System Of Agricultural Disaster Alleviation In Chinese History

Because of the complicated topographic features and varied weather, natural disasters and famine occurred frequently in Chinese History. In the 1920s when China was called"the Land of Famine"by an American relief worker, the phrase immediately gained currency. It seemed to capture exactly the situation of China---a land where floods and droughts occurred ceaselessly, and where famines of huge dimensions followed one after another. The Chinese peasants, who were always attacked by droughts, floods and locusts, tried to know the nature of natural disasters, and based on this, adopted various measures of disaster prevention and alleviation, in which great achievements were made. The experience and achievements of natural disaster alleviation in pre-modern China can be divided into two aspects. One is the construction of famine relief system, and the other one is the progress of technologies for natural disaster alleviation. Based on the research of the main features of the agricultural disaster alleviation system, the dissertation analyzes their success and their potential present value.Part 1: According to the different stages of the development of traditional agriculture, this Chapter divides the Chinese history to four parts, pre-Qin Period, Qin Dynasty to Southern and Northern Dynasties, Sui Dynasty to Yuan Dynasty, Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty, and then presents a quantitative analysis of agricultural disasters in different period.Part 2: Disaster prediction techniques. Historical sources include many records of predictions of disasters and quality of harvest based on meteorological phenomena, changing of seasons and other factors, some of which still strike us as scientific today. On the basis of several classical books for natural disaster prevention, this chapter examines the function of disaster prediction techniques in the prevention and alleviation of meteorological calamities.Part 3: Based on the analysis of several classical agricultural books for natural disaster alleviation, this chapter establishes a systematic classification of agricultural technologies for disaster reduction featuring soil tillage, field management, harvest and store, and species selection. Advances of agricultural technologies had major impact on disaster prevention, resistance and relief. The thesis highlights the scientific value of these technologies. They present a continuing inspiration for our present-day studies of natural disasters reduction. Water-control techniques played an important role in disaster prevention in Chinese history. This part looks at some aspects of the construction of water conservancy projects in the Chinese historical texts dealing with water-control, including some flood-control methods, the design types of water-control works, and disaster case studies. The important role of water-control works in disaster prevention and alleviation is discussed. Biological techniques for disaster alleviation were mainly recorded in texts on agricultural disasters alleviation and locust control. Based on the studies of the techniques for locust control, this part concludes that these biological techniques were low cost, safe and environmentally friendly, and many of these techniques could still be used and developed today.Part 4: Three different systems of grain storage appear in the historical sources: changping cang, yi cang, and she cang. Although the exact nature of these systems differed and evolved throughout Chinese history, they always remained at the core of the structure of famine relief system. Their importance for famine relief was huge. From Ming dynasty, lists of edible wild herbs appeared among the people, intended to help famine victims in distinguishing and collecting supplementary sources of food. These lists had an important function for famine relief at the time, but they also help us to understand contemporary social reality, the life of disaster victims, as well as the richness of plant life in China's past and the true extent of its everyday use.Part 5: In Chinese historical famine-relief texts, systematical records of all the technical measures for natural disaster alleviation can be divided into six parts, including agricultural techniques for disaster alleviation, water-control techniques for disaster prevention, biological techniques for disaster alleviation, disaster prediction techniques, lists of substitute food in case of famine, and three systems of grain storage.The dissertation concludes with some thoughts on the current value of the technologies for agricultural disaster alleviation in Chinese history. Firstly, this research could contribute to better theoretical understanding of disaster mitigation. Secondly, some simple, low-investment and effective disaster mitigation techniques can still be used nowadays. Finally, the determination and courage of our ancestors continues to inspire our struggle with the natural disasters today.