The Change Of Disaster Concepts In The Golden Era From Emperor Kangxi To Qianlong Seen From Poems About Disasters

The years from 1681 to 1796 (ruled by Emperors Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong) were the most prosperous period in the Qing Dynasty in China, called the Golden Era. This period also witnessed the most disasters: 17970 in total, with an average of 135 disasters each year. To some extent, disasters can be said to happen at every time, every place, and to every person. The frequent disasters brought huge damage and sadness, as well as content for poems in this period. According to the most complex book—Poems of the Qing Dynasty (Qing Shi Ji Shi), 142 out of the 5000 poems were about disasters. The research analyzed the poems, trying to reflect the different disaster concepts in this period, and the causes and processes of the change.The point of history of disaster literature has not been researched, despite great achievements in the disaster history, disaster economics, and disaster sociology. With the disaster poems analyzed, the change and development of traditional disaster concepts during the three emperors were detected in the poems, as a supplementary theoretic research of disaster concepts.The third chapter is the key to this research. Section One analyzed the disaster concept shown from 63 poems in Kangxi Administration. Most People believed disasters were"God's Punishment", and few talked about causes of disasters and disaster relief, showing a trend of materialism. Section Two was about the disaster concept characteristics shown from poems in Yongzheng Administration. Influenced by Yongzheng policy, people turned to God for help. More than half of the poems criticized the unreporting of disasters—officials were afraid of being punished by the emperor, and hid the truth. The phenomenon was unique in this period. Section Three summarized the disaster concept characteristics shown from 74 poems in Qianlong Administration. The poems were generally believed to reflect the concept of"Nature Ruled by Heaven", some even talked about the materialistic concept that people should pay attention to nature and follow natural rules. About two thirds of the poems described disaster relief carried out by the emperor and officials, showing an objective idea toward disasters."God's Punishment"concept could hardly be seen, instead, a firm belief that"Man Must Conquer Nature"was popular. This was related to the pride in the Golden Era, and Emperor Qianlong's appropriate policy. In Qianlong Administration, no poems criticized the officials'inactions to disasters, which distinguished the precedents, showing an obvious improvement of the disaster concept.After comparisons and contrasts among the poems in the three administrations, the change characteristics can be seen. In the analysis on causes and disaster relief, the conflict between two concepts—"God's punishment"and"Man Must Conquer Nature"—went through the Golden Era. In the process of disaster concept, an obvious improvement toward"Man Must Conquer Nature"showed the improvement in the whole Chinese history. This was the origin of the precious ideas derived from the poems.