the Qing dynasty made many visits to Jiangnan (), which have been the popular subject of numerous Chinese operas and television dramas. Earlier, the Kangxi Emperor visited the region as well. Jiangnan, specifically Shaoxing, was actually the southern terminus of Kangxi's so-called Southern Inspection Tour. During the 19th century Taiping Rebellion, the regime established by the Taiping rebels occupied much of Jiangnan and eventually made Nanjing its capital. The area suffered much damage as the rebellion was quelled and Qing imperial rule restored. After the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911, and Chiang Kai-shek's Northern Expedition, the Republic of China (ROC), following the wishes of Sun Yat-sen, made Nanjing the national capital. From the late 1920s until the Second World War, the Jiangnan area was the focus of Chinese economic development. Much of the Kuomintang's ruling elite and the ROC's economic elite hailed from the Jiangnan area. Geographical identity Dialect has also been used as a tool for regional identity and politics in the Jiangbei and Jiangnan regions. While the city of Yangzhou was a flourishing and prosperous centre of trade, it was considered part of Jiangnan (south of the river), which was known to be wealthy, even though Yangzhou was north of the Yangtze River. Once Yangzhou's wealth and prosperity began to wane, it was then considered to be part of Jiangbei (literally "north of the river"), the "backwater". In Yangzhou, the Yangzhou massacre during the transition from Ming to Qing dynasty has resulted in drastic decline of Wu speaking population in the city and the demographic change eventually made Taihu Wu dialects extinct in Yangzhou, while Jianghuai Mandarin becomes the more prominent dialect since then. This also made Yangzhou no longer perceived as part of Jiang Nan by some of the Wu speaking population. In the Jiangnan region itself, multiple subdialects of Wu fought for the position of the prestige dialect. Notable cities Hangzhou – historic capital of Song dynasty. Huzhou - famous city for silk and fish in Zhejiang province. Nanjing – historical capital of China for various periods in history. Nantong – a prefecture-level city in Jiangsu province. Ningbo – a sub-provincial city in northeast Zhejiang province. Shanghai – one of the most important financial and economic centres. Suzhou – famous for its canals and beautiful architecture such as temples and gardens. Wenzhou – a city in southeastern Zhejiang. Yangzhou - a city well known