IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/climat/v165y2021i1d10.1007_s10584-021-03049-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How ancient China dealt with summer droughts—a case study of the whole process of the 1751 drought in the Qing dynasty

Author

Listed:
  • Zhixin Hao

    (Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences
    University of Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Danyang Xiong

    (Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences
    University of Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Jingyun Zheng

    (Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences
    University of Chinese Academy of Sciences)

Abstract

Based on historical records and scores of the grain harvest in the Qing Dynasty, we reconstruct the spatial–temporal distribution and disaster severities of drought and flood disasters in eastern China in 1751, and we summarize the social countermeasures to the disasters at that time. In the summer of 1751, the regions south of the Yangtze River in China experienced droughts, while northern China suffered floods caused by excessive rainfall. From 14 June to 11 August, the entire Zhejiang Province and its surrounding areas were impacted by droughts, resulting in the most serious crop failure in Zhejiang Province from the 18th to the nineteenth century. However, the floods in northern China did not seriously affect agricultural production. In response to the droughts, the government implemented relief measures such as exempting taxes in disaster areas, using raw grains in warehouses to help famine refugees, and transferring rice from bumper harvest areas to disaster areas. All the disaster relief measures provided Zhejiang Province with enough rice to feed 1.6325 million people for 1 year. In addition, the government also took some other measures to assist in disaster relief. The series of measures adopted by the government mitigated the impact of the drought on society, and the influence of the drought ended completely on 11 May 1752. This study improves our understanding the spatial–temporal distribution of a climatic disaster based on historical records, and it explores the adaptation of human society to climatic disasters.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhixin Hao & Danyang Xiong & Jingyun Zheng, 2021. "How ancient China dealt with summer droughts—a case study of the whole process of the 1751 drought in the Qing dynasty," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 165(1), pages 1-22, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:climat:v:165:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1007_s10584-021-03049-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s10584-021-03049-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10584-021-03049-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10584-021-03049-5?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jingyun Zheng & Lingbo Xiao & Xiuqi Fang & Zhixin Hao & Quansheng Ge & Beibei Li, 2014. "How climate change impacted the collapse of the Ming dynasty," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 127(2), pages 169-182, November.
    2. Myriam Khodri & Takeshi Izumo & Jérôme Vialard & Serge Janicot & Christophe Cassou & Matthieu Lengaigne & Juliette Mignot & Guillaume Gastineau & Eric Guilyardi & Nicolas Lebas & Alan Robock & Michael, 2017. "Publisher Correction: Tropical explosive volcanic eruptions can trigger El Niño by cooling tropical Africa," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 1-1, December.
    3. Joseph G. Manning & Francis Ludlow & Alexander R. Stine & William R. Boos & Michael Sigl & Jennifer R. Marlon, 2017. "Volcanic suppression of Nile summer flooding triggers revolt and constrains interstate conflict in ancient Egypt," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 1-9, December.
    4. Yu Liu & Kim M. Cobb & Huiming Song & Qiang Li & Ching-Yao Li & Takeshi Nakatsuka & Zhisheng An & Weijian Zhou & Qiufang Cai & Jinbao Li & Steven W. Leavitt & Changfeng Sun & Ruochen Mei & Chuan-Chou , 2017. "Recent enhancement of central Pacific El Niño variability relative to last eight centuries," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 1-8, August.
    5. Jim M. Haywood & Andy Jones & Nicolas Bellouin & David Stephenson, 2013. "Asymmetric forcing from stratospheric aerosols impacts Sahelian rainfall," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 3(7), pages 660-665, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhixin Hao & Mengxin Bai & Danyang Xiong & Yang Liu & Jingyun Zheng, 2021. "The severe drought of 1876–1878 in North China and possible causes," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 167(1), pages 1-17, July.
