Abstract: Cities in Jiangnan (regions south of the Yangtze River) had property of administrative seat of a local government in the system of prefectures and counties in the Qin-Han Dynasties. The development of the cities can be divided into three stages, among which the reign of Liu Bi as the ruler of Wu in the Western Han Dynasty and the Late Eastern Han Dynasty had witnessed the high-speed development of Jiangnan. This shows that the development of cities in Jiangnan was closely related to the rising of local political power in the Qin-Han Dynasties. In this process, the administrative levels of the cities were changed when the setting of prefectures and counties changed many times. Meanwhile, with the economic and social development in regions, some cities in prefectures or counties gradually strengthened various differentiated functions, including trade and business circulation centers, production and administration bases, and transportation hubs and ports.

Key words: the Qin-Han Dynasties, Jiangnan, cities in prefectures or counties, functions of cities