (the largest), Lake Hongze, Lake Gaoyou, Lake Luoma, and Lake Yangcheng.
Before 1194 A.D., the Huai River cut through north Jiangsu to reach the Yellow Sea. The Huai River is a major river in central China, and it was the traditional border between North China and South China. Since 1194 A.D., the Yellow River further to the north changed its course several times, running into the Huai River in north Jiangsu each time instead of its other usual path northwards into Bohai Bay. The silting caused by the Yellow River was so heavy that after its last episode of "hijacking" the Huai River ended in 1855: the Huai River was no longer able to go through its usual path into the sea. Instead it flooded, pooled up (thereby forming and enlarging Lake Hongze and Lake Gaoyou), and flowed southwards through the Grand Canal into the Yangtze. The old path of the Huai River is now marked by a series of irrigation channels, the most significant of which is the North Jiangsu Main Irrigation Canal (), which channels a small amount of the water of the Huai River alongside south of its old path into the sea.
alt=|thumb|[[Xuanwu Lake in Nanjing]]
Most of Jiangsu has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa or Cwa in the Köppen climate classification), beginning to transition into a humid continental climate (Köppen Dwa) in the far north. Seasonal changes are clear-cut, with temperatures at an average of in January and in July. Rain falls frequently between spring and summer (meiyu), typhoons with rainstorms occur in late summer and early autumn. As with the rest of the coast, tornados are possible. The annual average rainfall is , concentrated mostly in summer during the southeast monsoon.
Climate change in Jiangsu
Due to its flat terrain, low altitude, and dense population, Jiangsu is one of the most vulnerable regions in China to climate change and its ensuing sea level rise. According to the data collected by the Center of Climate Change in Jiangsu from 1961 to 2007, on average, the province experiences an temperature increase between 0.16 and 0.45 Celsius per 10 years and total precipitation change between -28.7 and 37.09 mm per 10 years. Extreme weather have become stronger and more common. Jiangsu's agriculture, ecosystem, water resource, transportation, and coastline are all negatively impacted. The speed of sea level rise exceeds the world's average by a large margin.
Specifically, a ranking on climate change risk of global regions released in early 2023 by the Cross Dependency Initiative (XDI) puts Jiangsu as the most vulnerable of the entire world.
In response to climate disturbance across the country, the fourteenth five-year plan, endorsed by the National People's Congress in 2021, indicates the general direction and various steps towards a low-carbon transition. On a provincial level, the Jiangsu government aims to achieve an 18% carbon dioxide decrease per unit GDP and accelerate the development of a green, low-carbon economy, as indicated in the 14th five-year development. The province also plans to recover the damaged coastal regions such as Lianyugang and Yancheng, and improve resilience against rising sea level by implementing seawalls and river floodgates.
Major cities:
- Nanjing
- Suzhou
- Wuxi
- Xuzhou
- Changzhou
- Yangzhou
- Lianyungang
- Yancheng
- Zhenjiang
- Nantong
- Huai'an
- Taizhou
- Suqian
Administrative divisions
Jiangsu is divided into thirteen prefecture-level divisions, all prefecture-level cities (including a sub-provincial city):
{|class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto 1em auto; text-align:center"
|-
|+Administrative divisions of Jiangsu
