Research On The Geography Of Agriculture And Animal Husbandry In The Tang Dynasty In Northwest China

This paper takes the agriculture and animal husbandry in the Tang Dynasty in the northwest region as the research object and discusses the population in Tang Dynasty,the cultivation,crop structure,animal husbandry,relationship between farming and animal husbandry and social factors.The paper is done on the basis of profound research of predecessors in this field,comprehensive analysis of relevant research results,extensive collection of data and application of relevant theories in historical agricultural geography.This author discusses the geographical environment and agricultural foundation of the northwest region before the Tang Dynasty due to the historical succession of agricultural and animal husbandry production in in ancient agricultural society.In terms of geographical environnent,the climate of the Tang Dynasty as well as the dry and wet conditions in the northwestern region were restored respectively,therefore more detailed conclusions were drawn on the time resolution.The results show that there was a distribution(drought-wet-wet-wet-wet-wet-drought)in the northwestern part of the Tang Dynasty.To be more specific,the dry period was generally longer than the wet one,but there were differences within the area.In terms of agricultural foundation,the focus is on the process of agricultural and animal husbandry before the Tang Dynasty in the northwestern region.The results indicate that political and military factors also function in the development of agriculture and animal husbandry before the Tang Dynasty in the northwest region.Population are significant in the study of historical agricultural geography.In this part,the author firstly analyzes the population recorded in the official history in a time-sharing manner,and then restores the population outside the northwestern region from the perspective of land carrying eapacity.The results show that there are many doubts about the population in the northwest,the number of long-term garrisons,the recording of the hidden population and that of the nomadic people in the northwest region during Kaiyuan and Tianbao,which was almost half of the registered population in the region.These conclusions above provide a sound basis for the subsequent research.This paper divides the land reclamation in the Tang Dynasty in the northwest region into two parts:military martial arts and folk cultivating.In the process of demonstrating the scale of the squad,two sets of recovery models were established.The effectiveness of the military squad is verified by the number of garrisons in the long period and the food consumption of the unit soldiers.The scale of the folk reclamation is based on the hukou data.The field value and the amount of cultivated land required for survival based on the per capita food consumption and the yield of the food crop are corrected.Both of them were selected as the time profile at the time of Kaiyuan Tianbao.The results show that the scale and effectiveness of military shackles are significantly different within the northwestern region;the scale of civil squadrons and military squads in local areas is almost the same;in areas where military deficiencies are clearly insufficient.Folk cultivating clearly fills the gap of food shortage.On this basis,the paper discusses the regional differences and temporal and spatial characteristics of land reclamation.The northwest area is divided into five areas:the Weishui River Basin,the Guanzhong Road along the Yellow River,the Hehuang District,the Hexi Corridor and the Western Region.The phased process of sputum in each area is clarified,and the spatial characteristics are summarized.Finally,the time and space characteristics of folk reproduction within the region are analyzed taking Guannei area as the center.After analyzing the crop structure and animal husbandry,it can be found that the millet crops are still the main food in the northwest region at this time.From taxation to official salaries,from military food to storage systems,grain crops are dominated by millet.The stocking in the animal husbandry is very important in this research area.It is related to the national defense security and basic necessities of life in the northwest region.In some areas,the importance of sheep and the horses can be even outweighed cattle.From the structures of the agricultural and livestock,it can be seen that the agriculture and animal husbandry in the northwest region are interdependent.The stocking of livestock is dependent on millet and bean crops,which support the stocking of livestock in the northwest in the form of forage.The military operations and taxation system initiated by the stocking of animal husbandry have,to a certain extent,promoted and adapted the crop structure.This is the process of agricultural selection under the joint effort of geographical environnent and social factors.Natural and human factors influencing the development of agriculture and animal husbandry are also explored by the author.Development of agriculture and animal husbandry is hindered by vast deserts and mountains in the northwest region.In the areas suitable for agricultural production,water resources and topography are the most essential factors.Generally,the roles of the two are comprehensive.The impact of the two factors varies across regions.The combination of temperature and humidity fluctuations over a long period of time can affect the crop combinations in the region to a certain extent,which has a profound impact on regional agricultural production.In the development of agriculture and animal husbandly in the northwest region,the main body of labor and national policy are the most important human factors.At the level of the laborer's main body,this paper summarizes the agro-pastoralists in the northwest region with the "buffering group".They make the farming and animal husbandry process in the region have stronger social adaptability.At the policy level,population policies and the placement of inward nomads have a huge impact on agriculture and animal husbandry in the region.In terms of national policies,Tang Ting's management policy in the Longyou area of Hexi was quite opposite to that of the Tang Dynasty in the late Tang Dynasty,and it corresponded to the decline of agricultural production at the national level.However,due to the“buffer ethnic groups”,the pattern of farming and animal husbandly in the northwest region still exists and develops slowly.