Sungkiang

English

Etymology

From the Postal Romanization of Nanking court dialect Mandarin 松江 (Sōngjiāng), from before the modern palatalization of /k/ to /tɕ/.

Pronunciation

• enPR: so͞ongʹgyängʹ, so͞ongʹjē-ängʹ

Proper noun

Sungkiang

1. Dated form of Songjiang (a district and former county of Shanghai, China).
   • [1809, “Chang-hai”, in The General Gazetteer: Or, Compendious Geographical Dictionary‎^[2], 14th edition, page [3], column 2:

     Chang-hai, a town of China, in the province of Kiang-nan. In this town, and the villages dependent on it, are more than 200,000 weavers of cotton cloth. It is 18 miles SE of Song-kiang.]

   • [1819, Abraham Rees, “CHANG-HAI”, in The Cyclopædia ; or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences and Literature‎^[4], volume VII, page [5], column 1:

     CHANG-HAI, a town of China, of the third rank, in the province of Kiang-nan, or Nan-king ; 6 leagues S.E. of Song-kiang.]

   • 1929, Elmer T. Clark, The Church and the World Parish‎^[6], Nashville, Tenn.: Board of Missions, Methodist Episcopal Church, South, page 28:

     Though small in area, the territory occupied by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, is perhaps the most important and strategic section of China. It contains Shanghai, the greatest port and commercial center of China, Nanking, the new capital, Soochow, the cultural and educational center, Huchow, the silk city, and the important cities of Changchow, Sungkiang, and Wusih.

   • 1938, H. J. Timperley, editor, Japanese Terror in China‎^[7], New York: Modern Age Books, Inc., page 72:

     The condition of Sungkiang is typical of the state of affairs throughout this densely populated delta between Shanghai and Nanking, and testifies to what may have been one of the greatest mass migrations of population in history. No one is able to answer the question of what has happened to the hundreds of thousands, or rather millions, of Chinese who have literally disappeared from this area. The whole thirty-mile route between Shanghai and Sungkiang is like a desert, with rice crops ungathered and left rotting in the fields as far as I could see.

   • 1983, Harrison E. Salisbury, China: 100 Years of Revolution‎^[8], →ISBN, →OCLC, page 90:

     The streets of Shanghai rattled with revolutionary tremors as Chiang's armies came closer and closer. They entered Chekiang, his home province, and on February 17, 1927, took Hangchow and advanced to Kashing and Sungkiang. They were less than twenty-five miles from Shanghai.

2. Dated form of Songjiang (a former province of China).
   • 1953, Frank Moraes, “"The Land Is Ours"”, in Report on Mao's China‎^[9], New York: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC, page 56‎^[10]:

     China's first two collective farms were reported in the Communist press in the summer of 1952. One is said to be near Kiamusze in Sungkiang province in northeastern Manchuria; the other, near Tihwa in Sinkiang province.

   • 1958, “Harbin”, in The World Book Encyclopedia‎^[11], volume 8, Field Enterprises Educational Corporation, page 3274:

     Before 1905, Harbin was the center of the Russian-controlled part of Manchuria. It still has a large Russian population. In 1949, Harbin became the capital of Sungkiang province.

Further reading

• “Sungkiang”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “Sungkiang”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “Sungkiang” in TheFreeDictionary.com, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.: Farlex, Inc., 2003–2024.