Research On Famine And Countermeasures Of Baoding Prefecture In The Late Qing Dynasty

During the late Qing period,the disasters occur frequently in Baoding prefecture,including flood,drought,locust plage,hailstorm,windstorm,earthquake,plague and so on.The reasons that the famines occur frequently are complicated.The natural factors mainly include climate hydrology and topography.The social factors contain destruction of wars,threat of brigands,week competence to prevent and combat disasters,inefficiency in the system of famine relief and so on.Due to the difference of geographical conditions and the social background,the space-time distribution of disasters is various.However,they show the main characters of diversity,high frequence,wide sweeping scale,continuity and concentration.Frequent famine of this region has a far-reaching impact on the social economy and life.Such as hampering the normal operation of the agricultural production,changing the composition of population,destroying the material wealth,influencing the progress of the commerce and triggering social conflicts.In the late Qing Dynasty,the system of famine relief policies has been perfect.However,because of the malpractice in the implementation process,it is difficult to have a significant effect.Of course,the Qing government take a serious of measures to improve the system.The officials from different levels also play a positive role by improving their behaviour.At the same time,the famine relief activities,conducted by the non-government,have also developed.However,their limitations are also obvious.