Land Use Of The Loess Plateau Of Gansu Province In Qing Dynasty

The thesis discusses the relation of land resources, land utilization and land system which are influenced by natural environment. This paper mainly chooses three aspects, the quantity and quality of farmland, the land system and agricultural technology, to analysis the fact that the land system, the land utilization patterns and the selection of agricultural technology are constrained by natural environment and land resources, accordingly reveal the main-land relationship which is influenced by natural environment. The thesis is composed of four parts.The first part mainly illuminates the basis of land utilization in Loess Plateau in Gansu. First of all, the study area is defined from the perspective of the geographical scope and the administrative divisions, and then illuminate the change of administrative establishment in this area in Qing Dynasty. Secondly, the article illuminate the geographical condition of land utilization and analysis its influences on land utilization from the aspect of landform, land quality and climate.The second part mainly dicusses the quantity and quality of farmland in Loess Plateau in Gansu. The change trend of farmland quantity is reflected by land statistics. After statisical comparison, it comes to the conclusion that the quantity of this area in Qing Dynasty shows stage characteristics: in early Qing Dynasty, the quantity of farmland is less than others. In Qian-Jia Period of Qing Dynasty, this number reached its peak. Then in Tong-Zhi Period, the number shows sharp decline. Later in Guang-Xu Period, the amount rebound due to the economic recovery policy. Then it analysis the structure of population and land, the conclusion is that in Jia-Qing Period, the amount of population and farmland are both come to peak, the contradiction of population and farmland is very prominent. In Guang-Xu Period, the amount of population and farmland are both decline, but per capita farmland is more than others, and it shows the character which is broad farmland and sparse population. Then it discusses the dominant factor- reclamation policy ,which causes increasing farmland amount. In addition, it illuminates the problem of land type from the perspective of land ownership and taxation standards.The third part analysis the character of land system. Land system contains many aspects, and the thesis mainly chooses three of them, which are land ownership system, Permanent-Tenancy Lands and farming system. Thanks to adjusting land occupancy, the small plots ownership develops, accordingly stimulates the development of land sale. Constrained by the character of land resources, the development of land sale in this area is relatively slow, and the form of land transactions is more traditional. Permanent-tenancy lands system is stimulated by reclamation policy in early Qing Dynasty, then the permanent-tenancy right is recognized in this area, and it has an important impact on life of tenant farmers. But it's not common phenomenon in this area, moreover, the main way to get permanent-tenancy right is reclamation. It's relatively single. Then the paper illuminates farming system from perspective of crop structure and crop rotation. Due to the restriction of hydrothermal condition, the main cropper is grain crops in this area. Moreover, the growing period of crops is often longer. So in normal years, most of this area is one crop per annual.The fourth part discusses the land-use type and the improvement of hydrotechnics in this area in Qing Dynasty. In Mid-Qing Dynasty, the contradiction of broad farmland and sparse population occurred in this area, moreover, the land quality is poorer than others, so in order to resolve the problem of inadequate rations, the farmers had to do a lot of effort in improving agricultural technology, accordingly the utilization rate of land is raised, and then achieve the goal which is to produce more food. The rain is scarce and the soil is easy to be droughty in this area, so the land-use type such as sandy field occurred. However, there is draw back in the land-use type, so it must depend on improving hydrotechnics to resolve the contradiction of population and farmland. Therefore, the irrigation ditch is constructed, and the Chinese wheel is further promoted in this area. The farmland irrigation condition is improved greatly via implementing these measures. In addition, the rate of land usage is increased, and the area of irrigable land is extended.