A Study On Famine Relief In The Yellow River Flood Area In Eastern Henan Province(1938—1947)

After the HuaYuankou dike broke in 1938,the eastern region of HeNan provine became a major disaster area,which casued great loss of life and property.The Yellow River flood greatly destroyed the ecological environment of the plains.The original river system changed,and water conservancy and shipping system was destroyed.The soil and landform was affected by sand silting,and the deterioration of the ecological environment induced frequent natural disasters such as flood,drought and locust plague,and the deterioration of ecological environment made plains people life more hardship.The nine-year yellow flood disaster had a great impact on the mentality of the flood victims.When the Yellow River flood came at first,everyone hoped to survive and the desire to survive was overwhelming.But when the disaster continued and the hunger finally reached the extreme,the victims sold their children in order to survive,and the ethics and morals were overturned.Although the ethics and morals were overturned during the disaster period,it was rare to have residual warmth that occurred in the famine,so the warmth was really more valuable.The people of disaster area relied on agriculture for a living,and people were attached to their native land and unwilling to leave it.Some victims still didn't want to leave the homeland even if the Yellow River flooded home,they had much nostalgia for everthing of hometown.During the flood period,it was the time of the Anti-Japanese War.Even though the victims suffered great losses due to the Yellow River,the victims still exported everything they had for the national Anti-Japanese War.The patience and dedication of the people of HeNan province were obvious to all.After the Yellow River burst,the National government first strengthened the publicity for the sake of stabilizing the people and coping with the international audio-visual situation,and claiming that the Japanese army had blown up the Yellow River dyke,and formulated a series of relief measures and outline regulations for the relief of flood victims,and sent inspectors to the Yellow River basin for many times to prepare for the implementation of specific relief measures.The relief of famine in the Yellow River basin in eastern HeNan province by the National government could be divided into three stages.The first stage was the relief of famine in the early stage of the Yellow River basin(1938-1941).The second stage was the relief in the Yellow River basin(1942-1945),when various natural disasters in the region were intertwined,resulting in more complicated disasters.The third stage was the relief for the recovery and recovery of the flood area(1946-1947).After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War,the National government blocked the entrance of HuaYuankou and implemented a series of relief measures in order to renew the flood area.The relief measures taken by the National government had played an active role in saving the lives of some of the victims and improving the ecological environment of the areas,which couldn't be replaced by any other organizations or individuals.Especially after the war,with the material assistance of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration,the National government established China National Relief and Rehabilitation Administration and HeNan branch.They had a serious of relief measures on flood area and had achieved remarkable success.The rescue work after the disaster laid the foundation for the future renaissance of the region in terms of manpower and agriculture,and improved the ecological environment of the region,which laid the ecological foundation for the renaissance of the region.The relief performance of the National government was undeniable,but it should also be noted that the National government still had a variety of limitations in the implementation of relief measures,which affected the National government's relief results.First,the National government would take the war into consideration when implementing the relief measures because of the war environment,which had affected the relief efforts.Secondly,due to the war,the internal traffic lines were seriously damaged at that time,which would delay the arrival time of relief personnel and supplies to the flood area and affect the access of relief supplies.Thirdly,the effect of the National government's assistance to the flood area was affected because of various personnel reasons.Fourth,through the famine caused by the Yellow River disaster,we could see the fact that the disaster risks of different classes and groups were not equal and the social resources were not distributed fairly in the class society.The organizational effectiveness,executive ability and management ability of the government affected the severity of the disaster,which was a manifestation of the social vulnerability.Fifth,some disaster relief measures in the implementation process couldn't be fully implemented,so the disaster relief measures appeared a variety of drawbacks and then affected the effectiveness of the government's disaster relief.