Research On The Development Of Agricultural Production In The Wannan Plain During The Ming And Qing Dynasties

South Anhui plain is important in terms of the history of agricultural development inAnhui province. However, there are only a few studies concerning this region. In the SongDynasty, the exploitation of weitian, or low-lying paddy fields surrounded with dykes, inthe Jiangdong region led to the development of grain production and economy. Even so, theJiangdong region didn't export grains. Rural commodity economy developed rapidly inSouth Anhui plain during modern times. There are quite a lot of researches concerningthese two periods, focusing on the development of weitian in South Anhui plain in the SongDynasty and the rise and decline of the Wuhu Rice Market and its influences. But there areonly a few researches about the development of agricultural production in the South Anhuiplain during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The development of regional economy is basedon the history of the region. Likewise, the development and prosperity of the renownedWuhu Rice Market in modern time are closely related to the development of agriculturalproduction in South Anhui Plain during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. South Anhui Plainwitnessed more grain export, rapid development of economic crops and rural homeworkduring the Ming and Qing Dynasties, which indicated that great changes had taken at thattime. Therefore, in-depth research is needed.China is a big country with unbalanced agricultural development and various types ofagriculture. Only after conducting in-depth research into different regions respectively,analyzing the rules for agricultural development in different regions, practical conclusionscan be reached. South Arthui Plain was underdeveloped in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.Grain production was better than many other regions and grain export could be seen then.Commodity economy developed gradually but still at a low level. Weitian could be foundalmost everywhere in South Anhui Plain and rice was the staple crop there. Systematic andin-depth researches into the development of agricultural production in the South AnhuiPlain during the Ming and Qing Dynasties can throw light on the agricultural history of theMing and Qing Dynasties.Although most scholars agree that GDP was on the rise during the Ming andQing Dynasties, they are divided at whether the economy developed or not. Systematic and in-depth researches into the development of agricultural production in the South AnhuiPlain during the Ming and Qing Dynasties can throw light on this dispute.The growing up of mid-China strategy is now being carried out in China. As one of thebig provinces in middle China, Anhui is now implementing the eastward strategy, trying tointegrate with the Yangtze River delta. South Anhui Plain is in the very frontier of theintegration. Researches into the development of agricultural production in the South AnhuiPlain during the Ming and Qing Dynasties can be used for reference for the sustainabledevelopment of agriculture in South Anhui Plain and the takeoff of its economy as well.All mentioned above are the reasons and significance for my dissertation.Adopting historical philology, this paper collected, examined and analyzed historicalrecords concerning the development of agricultural production in the South Anhui Plainduring the Ming and Qing Dynasties, trying to reach practical conclusions. Comparativemethods are also included in this paper, both historically and regionally. Throughcomparison, differences between different regions can be seen easily. For example, inlandscape orientation comparison, this paper concluded that South Anhui Plain wasbackward in terms of the development of commodity economy compared with Jiangnanregion. Quantitative analysis is also used in this paper and a great amount of data are citedand analyzed. Some 80 forms and tables are made, giving a quantitative description of thedevelopment of agricultural production in the South Anhui Plain during the Ming and QingDynasties. Developmental economics, institutional economics and regional economics arealso used for theoretical analysis.Beside introduction and conclusion, this paper falls into five chapter as follows.Chapter one analyzed agricultural situation in South Anhui Plain during the Ming andQing Dynasties, including the introduction of natural resources, the analysis of number ofpopulation and plowland, agricultural structure and technological advancement inagriculture and so on. Plowland per person stood at 3.28 Mu and 1.49 Mu respectively inSouth Anhui Plain during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty and the Jiaqing period ofthe Qing Dynasty, which indicted the severe contradiction between the population and theplowland. Crops planting were core within the agricultural structure, and rice was the staplecrop. There is some technological advancement in agriculture in South Anhui Plain duringthe Ming and Qing Dynasties, with labor-intensive as its feature.Chapter two discussed the general situation of the weitian irrigation works in SouthAnhui Plain during the Ming and Qing