Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Multi-stage evolution of social response to flood/drought in the North China Plain during 1644–1911

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Regional Environmental Change Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

How the past human society responded to climatic disasters could provide better understanding on the nature of climate–human–ecosystem interactions and the knowledge of the vulnerability for the society in the context of changing climate. In this paper, the North China Plain in the Qing dynasty (1644–1911) is selected as a typical regional social-ecological system; with historical information kept in official documents, social responsive behavior and measures to flood/drought (e.g., reclamation, disaster relief, migration, revolt) are quantitatively described with proxy indicator time-series. It is found that the dominant responsive strategy altered significantly in different stages: (1) stage of cropland expansion (1644–1720); (2) stage of governmental disaster relief (1721–1780); (3) stage of increasing climate refugees (1781–1860); (4) stage of revolt and emigration (1861–1911). The multi-stage evolution of social response was impacted by various natural and social factors: (1) regional population–food balance and governmental finance were the most important limiting factors; (2) the interaction between the governmental policy and refugees’ behavior in disasters affected the social consequences to a certain extent; (3) decadal-to-multi-decadal climate change would also impact the social response measures, even directly trigger the shift of dominant responsive strategy. This study would be helpful for deeper understanding of social resilience and better responding to climate change and extreme events in the present and future.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. μ is a traditional Chinese unit of area, and 1 μ ≈ 0.067 hm2.

  2. Dan is an ancient Chinese unit of capacity, and in the Qing dynasty, 1 dan of grain was equivalent to approximately 70 kg.

  3. The Veritable Records of the Qing Dynasty, Vol. 11: 647-a. “今年流民亦只三四千之数, 较之雍正二三年数至盈万者, 尚为减少” (1744-1-14).

  4. The Veritable Records of the Qing Dynasty, Vol. 11: 508-b. “本年天津、河间等处较旱, 闻得两府所属失业流民……出喜峰口、古北口、山海关者颇多。……若仍照向例拦阻, 不准出口,……恐贫苦小民愈致狼狈。……如有贫民出口者, 门上不必拦阻, 即时放出; 但不可将遵奏谕旨、不禁伊等出口情节令众知之,……倘有声言令众得知,恐贫民成群结夥, 投往口外者, 愈致众多矣” (1743-8-15).

  5. The Veritable Records of the Qing Dynasty, Vol. 26: 919-a. “京城粥厂现在远来领赈者竟有二万余人(1792-8-17)”; The Veritable Records of the Qing Dynasty, Vol. 29: 262-b. “近日京城附近地方饥民领赈者至二万五六千人(1802-3-27)”.

  6. The Veritable Records of the Qing Dynasty, Vol. 27: 461-b. 1792年旱灾期间,灾民“前赴盛京、吉林及蒙古地方就食,不下数十万人”(1794-9-4).

  7. http://www.resalliance.org/index.php/case_studies.

References

  • Amesbury M, Charman D, Fyfe R et al (2008) Bronze age upland settlement decline in southwest England: testing the climate change hypothesis. J Archaeol Sci 35:87–98

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Büntgen U, Tegel W, Nicolussi K et al (2011) 2500 years of European climate variability and human susceptibility. Science 331:578–582

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cao SJ (2000a) Chinese Population History, vol 5., Qing dynastyFudan University Press, Shanghai (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Cao SJ (2000b) Chinese population history, vol 4., Ming dynastyFudan University Press, Shanghai (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter SR, Arrow KJ, Barrett S et al (2012) General resilience to cope with extreme events. Sustainability 4:3248–3259

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • China Meteorological Administration (1981) Yearly charts of dryness/wetness in China for the last 500-year period. SinoMaps Press, Beijing (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Costanza R, Graumlich L, Steffen W et al (2007) Sustainability or collapse: what can we learn from integrating the history of humans and the rest of nature? Ambio 36:522–527

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cullen H, deMenocal P, Hemming S et al (2000) Climate change and the collapse of the Akkadian empire: evidence from the deep sea. Geology 28:379–382

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diamond J (2005) Collapse: how societies choose to fail or succeed. Penguin Books, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Endfield G, Tejedo I, O’Hara S (2004) Drought and disputes, deluge and dearth: climatic variability and human response in colonial Oaxaca, Mexico. J Hist Geogr 30:249–276

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fan SZ (1984) The statistics of cropland area in the Ming dynasty. J Chin Soc Econ Hist 2:25–37

    Google Scholar 

  • Fang XQ, Ge QS, Zheng JY (2004) Progress and prospect of researches on impacts of environmental changes on Chinese civilization. J Palaeogeogr 6(1):85–94 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Fang XQ, Ye Y, Zeng ZZ (2007) Extreme climate events, migration for cultivation and policies: a case study in the early Qing dynasty of china. Sci China (Ser D Earth Sci) 50:411–421

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fang XQ, Xiao LB, Wei ZD (2012) Social impacts of the climatic shift around the turn of the nineteenth century on the North China Plain. Sci China (Earth Sci). doi:10.1007/s11430-012-4487-z

    Google Scholar 

  • Gallopín G (2006) Linkages between vulnerability, resilience and adaptive capacity. Global Environ Change 16:293–303

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ge QS, Zheng JY, Fang XQ et al (2003) Winter half-year temperature reconstruction for the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River and Yangtze River during the past 2000 years. Holocene 13:995–1002

    Google Scholar 

  • Gu TM (1991) Climate in the North China Plain. China Meteorological Press, Beijing (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Hao ZX, Zheng JY, Wu GF et al (2010) 1876–1878 severe drought in North China: facts, impacts and climatic background. Chin Sci Bull 55(26):3001–3007

