The Locust In Henan And Basic Society At The End Of Ming Dynasty

Henan has been being the locust plague place, especially at the end of the Ming dynasty. This has the important connection with Henan's geographical position and the climate vicissitude at the end of the Ming dynasty. The end of the Ming dynasty in Henan, locust plague had features of successive years, gradualness, the regional characteristic, to supervenes the nature, and accumulation, its scope spreads the Henan entire province nearly, and is most serious by the Yellow River coast. Moreover, more than 50% locust plagues are successive years occur, especially the Chong Zhen last years once there had had continuously five-year big locust plague, called"the Rare Famine"by many people. The basic unit populace living in poverty, met this disaster, urgently needing national reliefing and local elites rescue.From the Wanli to Chong Zhen dynasty, the national strength had been decreasing progressively day after day. This period the government took seriously toward the Henan locust plague, adopting the way of remitting, changing folds, postponing levying to lighten burden of victims, sometimes the government would also entrust the officials to send the grain to relief, and help the stricken populace to cross the locust plague to resume the production. The period of Tianqi and Chong Zhen, the war intensified gradually, giving little attention to the Henan locust plague, even in the famine years to increase the tax revenue and the pay for the military, the populace life arrived at the edge of the collapse. In the the situation of country weakening its relief, the local elites played more and more vital roles in famine relief. With the locust plague the Henan elite adopted anything possible to carry on the rescue, from coordinating country to implement the relief measure, to organizing the populace to catch the locust, from transporting the millet and grain, and boiling the gruel to lending money, and setting up tombs for the dead, these efforts relax the harm brought by the locust plague. When the disaster was lightened, it also helped the people to pull through and resumed the normal life. But there are many problems for the elites rescue at the end of Ming dynasty. The limited strength made them rescue only in the local place, they could not implement a more regular rescue movement. And not all the elite would like to contribute themselves, meanwhile not all the elite would like to care others. Pursuing the self-interest was very popular. These points make a conclusion that the Henan local elite could only resist the common disaster, lacked the strength for the big locust plague in the Chongzhe 45 Year.The government decreased the relief, while the local elites had no function on the relief. Under this situation, the victims borrowed the loans or moved away in order to live on. More and more people die of hunger and pursuing a new life. It was the time that Li Zicheng passed by Henan from Yunjun. All the victims followed him, making his troop increasing promptly only in one year, from fifty horses to millions. Some Henan intellectuals joined in the insurrectionary army to provide the political experience,"Welcome Chuangwang, Accept no grain", this policy and its implement made everyone believed the Li, and he got his good reputations. It built the important basis for his later"Take up Zhongyuan, Swallow Jianghan , Attack Sanqin,Outrage Jishu"to overthrow the Ming Dynasty. Although the wild talk could not end the Ming dynasty, it has a close relation with Henan locust plague and Li Zicheng's quick defeatness.