Dynasties and the role of local officials in thisregard. There are a lot of researches concerning the development of weitian along the Yangtze River in Anhui, particularly the development of weitian to the north of the YangtzeRiver. It is generally accepted that weitian to the north of the Yangtze River developedrapidly. However, only a few researches examined the development of weitian in SouthAnhui Plain. In fact, though Song Dynasty witnessed the most rapid development ofweitian in South Anhui Plain, there were development in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.During this period, there is some technological advancement in weitian irrigation works,and local officials played an important role in this regard. Of course, there were also toughissues, such as the lack of fund from the government for the construction and maintenanceof weitian, the increasing contradiction between the development of weitian and thecapacity of rivers and lakes in terms of water control.Chapter three studied grain production in South Anhui Plain during the Ming and QingDynasties, including farming systems, change in rice output per Mu, grain export, extensionof special crops planted in case of crop failure. Rice is the centre of grain crops rotation inpaddy field system, with wheat, cole or bean as supplement while wheat is the centre ofcrops rotation in dry land, with bean, buckwheat or dasheen as supplement. Two harvestswere expected in both paddy field system and dry land. Rice output per Mu increasednoticeably in South Anhui Plain during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The figure for theMing Dynasty is 416 jin per Mu and 468 jin per Mu for the Qing Dynasty. Thedevelopment of grain production led to the prosperity of local towns and export of grain.However, in case of a natural disaster, there was no export of grain but famine. In order tosurvive, people planted special crops which were not planted when there was no naturaldisaster.Chapter four discussed the planting of economic crops and the development of byworkin South Anhui Plain during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Though there were developmentin economic crops and bywork, it was still not enough for the adjustment of economicstructure and the development of commodity economy.Based on from chapter one through four, chapter five evaluated the overall level ofagriculture in South Anhui Plain. Change in productivity of both plowland and labour wereexamined. Grain output per Mu in the Ming Dynasty is 429.6 jin and the Qing Dynasty491.1 jin; grain output per person were 4870 jin in the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty2444 jin. To evaluate the level of economy, we should take into consideration the level ofproductivity, resource utilization, labor allocation and commodity rate. Hence, this paperholds that agriculture developed very slowly in South Anhui Plain in the Ming and QingDynasties and there are internal reasons for the decline in labor productivity. Scholars are divided at whether or not agriculture developed during the Ming andQing Dynasties. This paper holds that the productivity of plowland increased noticeably;labor intcnsivism was common practice in South Anhui Plain; more resource were utilized;agricultural techniques developed slowly; labor allocation tend to be rational; sprout ofcapitalism was seen. Commercialization of farm produce and urbanization were on the rise.In a word, agriculture developed slowly in South Anhui Plain, which indicated the vitalityof family economy within the old social and economic system.In spite of the encouraging achievements in agriculture during the Ming and QingDynasties, we have to accept the fact that labor productivity was on the decline, whichindicated the internal limitation of traditional family economy. There were constraints forthe development of agriculture in South Anhui Plain, making sustainable development orbreakthrough very difficult. These constraints included contradiction between regionaldevelopment and sustainable development, backward feudal tenancy, traditionallabor-intensive techniques, lack of investment and singleness of agricultural structure.Since elements of traditional family economy can still be seen in today's China,reform of the traditional family economy is tough yet unavoidable. Through betterunderstanding the strong points and drawbacks of family economy, we can better improvethe current agriculture and achieve sustainable development. At present, the world is facingthe issues of population, resource and environment, which are especially severe here inChina. It is generally accepted that in order to achieve sustainable development ofagricultural economy in China, we should control population growth, protect environmentand harmonize the population growth with resource and environment. In addition, thispaper holds that more should be done, including: to adjust economic structure in agriculture,to promote the industrialization of agriculture and technological advancement, to strengthenintensivism, to perfect contract system of farmland, to boost scale management, to increaseinvestment from the government and to develop modern agriculture.