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haug G, Gunther D, Peterson L et al (2003) Climate and the collapse of Maya civilisation. Science 299:1731–1735

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Huang R (1997) China: a macro history. M. E. Sharpe, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • IHOPE (2010) Developing an integrated history and future of people on earth: research plan (IGBP Report No. 59). IGBP Secretariat, Stockholm

  • Kumara R, Nunnb P, Field J et al (2006) Human responses to climate change around AD 1300: a case study of the Sigatoka Valley, Viti Levu Island, Fiji. Quatern Int 151:133–143

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lebel L, Manuta J, Garden P (2011) Institutional traps and vulnerability to changes in climate and flood regimes in Thailand. Reg Environ Change 11:45–58

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee HF, Fok L, Zhang DD (2008) Climatic change and Chinese population growth dynamics over the last millennium. Clim Change 88:131–156

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li WH (1986) Brief records on boxer movement. Qilu Press, Jinan (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Li KR (1990) Droughts and floods in the North China Plain. Science Press, Beijing (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Li LM (2007) Fighting famine in North China: state, market, and environmental decline, 1690–1990s. Stanford University Press, Stanford

    Google Scholar 

  • Li WZ, Jiang TX (2008) The canalage of Qing dynasty. Social Sciences Academic Press, Beijing (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Liang FZ (2008) Statistics of population, land and tax in Chinese history. Zhonghua Book Company, Beijing (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Mote FW, Twitchett D (1998) The Cambridge History of China, vol 7., the Ming dynasty, 1368–1644, Part ICambridge University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Niu PH (1990) Comprehensive table of administrative region history in the Qing dynasty. SinoMaps Press, Beijing (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • PAGES (2009) Past global changes: science plan and implementation strategy (IGBP Report No. 57). IGBP Secretariat, Stockholm

  • Parry M, Canziani O, Palutikof J et al (2007) Climate change 2007: impacts, adaptation and vulnerability (Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

  • Peng YX (1990) The history of land reclamation in the Qing dynasty. China Agriculture Press, Beijing (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Tan QX (1987) The historical atlas of China, vol 8., Qing dynastySinoMaps Press, Beijing (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang SW (1991) Reconstruction of temperature series of North China from 1380 to 1980s. Sci China (Ser B Chem) 34:751–759

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang SW (2005) An abrupt climate change from Pre-Xia to Xia dynasty and the formation of Chinese civilization. Advances in climate change research 1:22–25 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang L (2007) Summary of gruel institutions in the Qing dynasty. Theory J 4:111–115 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang JG (2009) Ecological environment and society in North China (1500–1950). SDX Joint Publishing Company, Beijing (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Will PE (1990) Bureaucracy and famine in eighteenth-century China. Stanford University Press, Stanford

    Google Scholar 

  • Wu WX, Ge QS (2005) The possibility of occurring of the extraordinary floods on the eve of establishment of the Xia dynasty and the historical truth of Dayu’s successful regulating of floodwaters. Quatern Sci 25:741–749 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Xiao LB, Ye Y, Wei BY (2011a) Revolts frequency during 1644–1911 in North China Plain and its relationship with climate. Adv Clim Change Res 2:218–224

    Google Scholar 

  • Xiao LB, Fang XQ, Ye Y (2011b) Agricultural development in eastern inner Mongolia and its climatic background during 1644–1911. Geogr Res 30:1775–1782 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Xiao LB, Huang H, Wei ZD (2012) Comparison of governmental relief food scheduling and social consequences during droughts of 1743–1744 AD and 1876–1878 AD in North China. J Catastrophol 27(1):101–106 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Xiao LB, Fang XQ, Ye Y (2013) Reclamation and revolt: social responses in eastern Inner Mongolia to flood/drought-induced refugees from the North China Plain 1644–1911. J Arid Environ 88:9–16

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xue G (2008) Study on livelihood of people in Zhili based on the population, land and grain in Qing dynasty: example for central region of Zhili. Agricult Hist China 1:60–68 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Ye Y, Fang XQ, Ge QS et al (2004) Response and adaptation to climate change indicated by the relationship between revolt and drought-flood in Shandong province during the middle and late Qing dynasty. Sci Geogr Sinica 24:680–686 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Ye Y, Fang XQ, Khan MAU (2012) 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

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yin PH, Fang XQ, Yun YR (2009) Regional differences of vulnerability of food security in China. J Geogr Sci 19:532–544

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang PY (1996) Historical climate change in China. Shandong Science & Technology Press, Jinan (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang DD, Zhang J, Lee HF et al (2007) Climate change and war frequency in eastern China over the last millennium. Human Ecology 35:403–414

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang PZ, Cheng H, Edwards RL et al (2008) A test of climate, sun and culture relationships from an 1810-year Chinese cave record. Science 322:940–942

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao YL (2004) The quantitative analysis of the population in the Northeast of Qing dynasty. Popul J 4:49–53 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhonghua Book Company (1985) The veritable records of the Qing dynasty, vol 1–60. Zhonghua Book Company, Beijing (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

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

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing, China

    Lingbo Xiao

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

    Lingbo Xiao, Xiuqi Fang, Yujie Zhang, Yu Ye & Huan Huang

Authors
  1. Lingbo Xiao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Xiuqi Fang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Yujie Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Yu Ye
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Huan Huang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lingbo Xiao.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Xiao, L., Fang, X., Zhang, Y. et al. Multi-stage evolution of social response to flood/drought in the North China Plain during 1644–1911. Reg Environ Change 14, 583–595 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-013-0516-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-013-0516-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation