Abstract: The term of “south of the Yangtze River” in history was full of cultural and ideological resources and yet shortage of a modern scientific definition, while the “identity of south of the Yangtze River” was a concept derived from influential cultural materials and various images. In a transitive process from a political to cultural identity, literature tended to play a great role. The cognitive identity of south of the Yangtze River took shape during the period of Southern and Northern dynasties, and meanwhile the identity of the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River did not disappear. They both have always coexisted and affected each other.

Key words: identity of the south of the Yangtze River, identity of the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, history, literature