A Study On The Desertification And Social Responsibility In Shaanxi Province During The Period Of Ming Chongzhen

The Late Ming witnessed a sequence of disasters that caused a great deal of social instability, to the extend of interfering the historical development. The most typical was the famine of Shaanxi Province in the years of Chong-zhen (崇祯). On one hand, it caused immence destruction; on the other, it led to the peasant uprising in the Late Ming and therefore altered the path of Chinese history profoundly. There is relatively low attention from the scholars being paid to the social response to this disaster. If there is any, the case study accounts more. Therefore, there is a gap in historiography of the specific study on the famine and the social response in Shaanxi Province in the years of Chong-zhen(崇祯)This dissertation will focus on this gap. To be specific, on the basis of the former studies and original results, the paper will analyse the background and the situation of the famine, as well as the reaction that the government and the public took and its ecological impact.The paper will fall into seven chapters. Introduction comes first, illustrating the scope, problem settings and perspectives, relavant historiography and archives. The second chapter will discuss the ecological environment and social background of this famine, in the aim to present the natural and social element that contributed to this disaster. The third charpter will examine three geographic units of Shaanxi Province, giving an overview of the famine. Describtion on the secondary disasters caused by drought, such as locust plagues, pestilence and wolf disaster, and explanation for the occurrence of this famine caused tremendous ecological impact will also be given in accordance.The influence of this famine, including on the population, price of rice, peasant uprisings and other secondary disasters will be discussed in from Chapter Four.The fifth and sixth chapters are the key of this paper, which focus mainly on the official and civil actions taken in respond to the famine. The forth will illustrate the disaster policy of Ming Dynasty from three cases representing the state, higher officals and local response. The fifth examines how the public contributed to the self-rescue, including their motives, measures and impacts. The ninth is the conclusion. Firstly, the study will reveal four factors of this famine:long duration, large scope, drought, severe degree. Secondly, the theory that the social vulnerability is the media of natural disasters, the drought in Shaanxi Province showed the significant vulnerability of Shaanxi region in the Late Ming. Moreover, seen from the secondary disasters led by the drought, we can also safely conclude that the eco-enviranment of Shaanxi in the Late Ming was extremely vulnerable. Lastly, the reason for the fall of Ming Dynasty can not be viewed simply of the peasant uprising or the famine. Though the famine did lead to the peasant war, the real connection between Mind’s fall and the famine, was the social impact caused by the famine, which was relavant to its social vulnerability.