Research On Interactive Relation Between Natural Disasters, Society And Economy In Jianghuai Region In Ming And Qing Dynasties

Natural disaster refers to damage brought by natural forces to human society. In Ming and Qing dynasties, natural disasters in Jianghuai Region (the area between Yangtze River and Huai River) included flood, drought, disaster brought by locusts, plague, earthquake, gale, hale, heavy snow, and unexpected frost. With natural disasters as a starting point, the author of this thesis makes an attempt to carry out research, systemically and profoundly, on interactive relation between natural disasters, society and economy in Jianghuai Region in Ming and Qing dynasties. The research may contribute to the historical research as well as to the social and economic development and to avoiding and relieving the damage caused by those disasters.The thesis divides into seven chapters, with a focus on how disasters happened and how local people responded. Chapter One describes the ecological and social environment in Jianghuai Region in Ming and Qing dynasties. To put it into more detail, occurrence of natural disasters is a process in which natural forces act on human society. Social factors also play a role in this process. On the one hand, transitional natural features in topography, climate, and water system are reasons why natural disasters happened so often in this region. Since Nan Song Dynasty, Yellow River flowed through the course of Huai River. This disturbed the water system in the region and thus, it was more likely to bring natural disasters. On the other hand, in Ming and Qing dynasties, improper ratio between population and arable land in this region resulted in many improper agricultural activities, such as excessive cultivation of the land, formation of land by draining lakes and cutting down the forests, thus worsening the fragile ecological environment. This in turn caused natural disasters to happen more severely and frequently. Since Nan Song Dynasty, frequent natural disasters stagnated the economic development in this region. Until Ming and Qing dynasties, the region was still in an underdeveloped fanning stage. This economic form of fanning was not the direct reason of those disasters, but it undoubtedly amplified the damaging force as well as the degree of the disasters. In turn, the high frequency and amplification of the natural disasters greatly reduced the abilities of the people in the region to respond to the disasters and to resume agricultural activities after the disasters.Chapter Two describes the variety of the disasters in the region in Ming and Qing dynasties. Flood, among all the disasters, caused the most serious damage to the region. To be more exact, the flood could be formed by heavy rain, by the water rushing down from mountains, by the rivers and lakes overflowing their banks or because of bankscollapsing towards the river. Next to flood, drought also caused serious damage. In terms of time, drought in the region often occurred in spring, summer, and autumn, while in terms of space, gradually, draught occurred more frequently in the north of the region than in the south, with its highland most hit by draught. Areas along Huai River and Yangtze River were often flooded by water overflowing the banks; Mountain areas in its west and middle east often suffered from water rushing down from mountains; areas of Lixia River were often flooded by heavy rain; plains north of the Yangtze river were often flooded because of banks collapsing inward. Drought and locusts' damage were often closely related to each other. They usually came one after another. Except for some areas along the rivers and lakes, Jianghuai Plain, lowland in Binhai Plain, most areas in Jianghuai region suffered from flying locusts. There was also damage caused by tidewater. It could be further divided. They included storm tidewater, ocean tidewater, seawater overflowing into rivers, river tidewater and so on, among which, storm tidewater and river tidewater caused the most serious damage. Other disasters such as plague, earthquake, gale, hale, heavy snow, and unexpected frost did not occur so frequent, but when the...