    2. Raphaël Rousseau-Rizzi & Kerry Emanuel, 2022. "Natural and anthropogenic contributions to the hurricane drought of the 1970s–1980s," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    3. Ruyu Gan & Qi Liu & Gang Huang & Kaiming Hu & Xichen Li, 2023. "Greenhouse warming and internal variability increase extreme and central Pacific El Niño frequency since 1980," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    4. Christian, Cornelius & Elbourne, Liam, 2018. "Shocks to military support and subsequent assassinations in Ancient Rome," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 79-82.
    5. Shengda Zhang & David Dian Zhang & Qing Pei, 2021. "Spatiotemporal shifts of population and war under climate change in imperial China," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 165(1), pages 1-19, March.
    6. Emmerling, Johannes & Tavoni, Massimo, 2013. "Geoengineering and Abatement: A “flat” Relationship under Uncertainty," Climate Change and Sustainable Development 148917, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    7. Constantin Laura-Gabriela & Iamandi Irina-Eugenia, 2014. "Revealing The Sustainable Development Equilibrium Through Catastrophe Bonds, Social Corporate Engagement And Economic Performance For The European Reinsurance Industry," Annals - Economy Series, Constantin Brancusi University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 6, pages 35-43, December.
    8. Fei Liu & Chaochao Gao & Jing Chai & Alan Robock & Bin Wang & Jinbao Li & Xu Zhang & Gang Huang & Wenjie Dong, 2022. "Tropical volcanism enhanced the East Asian summer monsoon during the last millennium," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-7, December.
    9. Yongxiang Zhang & Hongli Wang & Xuemei Shao & Jinbao Li & Guoyu Ren, 2022. "Extreme drought events diagnosed along the Yellow River and the adjacent area," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 173(3), pages 1-16, August.
    10. Beckage, Brian & Lacasse, Katherine & Raimi, Kaitlin T. & Visioni, Daniele, 2023. "Integrating Risk Perception with Climate Models to Understand the Potential Deployment of Solar Radiation Modification to Mitigate Climate Change," RFF Working Paper Series 23-22, Resources for the Future.
    11. Feng Chen & Hadad Martín & Xiaoen Zhao & Fidel Roig & Heli Zhang & Shijie Wang & Weipeng Yue & Youping Chen, 2022. "Abnormally low precipitation-induced ecological imbalance contributed to the fall of the Ming Dynasty: new evidence from tree rings," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 173(1), pages 1-16, July.
    12. Alessandra Giannini & Alexey Kaplan, 2019. "The role of aerosols and greenhouse gases in Sahel drought and recovery," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 152(3), pages 449-466, March.
    13. Giacomo Benati & Joerg Baten & Arkadiusz Soltysiak, 2022. "Understanding the decline of interpersonal violence in the ancient middle east Abstract: How did human societies succeed in reducing interpersonal violence, a precondition to achieve security and pros," UB School of Economics Working Papers 2022/424, University of Barcelona School of Economics.
    14. Abdelkader T. Ahmed & Fatma El Gohary & Vasileios A. Tzanakakis & Andreas N. Angelakis, 2020. "Egyptian and Greek Water Cultures and Hydro-Technologies in Ancient Times," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-26, November.
    15. Channing Arndt & Chris Loewald & Konstantin Makrelov, 2020. "Climate change and its implications for central banks in emerging and developing economies," Working Papers 10001, South African Reserve Bank.
    16. Cédric Chambru, 2019. "Do the Right Thing! Leaders, Weather Shocks and Social Conflicts in Pre-Industrial France," Working Papers 0161, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    17. Emmerling, Johannes & Tavoni, Massimo, 2017. "Quantifying Non-cooperative Climate Engineering," MITP: Mitigation, Innovation and Transformation Pathways 266289, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    18. Xu-Dong Chen & Yun Su & Xiu-Qi Fang, 2021. "Social impacts of extreme drought event in Guanzhong area, Shaanxi Province, during 1928–1931," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 164(3), pages 1-19, February.
    19. Mengxin Bai & Jingyun Zheng & Zhixin Hao & Xuezhen Zhang & Gang Zeng, 2019. "Hydroclimate patterns over the Northern Hemisphere when megadroughts occurred in North China during the last millennium," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 157(3), pages 365-385, December.
    20. Johannes Emmerling & Massimo Tavoni, 2018. "Climate Engineering and Abatement: A ‘flat’ Relationship Under Uncertainty," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 69(2), pages 395-415, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:climat:v:165:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1007_s10584-021-03049-5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.