Famine·System·People’s Livelihood-Research On Famine And Local Society、Economy Of Shanxi In Qing Dynasty

Shanxi is located in the eastern Loess Plateau, the west side of theNorth China Plain. Mountain and hilly land account for more than80percent of the province, and plain area of less than20percent. Due tothe poor agricultural production conditions and the low quality of thearable land, although many farmers worked hard throughout the year,they had a shortfall in the production. According to the scholars’research, in Qing Dynasty, the grain yield per mu of dry land in Shanxicould reach up to1dan, but generally8-9dou or5-6dou. In the alpineareas and other mountain areas of northern Shanxi, the yield was usually3-4dou, or as little as1-2dou. Generally speaking, the agriculturalproduction conditions and the grain yield were not as good as Zhili andHenan. At the same time, because of the complicated geographical andpolitical factors, the transportation in Shanxi was very inconvenient during the Qing Dynasty, resulting in the blocked circulation of theimported food and a high grain price in Shanxi. It could be said thatpeople of Shanxi in Qing Dynasty lived in a very unfavorableenvironment. Therefore, natural famines had an adverse impact onShanxi.Statistics show that there were three peak periods of famines inShanxi during the Qing Dynasty. They were the Kangxi years, Qianlongyears and Guangxu years respectively. The frequent occurrence ofvarious type of natural famines not only produced a negative impact onagricultural production, commercial trade and handicraft, but alsoaffected the population. First, it resulted in a lack of a large number oflabor; second, famines led to the deterioration of population quality inboth physical and moral aspects; third, famines caused women tobecome the main object to be traded. Although the socially inferiorstatus of women could account for this phenomenon, the high labor value of women was the essential reason.Famines not only adversely affected people’s production andliving, but also was related to the rise and fall of the country. Therefore,all the rulers gave importance to the famine system, and there was noexception in the Qing Dynasty. The famine system was mainly includedthree aspects: before the famine, in the famine and after the famine.Before the famine, three points were included: prepare againstfamines, encourage economy and check the family property. Preparationrefered to the construction of the Ever Normal Granary, the SocialGranary and the Charitable Granary, as well as the granary of relievingthe student（s恤�'仓）and granary of water transportation in Henan（河南漕仓）sometimes. The government would encourage economy bywidely published notices which could instruct people. On the other hand,making wine and gambling were forbidden by the government. In orderto avoid the misuse and omission of the relief, government required in the Baojia（保甲） system three classes were divided on the basis ofhouseholds. When famine came, the residence booklet could avoid theabove drawbacks.In the famine, reporting and investigating of it, implementingrelief were involved. Government had a detailed specification aboutthose things. Officials could act in accordance with this rules generally.However, due to the difference of actual situations of the famine areas,relief was not stick to conventions, but always was done according to theconditions and times. At the same time, because of the shortage of grainreserves, it was important to buy grain in order to ensure the food supply.In Qing Dynasty, the Shanxi local government selected merchants topurchase and distribute the grain to ensure the smooth development ofrelief work. By this way, the high food price resulted from the pursuingprofits of merchants was avoided. In addition, the merchants wereresponsible for the purchasing, transportation and distribution, while the government only responsible for setting the price and supervising themerchants. Therefore, the administrative costs were saved greatly. Afterthe famine, lightening burdens, supporting policy and cultivating thesoil again were involved.From the policy level, the government was very thoughtful. Butthe farmers always considered the field as trap. The basic reason wasthat the land tax was the country’s main source of income. The wholeinstitution was established on the basis of the land tax system, not tomention the famine system. The government gave priority to the land tax,resulting in the great limitation of famine system. This was reflected inthe following three aspects: fixed limit of reduction of land tax, officials’giving up to apply for remission of land tax, community self-monitoringsystem. Those things weakened the effect of governmental relief.Because of the limitation of famine system, people tookmeasures to avoid the disadvantage brought by famine. Before the famine, people would choose diverse jobs. They engaged in not onlyagricultural production, but also business and handicraft. And in theagricultural production, people planted economic crops widely in orderto get the profit as much as possible. They got the livestock and tools toensure the agricultural production through the commercial circulation.People planted trees and protect the forest positively to conserve waterand soil, as well as to relieve the famine. People also ensured theagricultural production by using river water, spring water, floods andwell irrigation. In the famine, rich people helped the poor against famineby the Pingtiao policy and the project relief. With the time changing, anew type of relief—civil relief appeared. It was more effective andtransparent in organization and raising money. It made up for theinsufficient financial resources of government. But fundamentallyspeaking, civil relief was in accordance with the official thought toencourage non-governmental capital’s joining into the relief system. Although the government and the people took multiple ways toavoid and relieve the famines, people could not get out of the faminescompletely. Therefore, they turned to the gods for spiritual comfort. Lotsof temples appeared in many places. People did not trust in divineprovidence passively. Both behavior and moral cultivation were stressed.