|-
|colspan="9" | <div style="position: relative" class="center">
</div>
|-
!! scope="col" rowspan="2" | Division code
!! scope="col" rowspan="2" | Division
!! scope="col" rowspan="2" | Area in km<sup>2</sup>
!! scope="col" rowspan="2" | Population 2020
!! scope="col" rowspan="2" | Seat
!! scope="col" colspan="3" | Divisions
|-
!! scope="col" style="width:45px;" | Districts
!! scope="col" style="width:45px;" | Counties
!! scope="col" style="width:45px;" | CL cities
|-
! 320000 !! Jiangsu Province
| 102,600.00 || 84,748,016 || Nanjing city || 55 || 19 || 21
|- style="background:#98fb98;"
! 320100 !! Nanjing city
| 6,582.31 || 9,314,685 || Xuanwu District || 11 || bgcolor=grey | || bgcolor=grey |
|-
! 320200 !! Wuxi city
| 4,787.61 || 7,462,135 || Binhu District || 5 || bgcolor=grey | || 2
|-
! 320300 !! Xuzhou city
| 11,764.88 || 9,083,790 || Yunlong District || 5 || 3 || 2
|-
! 320400 !! Changzhou city
| 4,384.57 || 5,278,121 || Xinbei District || 5 || bgcolor=grey | || 1
|-
! 320500 !! Suzhou city
| 8,488.42 || 12,748,262 || Gusu District || 5 || bgcolor=grey | || 4
|-
! 320600 !! Nantong city
| 8,001.00 || 7,726,635 || Chongchuan District || 3 || 1 || 3
|-
! 320700 !! Lianyungang city
| 7,615.29 || 4,599,360 || Haizhou District || 3 || 3 || bgcolor=grey |
|-
! 320800 !! Huai'an city
| 9,949.97 || 4,556,230 || Qingjiangpu District || 4 || 3 || bgcolor=grey |
|-
! 320900 !! Yancheng city
| 16,972.42 || 6,709,629 || Tinghu District || 3 || 5 || 1
|-
! 321000 !! Yangzhou city
| 6,591.21 || 4,559,797 || Hanjiang District || 3 || 1 || 2
|-
! 321100 !! Zhenjiang city
| 3,840.32 || 3,210,418 || Jingkou District || 3 || bgcolor=grey | || 3
|-
! 321200 !! Taizhou city
| 5,787.26 || 4,512,762 || Hailing District || 3 || bgcolor=grey | || 3
|-
! 321300 !! Suqian city
| 8,555.00 || 4,986,192 || Sucheng District || 2 || 3 || bgcolor=grey |
|-
| colspan=11 |
|}
thumb|Population distribution of Jiangsu in 2010
{|class="wikitable sortable collapsible collapsed" style="width:auto; text-align:center; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"
! colspan="5" | Administrative divisions in Chinese and varieties of romanizations
|-
! English !! Chinese !! Pinyin !! Wu Romanization !! Jiang–Huai (Langjin Pinin)
|-
| Jiangsu Province || || || ||
|-
| Nanjing city || || || ||
|-
| Wuxi city || || || ||
|-
| Xuzhou city || || || ||
|-
| Changzhou city || || || ||
|-
| Suzhou city || || || ||
|-
| Nantong city || || || ||
|-
| Lianyungang city || || || ||
|-
| Huai'an city || || || ||
|-
| Yancheng city || || || ||
|-
| Yangzhou city || || || ||
|-
| Zhenjiang city || || || ||
|-
| Taizhou city || || || ||
|-
| Suqian city || || || ||
|}
These prefecture-level cities are in turn subdivided into 95 county-level divisions (55 districts, 21 county-level cities, and 19 counties). Those are in turn divided into 1,237 township-level divisions (699 towns, 19 townships, and 519 subdistricts). At the end of the year 2021, the total population was 85.05 million. !! style="background-color: #aaaaff;"| 2010 Urban area !! style="background-color: #ffaaaa;" | 2020 City proper
|-
| 1 || Nanjing || 8,085,241 || 5,827,888 || 9,314,685
|-
| 2 || Suzhou || 5,892,892 || 3,302,152 || 12,748,262
|-
| 3 || Wuxi || 3,956,985 || 2,757,736 || 7,462,135
|-
| 4 || Changzhou || 3,572,349 || 2,257,376 || 5,278,121
|-
| 5 || Xuzhou || 2,517,693 || 1,735,166 || 9,083,790
|-
| 6 || Nantong || 1,993,344 || 1,612,385 || 7,726,635
|-
| 7 || Yangzhou || 1,846,656 || 1,077,531 || 4,559,797
|-
| 8 || Yancheng || 1,678,542 || 1,136,826 || 6,709,629
|-
| 9 || Kunshan || 1,652,159 || 1,118,617 ||
|-
