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Climate, Desertification, and the Rise and Collapse of China’s Historical Dynasties

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Notes

  1. We did not use the period prior to 900 A.D. due to the low sample size

  2. The first emperor of the Tang (Li Yuan) was the cousin of the Sui emperor (Yang Guang).

  3. The replacement of the Zhou Dynasty by the Northern Song Dynasty involved usurpation of the throne rather than warfare.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Key Project for Basic Research “The key physical processes of oasification, desertification and their numerical simulations (2009CB421304)”. We are very grateful to anonymous referees for their critical and fruitful comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Desert and Desertification, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, China

    Xunming Wang, Caixia Zhang & Dunsheng Xia

  2. College of Resources Science and Technology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China

    Xunming Wang & Eerdun Hasi

  3. CAEP, MOE Key Laboratory of West China’s Environmental Systems, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China

    Fahu Chen, Jiawu Zhang & Jijun Li

  4. College of Atmospheric Science, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China

    Yi Yang

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Correspondence to Xunming Wang.

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Wang, X., Chen, F., Zhang, J. et al. Climate, Desertification, and the Rise and Collapse of China’s Historical Dynasties. Hum Ecol 38, 157–172 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-009-9298-2

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