A Preliminary Study On Agricultural Development In Qiandongbei Region During The Period Of Ming And Qing Dynasties

In the Ming and Qing Dynasties,in the Northeastern Guizhou,the agricultural economy developed greatly.The factors that made the farming civilization in these ethnic minority areas highly developed,among others are: the development of agriculture,the growth of the population,the construction of the water projects,the progress of agricultural tools,the indepth of land use,the introduction of new crops,the development of agricultural commercialization etc.The Northeast Guizhou is a core part of Wuling mountainous area,connected with the two provinces of Hunan and Chongqing.Its ecological environment is a bit complex.In the east,there is the Yuanjiang river system and the hilly area,while in the west lie the Wujiang River Basin and the low mountain valley area.This paper explores the agricultural development in the Northeastern Guizhou,in the Ming and Qing Dynasties,focusing on outlining the original agricultural development,analyzing also the factors that affect this development during the dynastic periods.The paper does not provide only the factors of the regional development in the Wuling mountainous region,but it also gives some references for the current alleviation of poverty in the region and the socio-economic development during the Great Development of the West region of China.Based on access to a large number of related local chronicles and literature materials,a systematic research and analysis of the agricultural development,in Northeastern Guizhou,in the Ming and Qing Dynasties,using the methods of historical comparison,logical analysis,chart application etc.,was successfully conducted.The paper is divided into several main chapters as follows:The first chapter introduces the agriculture geographical environment and its natural conditions,the changes in administrative divisions of the region and its agricultural production status before the Ming Dynasty.The following chapters are the body of the paper: The second chapter mainly introduces the status of the population in this region and its land reclamation situation in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.The third chapter discusses several aspects of agricultural development in the Northeastern Guizhou,in the Ming and Qing Dynasties: the construction of water conservancy projects,the development of the agricultural tools,the arrangement of "farming work" and "farming season" by local people in the area,and the progress of agricultural technology.The fourth chapter is discussed from the aspect of planting crops.In this period,the population has experienced a relatively large twists and turns due to the impact of natural disasters,wars,immigration and so on.But on the whole,the fact that the population in this region was subject to imbalances,moving from Ming Dynasty to Qing Dynasty,has provided sufficient labor resources for its agricultural production and has made available a vast area of wasteland under cultivation.The construction of water conservancy projects,the development of agricultural tools,and the progress of agricultural technology have laid a solid foundation and conditioned the great agricultural development in the Ming and Qing dynasties.Planting crops in the region is mainly centered on traditional crops such as rice and wheat.The introduction of new crop varieties from the Americas into the Ming and Qing Dynasties improved the diet structure of the local people,thus diversifying the planting of crops in this region.The fifth,the sixth chapters and the conclusion part are the summary of the thesis.The fifth chapter deals with the main achievements and influence of the agricultural development in the region.The sixth chapter summarizes the factors that affect the agricultural development in this region.The conclusion part is the revelation brought by agricultural development in the Northeastern Guizhou in the period of Ming and Qing Dynasties to the present agricultural and economic development in Tongren area.It provides some references and suggestions for promoting the sustainable development of agricultural economy in Tongren.