Research On The Reclamation Of Land In North Chihli Of Ming Dynasty

At the early period of Ming Dynasty, the population of North Chihli and the farmland were largely reduced because of influence of a number of reasons, such as the war and the disaster. In order to maintain the tax and resume agricultural production,the Ming government made a large number of people,which from Other areas, such as Shanxi Province immigrated into North Chihli during Hung-wu and Yung-lo period, this provided a great deal of labor to land reclamation in North Chihli. Not only that, after the Ming government moved the capital to Peking, a large number of troops stationed here, to continue the early policies,this contributed to the land reclamation. In order to protect land reclamation work smoothly, the Ming government not only admitted the ownership of the land from the legal policy, but also, provided some supportive policies, for example,it gived a lot of farm tools and seed to farmers, at the same time, the reclamation was regarded as a consideration for local official’s promotion, all this promoted the reclamation of wasteland.The cultivation of land in North Chihli was renaturation from Hung-wu to the late of Yung-lo period. Fertil land had been cultivated during this period.At the mid and late period of Ming Dynasty the activities of land reclamation presented different characteristics.On the one hand, with the construction of water conservancy project and the improvement of salinate field, a lot of paddy fields were cultivated, these activities had cultivated some lands which not cultivated in the early Ming.On the other hand, under the influence of natural disasters, many farmers had to leave their homes, this lead to wasteland,so the government had to put effort on the wasteland.wasteland and reclamation occured by turns,in a word.the reclamation of land in North Chihli of Ming dynasty can’t compare with today’s level, and in some places due to the influence of natural factors and human factors,the reclamation of land had shrinked,but the most areas in the Ming Dynasty have been greatly cultivated, it laid the foundation of the future reclamation and provided valuable experience for land development in the Qing dynasty.