The Countryside Afflicted With Natural Disasters

Anhui used to be referred as a province of disasters, on one hand, for its diverse natural disasters and the frequent occurrences of natural disasters on the other. Almost all types of disasters except the astronomical disasters and such geological ones as volcanoes and sea-storms have ever stricken Anhui Province in the modern history, among which there are droughts, floods, cold wave, rainy weather for many days running, rainstorms, hails, hurricanes, typhoons, frosts, earthquakes and plant diseases and insect pests. In history, Anhui is a province where the occurrences of disasters were frequent. Especially in modern history, the occurrences are even more frequent and serious. Among the branches of national economy, agriculture suffers the greatest from the affects of natural disasters. Furthermore, Anhui is an agricultural province, not just for its long history of agriculture but also for the fact that agriculture plays a major part in its national economy. Hence, it is undoubtedly of great magnificence to have a survey and probe into Anhui's agricultural economy, countryside society and farmers' living standards under the impacts of natural disasters in the modern history and the countermeasures (both governmental and nongovernmental), thus constructing a new and harmonious countryside society.The academic research of Anhui's natural disasters, especially in modern history, is, to the great extent, scattered among the research papers and documents of national disasters. By combing through these papers and documents, we found at least four disparities. Firstly, the studies of disasters in ancient Anhui are relatively more, but the studies of disasters in modern history are insufficient. Secondly, the studies of disasters along the Huai River are relatively more, but less about the disasters in the Yangtze River Valley, even less about the disasters in other parts of Anhui. Thirdly, the studies of disaster history in Anhui focused on the general accounts of its disaster history but insufficient about the interplay of disasters and the countryside society. Finally, the studies of disasters in Anhui were mostly undertaken from the angle of natural science, but less from the angle of social science, even less from both. Given those above, this dissertation is being done with an effort to make up for these disparities. And it is also where the academic value of the dissertation lies in.