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Migration and reclamation in Northeast China in response to climatic disasters in North China over the past 300 years

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Abstract

Climatic disaster-induced migration and its effects on land exploitation of new settlements is a crucial topic that needs to be researched to better understand the impact of climate change and human adaptation. This paper focuses on the process and mechanism of migrant–reclamation in Northeast China in response to climatic disasters over the past 300 years. The research used comparative analysis of key interlinked factors in this response involving drought/flood events, population, cropland area, farmer revolts, administrations establishment, and land reclamation policies. It draws the following conclusions: (1) seven peaks of migrants–reclamation in Northeast China were evident, most likely when frequent climatic disasters happened in North China, such as the drought–flood in 1851–1859, drought in 1875–1877, and drought 1927–1929; (2) six instances of policy transformation adopted to cope with extreme climatic events, including distinctive examples like changing to a firm policy prohibiting migration in 1740 and a subsequent lifting of that prohibition in 1860; and (3) the fast expansion of the northern agricultural boundary since the middle of the nineteenth century in this area benefited from a climate change trend from a cold period into a warm period. Altogether, over the past 300 years, extreme climatic disasters in North China have deepened the contradiction between the limited land resources and the rapidly increasing population and have resulted in migration and reclamation in Northeast China. Climate, policy, and reclamation constructed an organic chain of response that dominated the land use/cover change process of Northeast China.

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Notes

  1. In this paper, methods including documentary data calibration and multi-sourced data conversion model are used to reconstruct historical cropland cover change in Northeast China during the past 300 years.

  2. Chronicle of the reign of Qianlong monarch in the Qing Dynasty.

    “前因直隶省京南被旱各州县无业贫民,至京就食者日众,并多有出口觅食者。……并令其或出山海关赴盛京一带,或出张家口、喜峰口、赴八沟、三座塔暨蒙古地方,不必专由古北口出口。”.

  3. General verification of historical documents in Qing Dynasty, volume 19. Quoted from Yi and Wu (1999).

    ″乾隆二十七年(1762), 清政府把宁古塔地区查出的流民全部驱逐到吉林、伯都讷地区安置,并将‘吉林乌拉、伯都讷种地流民,编入皇甲,入册交粮’”.

  4. Memorial to the throne on capital droughts for requesting relieving barren, 1880. Quoted from Zhang (1998) and Zhang Z D, Collected Edition of Zhang Z D. Achieve discussion, Volume one.

    “光绪元年(1876)后连续四年的华北特大旱灾,遍及华北五省,受灾难民达2000万人以上。山东难民农村皆‘扶老携幼,结对成群,相率逃荒于奉锦各属,以觅宗族亲友而就食’”.

  5. “1928年和1929年烟台、青岛、龙口三港对东北地区的客运量分别为61万人次和64万人次”.

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Acknowledgments

Supported by Grant No. 2010CB950103 under China Global Change Research Program and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 40901099, 41071127).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geography, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China

    Yu Ye & Xiuqi Fang

  2. Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, Switzerland

    Mohammad Aftab U Khan

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  1. Yu Ye
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  2. Xiuqi Fang
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  3. Mohammad Aftab U Khan
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Correspondence to Yu Ye.

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Ye, Y., Fang, X. & Aftab U Khan, M. Migration and reclamation in Northeast China in response to climatic disasters in North China over the past 300 years. Reg Environ Change 12, 193–206 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-011-0245-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-011-0245-6

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