Study On The Natural Disaster And The Rescue Of Ying Zhou In The Late Qing Dynasty (1840-1911)

Agriculture is one of the main sectors of the economy in the traditional China. The productivity is relatively low in the late Qing Dynasty, so the ability to resist the natural disasters is not enough, it can say the ability is very weak in front of the natural disasters. Especially the Yellow River and Huaihe, the natural disasters are very frequently at that time. The northern of Anhui Province is located in the middle and lower reaches of the Huaihe, it is affected by the impact of natural disasters and the Ying Zhou is one of the major disaster grounds. China has both external and internal worries in the late Qing Dynasty, at that time traditional political rules are disordered, the government could not pay much attention to natural disasters, especially in the poor Ying Zhou region. So a wide variety of natural disasters have a great negative impact on the area during this period. This paper focuses on the natural disasters of Ying Zhou region in the late Qing Dynasty. The paper mainly explore the situation, the characteristics and the influence of natural disasters, the prevention and relief measures of Ying Zhou area in the late Qing Dynasty.The overview of the first part mainly combed the general situation of the natural disasters of Ying Zhou area in the late Qing Dynasty. In this part, I want to introduce the general situation of a lot of big disasters:such as flood drought and pests, and many other small disasters. To summarize the characteristics of the natural disasters of Ying Zhou area in the late Qing Dynasty, in my opinion the outstanding characteristics of the natural disasters are the frequency, diversity and seasonality.The second part is mainly narrate the reasons of the natural disasters in Ying Zhou region during this period. The reasons mainly contain two aspects:the natural reasons and the social reasons. In terms of the natural causes of the natural disasters, not only because of the influence of climate, topography and geological structure, but also the Yellow River "capture" phenomenon since the Southern Song Dynasty is exacerbated by the Ying Zhou area of natural disasters. Social reasons mainly include the following three aspects:Ying Zhou region is located at the junction of Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu Province, the political is dark,the tax is complex and the war is frequent. On the other hand, the traditional "peasant economy" has low productivity, it cannot play an important role in front of the natural disasters. At last, the plant of Opium is also a major reason, it reduce the land to plant crops, also reduce the strength to struggle against natural disasters.The third part mainly discusses the far-reaching influences of the natural disasters in Ying Zhou area in the late Qing Dynasty. The influences contain two major aspects:one is in the rural area and the other is in the urban area. Among the influences, the most profound impact is in people’s livelihood of the rural area. There are many other important influences, the natural disasters have many negative influences on the economy of the rural area. The natural disasters make the peasant lose their land and crops, so the natural disasters also lead to the peasant uprising and the bandit movements in the late Qing Dynasty of the rural area of Ying Zhou region. The natural disasters also have many impacts on the urban area, for example the large migration from the rural area to the urban area has a series of influences on the urban residents.The fourth part mainly discusses what prevention and relief the government put forward in front of the natural disasters during this period. In this part,the paper narratives the prevention and relief from two aspects:one is the official measure and the other is the folk measures. The official measures including:the government try their best to help the victims of the disaster, reduce the tax payment and give help to the victims of the disaster are two effective measures in the natural disasters during this period. The government also has many preventive measures to struggle the natural disasters. The government organize people to build many water conservancy projects when there is no natural disaster. People also store some crops in the warehouse when they have redundant crops. The government organize people to work for them when the farmers are free, it can increase the income of them. The folk measures include two major aspects:the folk self-help relief measures such as warehouse construction, it is the help from the disaster area. The other folk measure is from rich people out of the disaster area, they have sympathy on the victims of the disaster and they have enough money or crops to save the victims of the disaster.Generally speaking, the natural disasters of Ying Zhou region in the late Qing Dynasty is quite serious, it is one of the most serious area in Anhui Province. It is clear that the causes of the serious natural disasters at that time are various, the affects of the natural disasters in this place are far-reaching. Even though the government and the other forces have taken many measures to reduce the disadvantage affects of the natural disasters, but not all the measures could not come into being. It is disappointed that the natural disasters are still very serious compared to the other dynasty in the history of Ying Zhou region. On one hand, the natural disaster is an important part of the history of Ying Zhou area, on the other hand the late of Qing Dynasty is a special period in the history of China, it is different from peace time in many aspects. The natural disasters is a worthy topic to study in this special conditions. We should pay attention to this cannot be replaced part of our history. So it is necessary to study the natural disasters of Ying Zhou in the late Qing Dynasty.