Research On Ecological Changes Of Xuefeng Mountainous Area In Qing Dynasty

To reveal the relationship between land use patterns and ecological environmentchanges in the historical period is an important direction of historical research in Hunan.This paper, through the use of new methods and excavations of new historical materials,on the basis of previous studies, using more than20tablets of ancient inscriptions forforest protection obtained from fieldwork, makes a more in-depth discussion oneconomic development activities and ecological environmental changes in XuefengMountainous Area in Qing Dynasty starting with the roles of Qing Dynasty’sdevelopment policy, land reclamation, introduction of exotic crops, as well aslivelihoods of various ethnic groups in the maintenance and change of the ecologicalenvironment in this period.The first chapter describes the origin of the topic, followed by a review of thecurrent status quo of academic research on the subject and omissions and shortcomingsin the studies to once again clarify the theoretical basis of the topic and researchmethods to be taken.The second chapter, taking Suining County in the mid-section of XuefengMountain for example, analyzes Suining County’s natural and geographical background,and the status quo of the existing ancient inscriptions for forest protection in the county,and sorts out the historical events on development of Suining County by centralgovernments in the dynasties before the Qing, believing that in the long history beforethe "bureaucratization of native officers" in Qing Dynasty, the development of SuiningCounty by the central governments of all dynasties was based on transit development, inwhich the development scale was small; the areas involved were mainly concentratedalong the post roads or around the cities, while most of the region in the counties wereremote mountainous areas still difficult for immigrants from the inland to go deep into,so this development mode had smaller impact on the local ecological environment.The third and fourth discuss that after the "bureaucratization of native officers" inQing Dynasty, the central government strengthened the domination of the region andimplemented a more comprehensive and in-depth direct development. This is mainlyexpressed by carrying on the land use patterns in the Central Plains region to launchlarge-scale land reclamation in the mountains of Suining County, but due to the disorderin development and management, this process had more serious impact on the localecological environment, and even caused ecological disaster to local areas.Starting with the official notices and local rules and regulations related to theinscriptions for forest protection, the fifth chapter explores the remedial measures takenrespectively by all levels of society with awareness of ecological environment as thedeterioration of ecological environment became prominent in the middle and late Qing Dynasty.Finally, based on conclusion of the lessons learned from the history that QingDynasty’s change in land use patterns led to deterioration of ecological environment,discusses two issues around the land use pattern and adaptability to ecologicalenvironment, and around the national development policies and ecological safety withan view to providing a reference for today’s ecological construction and ecologicalrestoration.