Qing Dynasty To The Republic Of China Ordos Reclamation And The Environmental Change

The environment of Ordos region now is very bad. The dissertation comprehensively studied the reclamation of the undeveloped land in Ordos region from the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, and analyzed its influences on the local environment.In the early Qing Dynasty the government prohibited from reclaiming the land in Ordos region, but there were a few Han people came there to reclaim the land. With the stabilizing of the national political situation, the prohibition was gradually released. In the late Qing Dynasty thinking of consolidating the frontier defense and increasing its financial income, the government led the reclamation in the area. As a result, a great of land was reclaimed.The Republic of China succeeded the Qing Dynasty's reclamation policy, but its form changed greatly. In the process of its reclamation the troop took substantial proportion. In this period, its reclaimed area greatly exceeded that of the Qing Dynasty.From the late Qing Dynasty, the people lived in back of the Yellow River had already began to construct ditches to irrigate their crops. They successively constructed eleven main ditches and many subordinate ones that greatly increased the planting area and reduced the planting risks. Although there were convenient irrigating conditions, the inhabitants of Back of the Yellow River didn't develop economic crops and remained planting grain crops. The cultivating way the peasants there was relatively primitive. Limited by the technology the yield was not much.The large quantity of reclamation led to the essential change of industry structure in the region. Originally the Mongolian herded in Ordos region. But through the reclamation of the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, the agricultural population and the total agricultural value of output had exceeded those of animal husbandry so that agriculture had become the most important industry there. This was because the Qing Dynasty tried its best to practice the Lamaism in Mongolia that made the population of the Mongolian decrease. The war broke out in the northwest China in the Qing Dynasty also caused the population decreasing there. Meanwhile the Han people rapidly increased in the inland. The pressure of population forced the people there to immigrate to the border region. The immigrants that the government organized because of garrisoning the frontier and enriching its national treasury added the agricultural population, too. After the way to the northeast China was obstructed, the immigrants increased more rapidly.That so large quantity immigrants reclaimed the undeveloped land in Ordos seriously destructed the environment there. Ordos is a region with fragile ecology. The reclamation this time deteriorated the climate there, led to soil corroding and other environmental questions.