The Taihu Lake Basin in the Regional History Study: “Jiangnan”or“West Zhejiang”

The Taihu Lake Basin is a geographical concept; it is a dish- shaped depression consisted of river systems centered on the Taihu Lake. Within this region,there are similar socio- culture,united socio- economy,and a common historical origin both on administration and culture,so historians have tended to see it as an overall regional in their research. But in the research on social and economic history,scholars used to theJiangnanand Taihu Lake Basin as the same concept,which is inappropriate.Jiangnan,as a geographical and historical concept,their scopes has never really consistent with the Taihu Lake Basin. The so- called regional ofJiangnan,whose consistent with the Taihu Lake Basin is actually a cultural psychological concept from the beginning of modern times. Research under the title ofJiangnanis easy to cause confusion among the research objects. By contrast,West Zhejiang,as an existed administrative concept in the history,the scope of its area which inherited from the eastern Han dynasty's Wu Prefecture,was highly consistent with the Taihu Lake Basin,until its division in the early years of the Ming dynasty. It's a history of more than one thousand two hundred years,and the traditionalWest Zhejiangconcept still had its influence in the Ming and Qing dynasties. The work we have done suggests that conducted regional history research from the perspective ofWest Zhejiangshould be more conducive to enhance academic rigor. In order to support this view,it is necessary to clear the history ofWest Zhejiang.