'South of the [Nanling] Mountains'; Vietnamese: Lĩnh Nam) is a geographic area referring to the lands in the south of the Nanling Mountains.

The region covers the modern Chinese subdivisions of Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hong Kong & Macau[1][2] and Northern Vietnam.

The area was inhabited by the Baiyue and was the base of the ancient kingdom of Nanyue.

At that time, Lingnan was considered by the ancient Chinese court to be a tropical barbarian land that had no contact with the Zhongyuan, which was the cultural cradle of Chinese culture.

In the second century BCE, the Han conquest of Nanyue led to its absorption into the Han dynasty during its southward expansion, and its development was boosted once the Mei Pass was paved.