| 10 || Huai'an || 1,561,105 || 1,523,655 || 4,556,230
|-
| 11 || Lianyungang || 1,395,701 || 897,393 || 4,599,360
|-
| 12 || Jiangyin || 1,331,352 || 1,013,670 ||
|-
| 13 || Changshu || 1,230,599 || 929,124 ||
|-
| 14 || Taizhou || 1,140,206 || 676,877 || 4,512,762
|-
| 15 || Zhenjiang || 1,123,813 || 950,516 || 3,210,418
|-
| 16 || Zhangjiagang || 1,055,893 || 762,625 ||
|-
| 17 || Suqian || 940,921 || 783,376 || 4,986,192
|-
| 18 || Yixing || 889,871 || 710,497 ||
|-
| 19 || Pizhou || 850,815 || 631,572 ||
|-
| 20 || Danyang || 792,584 || 500,572 ||
|-
| 21 || Rugao || 761,879 || 614,909 ||
|-
| 22 || Xinghua || 649,849 || 575,288 ||
|-
| 23 || Taixing || 619,033 || 553,079 ||
|-
| 24 || Hai'an || 601,165 ||bgcolor="lightgrey"| ||
|-
| 25 || Taicang || 586,830 || 435,225 ||
|-
| 26 || Qidong || 580,157 || 479,243 ||
|-
| 27 || Xinyi || 549,911 || 402,169 ||
|-
| 28 || Dongtai || 524,562 || 489,815 ||
|-
| 29 || Liyang || 495,507 || 368,409 ||
|-
| 30 || Jingjiang || 453,970 || 388,119 ||
|-
| 31 || Gaoyou || 422,816 || 341,069 ||
|-
| 32 || Jurong || 412,996 || 299,033 ||
|-
| 33 || Yizheng || 356,995 || 271,969 ||
|-
| 34 || Yangzhong || 221,434 || 179,771 ||
|- bgcolor="lightgrey"
| — || Haimen || 661,983 || 453,781 ||
|- bgcolor="lightgrey"
| — || Wujiang || || 781,771 ||
|- bgcolor="lightgrey"
| — || Jiangdu || || 506,706 ||
|- bgcolor="lightgrey"
| — || Jiangyan || || 376,724 ||
|- bgcolor="lightgrey"
| — || Dafeng || || 347,389 ||
|- bgcolor="lightgrey"
| — || Jintan || || 275,185 ||
|}
Politics
The politics of Jiangsu is structured in a one party (Communist) government system like all other governing institutions in mainland China.
The Governor of Jiangsu is the highest-ranking official in the People's Government of Jiangsu. However, in the province's dual party-government governing system, the Governor has less power than the Jiangsu Chinese Communist Party Provincial Committee Secretary, colloquially termed the "Jiangsu CCP Party Chief".
Courts
In July 2021, the Jiangsu Intermediate Court established a labor tribunal to handle labor disputes arising from the platform economy.
Economy
thumb|An industrial landscape in Ganjiaxiang, [[Qixia District, Nanjing]]
As of 2022, Jiangsu had a gross domestic product (GDP) of CNY¥12.29 trillion (US$1.83 trillion), In 2022, Jiangsu's GDP adjusted by purchasing power parity was $3.04 trillion, making it the 3rd-largest of any country subdivision globally, behind California and Guangdong. Jiangsu's economy in PPP also was just behind that of Italy with a GDP PPP of $ $3.05 trillion, the 12th largest in the world. The government has worked hard to promote the solar industry and hoped by 2012 the solar industry would be worth 100 billion RMB. Jiangsu's economy growth has directly benefited from the reform Chinese's policies, and its growth trajectory reflects that of many other coastal provinces, such as Zhejiang and Shandong. The reform and opening up of Deng Xiaoping have greatly benefited southern cities, especially Suzhou and Wuxi, which outstrip the provincial capital, Nanjing, in total output. In the eastern outskirts of Suzhou, Singapore has built the Suzhou Industrial Park, a flagship of Sino-Singaporean cooperation and the only industrial park in China that is in its entirety the investment of a single foreign country.
Jiangsu contains over 100 different economic and technological development zones devoted to different types of investments.
Demographics
The majority of Jiangsu residents are ethnic Han Chinese. Other minorities include the Hui and the Manchus. In 2021, 73.94 percent of the province lived in urban areas, while 26.06 lived in rural areas.